Unshackled Moments ~ February 6 ~ Final Freedom

In the rooms of recovery every so often there will be some slight dissension over the idea of recovered or recovering. For example, you will hear some alcoholics claim to be alcoholics years and years after being freed from the obsession to drink and having not had a drink in that same period of time. Some though will claim to be recovering alcoholics. While some will claim to be recovered. And this last one gets under the skin of some who claim once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic, once an addict always an addict, once you give room to a particular habitual sin you will always be weak and vulnerable in that area, and once a pickle you can't become a cucumber again. You get the idea.

I'm not here to argue about what label someone in recovery should or shouldn't use. I'm not going to say anything like what you call yourself has power and so you shouldn't claim to have a disease you've been set free from. Paul said he was all things to all people. I'm with him on this one. It doesn't mean wearing a mask and pretending anything in order to fit in or be accepted. It means if you've been beat up by the church, then maybe I let you know I grew up the son of a preacher man, and I know a little something about being beat up by the bride of Christ and religion. If you're an alcoholic, then I can be the drunk who's just like you, except I haven't had a drink in nearly 7 years, or if you're looking for hope that there might be a way out, then I can be recovering and so can you, if you hear the solution, but if you're one of those who won't try if it can't be done?, well then I can show you someone recovered in mind and body and soul, freed from the obsession to drink.

And I can do the same with junkie/addict. It's not about labels, and I really don't care what you call me as long as you get this part right. Once I was a slave, doing certain things even when I didn't really want to, even when it not only didn't help me feel better anymore but made me feel worse, even when it wasn't in my best interest. I either couldn't stop doing these things, or, if I did stop, I couldn't stop starting again. Now, I don't do those things anymore. Call it whatever you like. I call it freedom.

And the thing is that you can be free. You can get free and stay free. Now, the truth is that I didn't suddenly figure out how to control things, how to stop what I couldn't before and stay stopped. Freedom is a gift. It is a bonus that comes naturally out of real relationship with God. Jesus came to set the captives to sin and addictions and the destruction of the fallen world free.

In one way, I believe the label matters. When you hear someone who had cancer but has had it completely go into remission, they don't say I have cancer. They say I had cancer, but now I am cancer-free. Yes, it is in remission, and it might come back. But it's not back now, and they don't have it now. Why does this matter? Because it gives the person who just learned they have cancer hope that they too can become cancer-free.

I get the reasoning behind once an addict, always an addict. If we forget the bondage we've been freed from and think that time in the wilderness means we can safely return to the land of our slavery, we'll be making a huge mistake. Once something has been my master, it's not a wise thing to ever give it the opportunity to take over again by trying to indulge without losing control. But I don't need to worry about that reasoning if I simply stay in and seek to improve my relationship with the One who led me from the land of slavery in the first place. He will not lead me to another master's house. He is taking me to the Land of Promise, where there is perfect freedom, perfect peace, and perfect joy all wrapped in perfect love and relationship with my Creator.

I don't need to remind myself I once was a slave to keep from becoming a slave again. But maybe someone needs to hear that they can be free. Truly free. That's you, by the way. You can be free from addictions, habitual sin, and bondage. And when I say free, I mean free. Not free but always running and hiding from the old escaped master, always worried about when the evil may find you and catch you off guard to carry you back to your chains. Not trying to stay one step ahead of the hounds of hell tracking you. Not constantly fighting and battling to defend yourself from temptation and situations and triggers and...... But free. Free to go about your day and the next day and the next, until it's your life, wrapped securely in the love of God to such an extent that old enemies and masters aren't a concern. The only reason you'll have to consider them at all is if God tells you to go back to your fellows in the same chains and call them out to the freedom you've been given.

There is a place of peace. You don't have to live in a prison of fear of the inevitability of stumbling. But that's because you didn't set yourself free, and you're not the one who will keep yourself free. If you stay in relationship with the One whose care and will carried you free from the bondage you were in, you'll never return to that bondage. On the other hand, if you try to stay free on your own, in your own strength, by the determination of your own will, it's only a matter of time. You are so screwed, because not only will you eventually fail, no matter what label you use, no matter what support system you have, no matter what triggers you avoid, no matter how many times you play the movie through, no  matter what process or program, on your own apart from God you will go back to your Egypt or seek out its twin, same song different verse, but you will also be miserable in the mean time. That doesn't have to be your story.



