Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: FRESH START (01/05/17)
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TITLE: Moving Beyond The Walls | Previous Challenge Entry
By Karen Damson
01/10/17 -
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There are times in life when the vision we saw for ourselves may not always come to pass. When our dreams seem to fade away, when our hope is challenged, when our faith is tested, and when we start to question life.
At times, it is hard to see beyond the wall that life places in front of us, to see the tiny hole that seeps light of truth. When the trials come, we prefer the comfort and safety of the walls. Beyond it danger of the unknown lurks and our flesh becomes scared. We stay there, stuck in the place that brings turmoil and confusion, sadness and fear. We want to flee, we are just unsure how to move past the walls and move forward to renewal. We need to find the faith that is hidden inside and overcome the fears to begin to make a way thru our personal desert and past the walls.
In the Bible passage above it speaks of forgetting the former things and embracing the new. We are all reminded of the saying, “I will forgive but never forget.†Sounds fair, until we realize that not moving forward and not letting go only eats us up inside and stops us from becoming healed and new in Christ. If Christ can forget our sins and remember them no more, we must also do so. We must never let the earthly flesh overcome the spiritual, and become afraid of the unknown.
A couple of years ago, my husband and I felt the calling of God wanting us to start fresh in a new location. We thought He meant a new home locally, but He meant a whole new state. Imagine the surprise and shock of many around us who could not understand and embrace this calling. To be honest, we questioned it as well. But the Lord was laying something on our hearts and we knew we had to obey. We needed a fresh start in our lives. We needed to refresh our marriage, have healing, and find ourselves again. We needed to let go of hurts and learn to lean on our Savior. We had to release the past and embrace the future and allow God to write those chapters of our lives as He saw it, not just how we envisioned it. He made a way, and we now understand some of His plan. Blessings have come from this new venture, and we have no regrets. It came with trails at first, and frustrations, but who said things were to always be easy? Without those trails, we would not have found the relationship with Christ we needed to find, nor would we have grown as a family and as a couple. We knocked down the walls and we followed God’s grace out of the desert and into the vast land of growth and opportunity.
When things are uncomfortable, or difficult, when we cannot find peace, perhaps it is Christ trying to get us to move forward. It may be His way of telling us He has greater plans, to let go and let Him do what He does best. It may not involve a move to another state, however, it could involve letting go of some people in our life, toxic relationships, a new job, fighting for marriages, or stepping outside of our comfort zone to discover what is waiting.
I challenge you to embrace your faith and open your soul to a new and fresh start. If staying in your desert never brings relief, no matter how fearful it may seem, you must trust God and begin to let it go, to forgive, to embrace your fresh new beginning and be replenished with the living waters of Christ. To do so requires change, faith, trust and allowing God to lead you, one small step at a time.
Lord, guide us forward as only you can. Help us to break down the walls and have faith in the fresh waters you have waiting for us. I place my troubles at your feet. I fully surrender to your grace, love and mercy. I will let go of the past and trust the future and you. In Jesus’s Name, Amen.
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I would have started the article with "A couple of years ago ...." to get the reader interested.
Overall not bad, but it needs quite a bit of work to make it what it could be.
One other thing, many times a devotional that starts with a scripture verse loses the reader. I know it shouldn't - and the verse is so good and appropriate. Maybe you could insert it about midway through.
Keep writing - and I'll be looking for your next Challenge entry.
God bless - Trudy
God bless~
You have shown the pain of the past but of satisfaction and joy in the change.
Which word did you mean- trial or trail?
I appreciate your boldness in writing about your struggles.
It was unfortunate that your name did not appear in the Beginner's category but did appear on the Forum boards.
Your devotional/testimony spoke to my heart. I am reading a book by Sharon Garlough Brown called "Sensible Shoes". It is a story about getting out of your comfort zone to experience God.