God Shows Us Our Inner Reflection...

What you are is God's gift to you, what you become is your gift to God.

~Hans Urs von Balthasar

How do you know when you're being brought to a place where you don't recognize yourself, or really want to? God strips us of our outer reflections so that we can peer into the deep recesses of our soul, the essence of who we REALLY are (at the current moment). Let's just say it AIN'T always pretty! LOL Yep, when we're brought to a place where we become aware, a place where our spiritual eyes and mind can see, it's profound and it becomes the crossroad as to which direction we choose to live our lives.

God wants us stripped of our former selves. He wants our disdain for our selfish human ways, he wants to upset our current status, to knock over our table in order to reset it the way he designed it to be! It's so HARD!! Yes, I'm whining, and yes it's true, as we all know. LOL

[ And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, "Abba, Father." ~Galatians 4:6 ]

We may not even be aware of our 'dark side' because we've ingrained OUR ways into our normal living. Our actions and decisions are aimed at what we believe is right for our current situations. Feelings, past history, current desires, our relationships and current life situations all mesh into the recipe for how we base our behavior.

Plato described the human soul to be like a chariot, the intellect the driver and the emotions the horses. The struggle is keeping our 'horses' under control! Having Free Will, we are free to do as we please but....God's desire for us is FREEDOM through Him. His will is for us to live by the example he freely set before us by his only son, Jesus. God was so generous, he loves us so much that he SACRIFICED his only son for our freedoms!

But as humans, we will run the gamut until, eventually we hit a wall big and hard enough to drop us! Often, multiple times until our spirit hollers help! Satan can't wait to rush in and play the guilt game with our minds! He's full of ill fated advise on how unworthy we are, how low we've fallen and that our Father will never forgive our actions.

But in Christ we know that this is pure Bull@h%! Our brother Jesus was given in place for our sin and we are covered through his blood! Jesus is God's gift of LOVE to us! We as people will never be able to comprehend the kind of love God has for us, but to know that it is infinite, that it is all encompassing shows us how worthy we are as people to Him! :()

It dosen't matter how far we fall from grace, we are welcomed back into the arms and complete safety of God's Grace. When we call out to him, he's there, he knows our game plan before we do! God waits patiently for us to turn back to living life on His terms and away from our solo decision making, and worldly living...and the journey continues...

We are stronger with Him than without. We may think we are bold and brave, but when we live according to ourselves; we are weak and ignorant...Humility takes real strength. Humbling ourselves before God, and to many of the situations in our lives is God-wise, that's bold, that's brave! I am ever grateful for His presence in my life, I don't know who I'd be without him...