Since I have been a wee bit negligent with my blogging for the past month (there will be gifts of bribery for forgiveness to my faithful readers) I found it appropriate and necessary to include my grandma in my first blog back from hibernation. During my blogging hibernation, I spent an entire week in the Dominican Republic on a mission trip and was unable to talk to my grandma the entire time I was gone. Our lack of communication meant two things: One, we had set a new record for time elapsed since talking to each other and two, she had an entire week to make decisions without my voice of reason stopping her. I felt semi-confident that she hadn’t ordered numerous items from the home shopping network or given my phone number to the UPS delivery man while I was gone (both occurred while I was in Texas a month ago) but I knew the truth of her week long vacation would surface on Sunday afternoon during our visit. And as predicted she slowly revealed the details of her week as we enjoyed our first slumber party of the summer. I knew I was in for a long night when she started a conversation with, “I have to tell you what I did.” As I prepared for my late night entertainment, she began telling me her cigarette dilemma that occurred while I was out of the country. One day she woke up and was dizzy and weak because her oxygen machine needed some new gadget so instead of driving to Smoker Friendly for her cigarettes; she called them to see if they could deliver them to her. My thought process of, “At what point did buying Misty Lights when you were dizzy and weak seem like a good idea” was interrupted by her telling me that Smoker Friendly actually brought her cigarettes! My next thought process was, “only my grandma could be the culprit of such a story” and again I was interrupted by her. This time she was ever so kindly telling me the story of how she melted the bottom of a maple syrup bottle on the stove as she was making pancakes. And my response was, “By any chance did the delivery man from Smoker Friendly clean up the syrup.”
My grandma’s week long vacation (she never really listens to my voice of reason but it helps when I am in the same time zone) left me scrubbing maple syrup off the kitchen floor and kitchen cabinets, while inhaling the sweet aroma of Misty Lights. And although I was very close to angry thoughts a few times (day old syrup is extremely difficult to remove), I was thankful that my grandma’s adventures could be cleaned up in one night. As I was going to bed on Sunday night, it occurred to me that almost one year ago, I too took a weeklong vacation. But unlike my grandma, my vacation didn’t begin with freedom; it began with a desperate plea to find freedom. Every single one of my thought processes ended in some form of bondage to sin and left me needing a voice of reason. Unfortunately, I had managed to tune out every voice of reason in my life except one. And even then when I listened I still tried to find happiness and satisfaction in my own maple syrup mess. Two days into my vacation with the Lord; I finally allowed the voice of the Holy Spirit to overtake my voice of reason. And His voice was saying, “You don’t have to do this on your own anymore.” His voice was saying, “I am the only answer to your maple syrup mess.” And my voice was saying. “You are all I need Lord.” In that moment, my thought process began and ended in Him alone and in my surrender began my rebuilding. A rebuilding that only occurred because of God’s grace; a rebuilding that still requires daily surrender to my personal thought process. I wish I could tell you that experiencing freedom in Christ is a onetime decision but I can’t. But I can tell you that experiencing freedom in Christ can be a lifetime decision. A decision that will change your life by allowing you to experience the abundant spirit filled life God has planned for you. If you want to experience that freedom today align your thoughts and desires with Gods. Take a stand and tell Satan that you absolutely refuse to give him one ounce of your heart, mind, or soul. Ask yourself at what point did removing God from your life seem like a good idea? And after have commanded Satan to flee and died to the desires of your flesh; listen. Listen for His voice and I promise you will hear Him saying, “There isn’t a maple syrup mess that I can’t clean up.”
In one year, His grace has given me many of my own stories to share. Each one of my stories may trigger some form of thought process inside your head that has you thinking, “Only Jay Garcia could be the culprit of such a story.” My prayer and desire is that at some point in your thought process, God interrupts you and says, “ By any chance do you see Me in her redemption story?” If the answer is yes, I haven’t been negligent to my eternal hibernation.
Verse to remember: 2 Corinthians 10: 4-5 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
Galatians 5:1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
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