Unshackled Life Ministries is grateful for every person that reads the daily Unshackled Moments and or listens to the messages. I want to thank those who have clicked "like" on something that blessed or ministered to them. It is encouraging to know that God is using this ministry to help and bless others. Please remember that if God used something from this ministry to help, encourage or bless you, it could also bless someone else. Would you help get the devotions to more people by sharing the Moments and messages that you read or listen to? Hitting the share button instead of or in addition to the like button will help us reach more people with the good news of freedom and the encouragement to live an Unshackled Life. Thank you and God bless.

If you would like to have notifications of new Unshackled Moments and messages sent to you via email, send an email to dalynwoodard@mail.com requesting to be added to the list. You can also follow Dalyn Woodard (@Dalynsmsings) on Twitter or Unshackled Life Ministries on Facebook.

Banana Pudding And Communion

Dalyn Woodard on what communion means and how it is about relationship rather than rite. What does it mean to come to the Lord's Table in a worthy manner? The message,  "Banana Pudding And Communion" is about 15 minutes long and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on Sunday, February 6, 2017. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen. May God bless and keep you.

Unshackled Life Ministries is grateful for every person that reads the daily Unshackled Moments and or listens to the messages. I want to thank those who have clicked "like" on something that blessed or ministered to them. It is encouraging to know that God is using this ministry to help and bless others. Please remember that if God used something from this ministry to help, encourage or bless you, it could also bless someone else. Would you help get the devotions to more people by sharing the Moments and messages that you read or listen to? Hitting the share button instead of or in addition to the like button will help us reach more people with the good news of freedom and the encouragement to live an Unshackled Life. Thank you and God bless.

If you would like to have notifications of new Unshackled Moments and messages sent to you via email, send an email to dalynwoodard@mail.com requesting to be added to the list. You can also follow Dalyn Woodard (@Dalynsmsings) on Twitter or Unshackled Life Ministries on Facebook.

Unshackled Echo ~ February 4, 2017 ~ Checking ID

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

June 9, 2013 as Checking ID.

He has identified us as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts. 

- 2 Corinthians 1:22a NLT

Allowing ourselves to be beaten up by and over our past as a way of life defeats the purpose of God in our lives. It replaces the victory that we are called to in Christ with defeat. To live under the control and bondage of the past weakens our faith and causes us to doubt God's amazing love for us. Living this way allows the enemy, the world, and our brokenness to define us and determine or value and worth, and allowing that denies the truth of God.

Galatians 2 makes it clear that our faith will grow stronger as we focus on our identity in Christ. This means that if we want to defeat fear and doubt and weakness in our life by strengthening our faith, we need to be learning and taking upon ourselves what the Word of God says about us and not anyone or anything else. It doesn't matter what we've done in the past or what's been done to us. It doesn't matter that we've been broken.

Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Never mind that my past says I'm a selfish, lying, cheating, thief. The label on my past may indeed say drunk, junkie, felon. But those things are not who I am. They are who I was outside of relationship with God. Your labels may not be as bad as mine. They may be worse. But it doesn't matter, because it is not our mistakes or our personality defects that determine our worth. If you have entered into relationship with your Heavenly Father through faith in Jesus, then you, like me, are defined by that relationship and that relationship only. Hello my name is child of the Most High God, and so is yours. No other label is valid after we have accepted Christ.

You have to abandon any image or label of yourself that is not from God. Stop accepting what others have said about you, how others have labeled you, and how others have defined you. Stop letting the failures and mistakes of the past speak to you about whether or not you deserve to be in relationship with God (you don't, and neither do I, so just let that earning mentality go and accept the grace that's been given). Don't let your past dictate what you can or can't do for God or whether you can accept and fulfill the calling from God on your life.

