Have you been wrapping your boxes with your favorite paper and putting bows on them or maybe using a brown grocery bag or even resorting to a wheel barrel to release your emotional burdens? Don’t forget you can also release your concerns with burnt offerings.
If you don’t know what I’m talking about, I’ll explain. In my previous writings entitled BOXES, BOWS, BROWN GROCERY BAGS, and WHEEL BARRELS from the Victory Apps series I told how the Lord gave me an illustration on how to release my stresses. Previous to that writing, I wrote of an application called BURNT OFFERINGS from the Victory Apps series 1. If you haven’t read those two writings, you might find them helpful.
As I mentioned in my last message with today’s new words such as Covid 19 and Corona Virus being household words with the attending emotions of fear, anxiety, hopelessness. anger, confusion, and just life’s bumps and bruises, we all need to find hope in Jesus.
This application entitled ‘Dustings’, Bumps and Bruises, Victory App 3 involves something we can do after we have gone through a stressful time that really KNOCKED US DOWN EMOTIONALLY. Sometimes we don’t know what to do when these kinds of events take place in our lives. We know we have to do something, but what? We can either lay down mentally in our minds, get depressed (sometimes for years), lose our energy, digress, possibly get sick… or get up. We know, within ourselves, we have to get up. First, we must remember WHO we are and WHOSE we are.
If you are a woman, you are a lioness. You love deeply and protect those you love. A lioness will never back down and will always defend her young against danger. She will not lay down in defeat. She will draw up energy to fight beyond her strength and understanding for herself and others. But remember, the animal lioness doesn’t have what you have. You have the One, Jesus, who created the lioness living in you enabling you to be victorious. He loves you and won’t leave you.
If you are a man, you are a lion, a warrior, a champion, a defender of your family. You have the power of God to enable you to overcome. He has put within you a strength to overcome life’s negative circumstances. He always has a hand extended to steady and empower you to be the man He has called you to be. You are not alone, even though you might feel it sometimes. Remember, He is the LION of Judah.
So when we decide to get up, what do we do next? ‘DUSTINGS’ BUMPS and BRUISES is something to do as well as the previous two victory writings applications.
With regard to ‘dustings’ bumps and bruises, visualize yourself walking down a dirt road. You are walking along looking around at the scenery of flowers, bushes, and trees but you are distracted. You are thinking about all the things you need to do and what you have done, not seeing rocks protruding out of the dirt in the road. Your toe jams into a rock, totally surprising you. As you fall down flaying your arms and feeling pain in your foot and body, you look to see what tripped you. Thoughts scream, “What the…where did ‘that’ come from? I didn’t see ‘that’ coming”!
You land on the ground very hard, disheveled, upset, and dirty. Laying there, trying to collect your thoughts and analyze your injuries of scrapes and bruises, you look around to see if anybody else saw you fall. I feel so foolish I didn’t see the rocks on my path! Everybody else saw them. They’re not sprawled in the dirt and feeling pain like I am!
Little do you know, there had been an array of people jamming their foot and falling before you were there. You are not alone. There have been many accident victims on the same path. They didn’t see the rocks (ambushes in life) either. They had already cried and hobbled away before you arrived.
So, what do you do now as you are laying in the dirt feeling your pain?
You can’t just stay in the dirt even though you are tired, discouraged, and in pain. You may lay there for a while, maybe even a long while, feeling the impact of the fall. Maybe you’ll cry too but, eventually, you will get up and start dusting yourself off. You won’t want others to see you look this way. After all, no one else looks the way you do. You have to protect your image… right? We think, “I must not let others know how stupid and careless I was to not see the rocks. What would they say and how would they judge me.” You then will begin to dust off your shoes, slacks, blouse, or shirt and work yourself up to your hair shaking it vigorously to remove any dirt.
Well, the things that have happened to us emotionally have been like falling down on a dirt road. We didn’t see ‘that’ rock protruding on our journey… I didn’t see that breakup coming! I didn’t see my child change so badly! Where did he get the drugs, the pornography? I didn’t see the economy changing, my job gone! I didn’t see my health change so much! I didn’t see myself being alone!
We didn’t know our lives could be changed so quickly and so dramatically. We feel disheveled, altered, and want to cry. What do we do? We have to make a decision. I can’t just lay here emotionally feeling my pain forever. I’ve been here too long. I’ve got to get up! I can’t let my life be over!
In the beginning, we need to do something literal and simple to show our emotional change of getting up from our fall. You can begin by dusting yourself off as though you had literal dirt on you. Start with your shoes, take your hand and go back and forth cleaning them off. Continue up your body, literally ‘dusting’ all the way. When you get to your hair, shake it thoroughly. Even though this seems simple, this can be an impactive strategy for us.
There is more and is the most important part to our freedom. While you are vigorously ‘dusting’ yourself, you should say, “I was knocked down for a while, but, I’m up! I won’t be knocked down again. My Lord will take care of this and me because He loves me! Be gone negative thoughts! I’m up!” What we have done is make a decision to live and not be overcome. Remember, you are a lioness or a lion that doesn’t stay down. You have Jesus to lead and guide you off the rock-filled road of life. His life-giving words in His Bible direct our steps.
You are already victorious because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. You may not feel it, but it’s the truth. Just do it and feel the dark clouds break up. This has helped me and many people. Sometimes when my husband and I did it together, he would ‘dust’ off my back and I would ‘dust’ off his. You can do the same. You can help ‘dust’ off spouses, friends, children, and really anyone who needs it.
By the way, after I wrote this, My husband read it, got teary-eyed and we decided it’s time for a dusting… yep, life’s bumps and bruises!
These are applications we can use at different times. Apply them, along with me, so we can make it to the victory goal post of our lives. Let’s step over life’s rocks with our Lord’s enabling.
Featured Image by baedaya from Pixabay
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