Day 22: From Turmoil To Testimony

I hear the words

IT IS FINISHED,

and I see a huge STOP sign

that STOPS me in my tracks.

There is nothing more

and nothing less,

for

IT IS FINISHED

means

IT IS FINISHED.

I think of the caterpillar

when it emerges as a

BUTTERFLY.

It's caterpillar days are

FINISHED.

No matter how hard a BUTTERFLY strives to be a

caterpillar,

it will die doing so.

I feel like that BUTTERFLY

who has been given wings to FLY,

yet who is not using her wings

 FULLY to do what

I was created to do.

To not only FLY but to SOAR~

"But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint" (Isaiah 40:13).

So what keeps me on the ground,

living like a

"caterfly"?

When I dress myself in the labels

that other's have defined me as.

And then I live as a victim.

A victim

becomes a prisoner in its own skin.

Never moving beyond what was,

because UNWORTHINESS dresses her,

because that is who she was labeled to be.

But if JESUS dresses you with

HIS ROBE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS,

that removes all the dirtiness that sin puts on you,

HE gives you PERMISSION to

SOAR

as

HIS.

So what do you do

when you still wear the labels that brand you.

You do what JESUS did.

You FORGIVE.

You ask for FORGIVENESS

and you give FORGIVENESS.

There is nothing left beyond FORGIVENESS. 

A victim still can't FORGIVE himself.

And that is me in this very moment,

as I am forgetting whose I am.

As I am sitting here alone with my GOD,

my heart is aching for all that is lost.

But then JESUS shows up

and whispers to me that

HE LOVES ME.

HIS LOVE covers ALL. 

Then I stumble upon these words~

"'If anyone is in CHRIST, he is a new creation;

 the old has gone, the new has come!'

 (2 Corinthians 5:17).

There's an amazing transformation

that takes place when a person gives themselves to JESUS CHRIST.

 From that moment on they have the right~

they have the spiritual power-to live as a new person!

So if you belong to JESUS CHRIST,

the real you is a

new person in JESUS CHRIST!

You don't have to be identified by your past pain.

You don't have to be defined by your past sin. You are now defined by your relationship with JESUS CHRIST, the SON OF GOD.

You're a child of GOD.

You're a servant of CHRIST.

You're a make-a-difference person because you are forgiven,

you are clean, and you are free from the shackles and the shame of the past. You're about your future now, not your past!

Don't forget who you really are!

It's time for the real you to stand up!" (Ron Hutchcraft).

So yes, I was having a pity party this morning,

and oh how pity loves to be invited to a party.

But so does JESUS, 

for JESUS never says NO to an invitation.

So maybe I am being too honest this morning,

but that is all I can be.

Will you be honest,

with JESUS?

And invite HIM

 into your pain,

into your hurts,

into your past,

into your present,

and

into your future,

and then

SOAR AS A NEW CREATION.

For JESUS takes a pity party

and turns it into a party of

PRAISE~

"HE changed my weeping to rejoicing.

And my guilty into grace.

Changed the list of wrongs behind me.

.Into a past erased.

HE changed my wounded into healing.

And my broken into praise.

It's a miracle of mercy.

That I'm standing here today"*

IT IS FINISHED!

I am and you are

"CHANGED"

*(listen to the song below)

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