Should not be an Excuse

My head is about to explode of everything that the Lord just revealed to me through a friend. Let's just say the conversation was completely the Lord opening my eyes to see things I had never thought about.  As we all do, we all have pasts.  And we all sin and fall short of the glory of God, but it is by God's grace that we can have a new start.  It's not to say that through your time of being renewed and living your daily walk that you won't encounter hardships.  You will encounter struggles of those past memories that will be hard, but you have to deal with them.  You can't let Satan take ahold of those struggles, God is there to work through them with you.

   

For me...It has been alcohol.  I have never seen anything good come from it.  I have had family that abuses it and can be completely irresponsible when they are consuming it. I myself have abused it in the past, but have made the decision to not drink or be around those irresponsible situations.  I lost trust from many people who have abused it.  So for me whenever I hear the word alcohol, it causes me to feel a little uneasy and often lose trust in others when they are drinking casually.  

  

But... what my friend made clear to me was that this struggle is something that Satan uses against me.  He takes hold of that situation and causes my mind to wander.  I must not judge others, but care for them and trust them.  I say care because there might be someone that the Lord places in my life that will be going through the same thing that I went through and I need to love them, not judge them.  And I say trust because there will be people in my life who can  be around alcohol or have the occasional drink responsibly and I shouldn't judge them.  I don't need to make my past an excuse, but something that the Lord will help me work on when dealing with different circumstances.  I don't need to run and hide from it, but I need to deal with it head on.  And I don't need to hinder others and cause them to struggle what I struggle with.  

  

I praise God that I have him to help me along the way.  Many trials will come along, but taking it to the Lord should become my first instinct instead of my heart and feelings.  

"Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him." James 1:12