(This is another throwback blog post. I've decided that I will share
blog posts from the archives on Sundays. As always, I hope you are
encouraged!)
As I was driving home from an appointment this morning, I passed an
orange sign that said, "Inmates Working Ahead." I often pass them along
this particular stretch of road and I usually don't think much about
it, but today was different. Maybe it's because traffic was moving
slower than usual, so I had a chance to pay more attention to the
scene. There were about twelve inmates all wearing their orange
jumpsuits with a reflective vest over top. There were three cop cars
and about 5 or 6 police officers milling around, also with reflective
vests on. What caught my attention was a certain inmate walking down
the median with a trash bag in his hand. There was a police officer
following him very closely with his hand positioned over his weapon. I
didn't have time to keep looking as traffic sped up, but something about
that scene tugged at my heart.
Here I was looking out
at the blue sky, my music blaring, feeling so thankful for such a warm
and beautiful day. I was thankful about the fact that I was having a
day with less pain. I was thankful that I was able to do a little
shopping after my appointment that I've been needing to do for several
weeks now. I was just thankful. When I saw the inmates working on the
side of the road, I began to feel sad for them. I was thinking to
myself how nice it must be for them to be outside in the sunshine,
but my next thought was of how they were going to have to go right back
to prison as soon as they were done with their work. All of a sudden, I
had much more to be thankful for. Most of all, freedom.
I
started to let my mind wander. I thought about how many people there
are who are walking around technically "free", but on the inside they
are in prison. On the inside, they feel like there is someone or
something following them around waiting to react if they make a sudden
or wrong move...someone waiting to take them back to their prison cell.
That used to be me.
I was married when I was 21 years
old to a person that I thought loved me and would protect me. All of my
dreams and hopes of what a loving marriage would be like were dashed on
the rocks of my actual reality. I felt like I was in a prison. I felt
controlled. The worst part was, during that time, I had also walked
away from my true source of freedom, Jesus. I still went to church. I
still looked the part of the sweet pastor's daughter. I looked fine on
the outside, but I was in prison on the inside. I had made a huge
mistake just a few months before that time in my life and I felt so far
away from God that I thought I would never be close to him again. I
thought he was angry with me for a long time. I know now that wasn't
the case, but it's taken me a lot of years to forgive myself and accept
the true, unconditional love of Jesus.
I wonder how
many people in my own world are walking around like this, with invisible
chains, like I was. If that is you, I am praying for you. I am
praying that you will run into the open arms of Jesus and accept his
love and forgiveness. If you are in an abusive or controlling
relationship, then I am praying for a way out for you. I don't know who
you are, but I am going to be praying for you.
It's
funny to me how something so common, like driving past inmates working
on the side of the road, can stir my heart to pray for people that I may
not have even considered praying for today. I truly believe that when
you wake up in the morning and say, "Hi, God. Good morning. I am here
today to do your will, to serve you in whatever capacity you need me, to
listen to you and keep my eyes and heart open for opportunities to be a
blessing to others. Use me, Lord." I believe that when we pray like
that, and we mean it, God will give us those opportunities.
I
have no idea who those inmates were, or what they did to find
themselves in prison, but it really doesn't matter. I am praying for
them too. We all make mistakes. Sin is sin. In our eyes, some sin is
worse than others, and there are different consequences for different
sins. But, ALL sin has consequences. In God's eyes, it's all the
same. In God's eyes, he loves us all, regardless of the sins we have
committed. In that, there is freedom! Maybe you put yourself in
prison. Maybe you let guilt consume you, so you've isolated yourself
thinking that if you punish yourself long enough, you can pay your
debt. My friend, that is wrong. If Jesus can forgive you the very
moment you ask him to and throw your sin into a sea of forgetfulness as
far as the east is from the west, then who are you to hold on to it and
beat yourself up? Let it go! Be free!
1 John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."
Psalm 103:8-12
"The Lord is compassionate and merciful,
slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
He will not constantly accuse us,
nor remain angry forever.
He does not punish us for all our sins;
he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.
For his unfailing love toward those who fear him
is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.
He has removed our sins as far from us
as the east is from the west.
See?
It's all good! You are forgiven when you ask! Maybe you didn't put
yourself in prison, but you feel imprisoned by someone else, or by the
circumstances you're in. There is hope for you as well. Psalm 34:17-18
says, "The Lord hears his people when they call to him for help. He rescues them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed."
Jesus saves, rescues, and restores. Nothing you have done is so great
that he cannot forgive, nothing that anyone or anything can do to you is
so impossible that God cannot and will not rescue you from it. Let
that sink in.
God
rescued me from my abusive marriage and he restored me. He has blessed
me with an incredible husband of almost thirteen years, and two beautiful
daughters. Our God is the God who heals. He loves you. He forgives
you. He accepts you. Walk in that today and know that there is someone
praying for you. Until tomorrow then...
Love,
Tracie
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