Forgiveness & Growth in The Wilderness (Wilderness Series Part 3)

The final installment in my wilderness series is an opportunity to shine the light through darkness; a light that I hope encourages someone who may come upon this post. In my own season of wilderness, the Lord's forgiveness and potential for spiritual growth are things that I am clinging to. Let me just write that none of us will ever arrive without Jesus. We may think we have it all under control, but we remain under a constant threat of deception.

I have had many a stumble and have come upon this realization time and time again; yet, I have continuously struggled in my stubborn flesh. We all struggle and I felt like this week it would be an encouragement to let all know that Christ loves you & wants you to confront those shortcomings head on. Do not let it devour you; that statement can be a hard one to live up to. It is also wise to remember that as believers, we are all immersed in the process of sanctification. At 27, I'm not the same individual as I was five years ago, and five years ago I was someone who had grown from who she was at 18.

Our stories are gradual and through my alone time with Christ, I have recently began praying a prayer that God would not work out situations the way I want Him to, but in a way that is for my eternal good & for His glory. It is wise to know that Satan will always tempt us in similar ways, if we always depend on our powerless souls to remedy an area of weakness. For instance, if you do not confront a behavior through Christ, your actions will never truly change. You will never fully receive the blessings that Christ has for you, because if you are anything like me..your life will always reap chaos and despair. You won't be the friend you need to be. You won't be what God wants you to be.

You'll be left alone with the only person who can meet those needs you so desperately need met.

Christ. 

That may sound lonely. Friend, sometimes lonely in terms of earthly friends is the best place to be. If you have Christ, you are never truly alone. Sometimes Christ has to get you alone to get anything through a thick skull, but alone time with Him is always beneficial in the end. You may lose everything, but Christ gives us second, third, fourth, and fifth chances. A lot of times it takes us a while to allow Him to rid us of negative behaviors and possessions in our lives that don't need to be around. Humans tend to think, "I have everything under control" and I am ridiculously bad at veering off from Christ to live on my own. I stumble and fall flat on my face every time.

Every, Single. Time.

The beautiful part of mistakes is that you can start over. You can choose to surrender your life and actions to Christ right now. You have to trust in the journey, but the goal is to live as close to Christ as you can and lean on Christ 100% of the time. I can guarantee you though, you will continue to stumble in this life; and the part of trusting the journey is simply saying and pushing you to remember that each bad decision you make or have made has worked to mold you in some way. Has it not?

Don't think that you are too far gone to grow anymore. Just start over and surrender. Watch Him move. Learn from your experiences, but don't dwell on them. (That's a hard one for me).

It's not okay to think that you are powerful against deceit. It's not okay to think your flesh can fix everything or that it has all the answers.

But it's also important to know this:

You are beautiful. You live. You learn. Lean on Him. Nothing else. Grow from everything. You are being molded.  You must pray. You must fight. 

"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places" (Ephesians 6:12 King James Version)