What almost ruined the best vacation ever
Last week my brother and I were incredibly blessed to spend a few days in a house by the beach. (Don't hate me---it was a God-arranged blessing and the first time in 43 years of life I've done anything like this.). Anyway.....
Everything was perfect. It was the Best. Vacation. Ever. Until.......The bugs.
One afternoon as we were sitting on the deck watching some kids play in the sand and the waves crash on the shore, we started noticing some tiny flylike creatures. At first there were just a few, but before long there were swarms everywhere. They were in our faces, down our clothing, all over our skin. It was like we were under attack. It got so bad that we had to go inside and shut the doors to escape.
Honestly, I was ticked off. It was a short vacation and I hated wasting precious moments trapped inside held captive by swarms of fruit flies that we're enjoying my patio, my ocean view, and interrupting my vacation.
"What was the problem? How could we fix it?" My seriously annoyed brain was searching for answers when I remembered....the garbage.
You see earlier that morning I'd taken out the trash, but rather than walking down the stairs and out the street to the trash bins, I dropped it over the deck to get to it later when I was out of my pjs. Then I forgot.
Over the next few hours the sun baked the bag and the flies came in droves.
How could I be so stupid? Now I was angry with myself. I continued to be angry as I trudged through the bugs to move the trash, and then interrupted my gorgeous afternoon with a trip to the hardware store to buy bug repellent. (Not a scheduled vacation outing). Uhhhhh!!!!! All of this because I ignored the trash.
Anyway, while we were driving to the hardware store I started thinking about the trash and how this situation parallels so many of our spiritual lives. (Yeah, this is how my brain works)
The truth is that God's will is for all of us to live a blessed, abundant, spiritually healthy life....and yet.....
Too often were kept from enjoying the life He's planned for us because we are battling the consequences of not "taking out the garbage" in our hearts and minds.
Bitterness, resentment, unforgiveness, unconfessed sins, hatred, anger, and things from our past are pushed aside, ignored---out of sight out of mind. And yet they aren't gone.
Instead, they are producing burdensome consequences in our lives and relationships that can only be overcome by taking out the trash once and for all.
Here's the thing.....when those darn flies tried to take over my deck I could have prayed they go away, I could have pled the blood of Jesus, I could have anointed the deck with oil, called the prayer chain, or held a deliverance session and told them to leave in Jesus' name....but nothing....seriously, nothing, was going to solve my dilemma until I got rid of the garbage.
The same is true in our lives. Sometimes we need to stop worrying about the flies (the consequences were experiencing) and get to the heart of the matter---we need to identify the root of the problem and start dealing with it.
Through the power of Jesus, you can do it.
I know, because I've seen it in my life.
You see, almost 20 years ago, I was spiritually swatting at flies. I was trying to fix the symptoms of the pain in my heart and mind, but I was totally unaware of the root causes of the problems. Thankfully over the next few years, the Holy Spirit led me and my family on a journey to healing where He not only revealed to us the source of the problems, but by following Biblical principles, He helped us to overcome them.
The book Finding Healing tells this story. Even more, it shares step by steps the practical ways that you can overcome and take out the garbage in your own life that is keeping you from experiencing the full abundant life God has for you.
This isn't a book plug---it's a life line.
You see, I know what it's like to waste your time and energy swatting flies.
Thankfully, there were people who told me how to take out the garbage in my heart and live the abundant healthy life Jesus has for me. The one and only reason I wrote this book and work on this website is because I want all women to experience the same freedom.
You were meant for so much more than watching life go by held captive by the consequences of the garbage from your past.
You can experience more....God wants to give you more...I'd like to help you learn how to get rid of your garbage and bask in the radiant freedom Christ died for you to enjoy.
Just in case you're wondering---the flies did eventually leave---about an hour after I properly disposed of my garbage. Life lesson?
