Knocked Down & Brought Up

This past week has been literally crazy... and don't worry. I say that in a completely good context. After all, sometimes it takes things getting crazy to bring out the worst in us, so that we can deal with that part of us, and be set back to where God wants us to be.

It's funny how we think that we don't deal with something, we think we're good in that area of our lives, and then we get completely knocked down from that place. Everything we thought we once had gets taken from us, we get humbled, and only in that place of humility are we rebuilt into something even greater. Think about Hurricane Katrina, and all the homes that were destroyed. The storm came through and wiped out millions of houses. In the years since the hurricane as New Orleans has been working towards recovery, would it be reasonable for them to rebuild their homes the same way as they were before? Definitely not. They're going to build them even better, make them stronger, make them tougher.

I've been in a place where I thought I was fine in certain areas of my life. It wasn't until trials came along, and the enemy brought up my past, that I started realizing some things were wrong. Was being in this place wrong? No, not necessarily. I wasn't seeking to do what God had asked me not to do. Simply put, my eyes weren't open to the things set before me. I praise God that He finally revealed them to me, they got dealt with (with the help of some awesome, godly men in my life), and now I'm in an even better place than I was before. I can tell you one thing; I feel even more free now than I did even a week ago. I'm so thankful that God allowed certain trials to befall me in the sense that I got to grow from them, and now I'm an even stronger man of God than I was before. And that's how our relationship with Him works. Ain't that awesome? I definitely think so.

So for now, be challenged. Continually pursue the things of God, and ask Him what areas of your life need work in. Because I can guarantee you, until the day the Lord comes back to take us home, you're always going to have something to work on. You're always going to have to depend on Him, but what's so good about that is that the reward is so worth it in the end. Dependence is not a bad thing. Not when it brings you to a deeper place, a holier place, and ultimately, when it draws you closer to Him.

"More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hopes does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." -- Romans 5:3-5