Start believing what God says about you, that He is pleased with how He created you, and that He loves you.  Our selfishness and rebellion marred us like graffiti on a wall, but the blood of Christ has cleaned us, and we are forgiven. You are altogether beautiful, my darling, And there is no blemish in you. (Song of Songs 4:7) That's what God says about you. You are beautiful to Him and there is nothing about you that is ugly or stained by your mistakes, by heritage or from the wounds caused by others.

You’re not defined by your feelings. You’re not defined by the opinions of others or by your circumstances. You’re not defined by your successes or failures. You’re not defined by the job you have or don't have, the car you drive or the shoes you walk in, the money you make or the cup you panhandle with, or the house you live in or the bridge you sleep under.

You are defined by God and God alone. He identifies you as his own (2 Corinthians 1:22).

The thing is, if we don’t know who we are, then we’re vulnerable to other people telling us who we are and how we have to live and what we can and can't accomplish for God. But the simple truth is that we are who God says we are, and no one else has a say in the matter, not even our own minds. What we believe doesn't change that truth, but what we believe effects how that truth manifests in our lives, in our minds and in our hearts.

Knowing and believing our true identity is an important aspect of walking with God. Those who understand who they are in Christ are the ones who have been able to run their race with endurance, who have fought the fight without giving up, who having done all to stand against the enemy continued to stand...they kept going with God. And that's what we can do when we remember who we are in Jesus. When we know that we matter to God none of that other stuff matters, and we have confidence to do what God has called us to do.

If you have accepted Jesus as your Lord, you are now identified with Christ and have the power of the Holy Spirit within you. You are God’s precious child, and He created you in a way that pleases him. You are no longer defined by anything but His love and acceptance. If you have not entered into relationship Jesus and are tired of being beat up by and over your past mistakes, then I encourage you to surrender you heart, your will and your life to the One who loves you and is calling you to Himself. When God calls you beloved, it no longer matters what anyone else calls you. 

Unshackled Life Ministries is grateful for every person that reads the Unshackled Moments, Unshackled Echoes and or listens to the messages. I want to thank those who have clicked "like" on something that blessed or ministered to them. It is encouraging to know that God is using this ministry to help and bless others. Please remember that if God used something from this ministry to help, encourage or bless you, it could also bless someone else. Would you help get the devotions to more people by sharing the Moments and messages that you read or listen to? Hitting the share button instead of or in addition to the like button will help us reach more people with the good news of freedom and the encouragement to live an Unshackled Life. Thank you and God bless.

If you would like to have notifications of new Unshackled Moments and messages sent to you via email, send an email to dalynwoodard@mail.com requesting to be added to the list. You can also follow Dalyn Woodard (@Dalynsmsings) on Twitter or Unshackled Life Ministries on Facebook.

Unshackled Moments ~ February 3, 2017 ~ The Fortress Of Integrity

In Wednesday's Unshackled Moment, Perspective Matters, I tried to show how important the way we look at things affects our perception of reality. Even when we play Dragnet and demand that we just give the facts, we can see more of the curse than the blessing, or more of the blessing than the curse. I won't go into all again here, since I put a lot of effort in saying what I did two days ago. But I did want to explore something related. In my desire to demonstrate how even just the facts doesn't tell the story I shared one of the worst and painful experiences of my life in the last few years.

Unprepared for anything bad to happen I received a call from my crying and very upset wife. The police were at our house with a warrant for my arrest. They wanted me to either leave work and return home or meet them at the police station. I told them I would meet them at my house, delegated the work that needed to be done to co-workers and explained that I had to leave, and, fighting the urge to fight or flee, determined to do the right thing, prayed and surrendered myself. The most frightening part of it all was I had no idea why I was being picked up.

Within hours I sat in interrogation stunned at the charge and trying to figure out how and why this was all happening. By the next day everything was in motion that would quickly defeat this false charge. I was innocent and the DA couldn't get an indictment with no evidence other than some very questionable and self contradicting testimony from the accusers. It was over. Thank God. But damage had been done. It stressed Leah out. It caused me to spend a night in jail and had friends, family and strangers who had heard about it to wonder what was going on and speculate and gossip. The ministry could have crumbled under the weight of scandal.

In the two days since I shared about the bogus legal situation I faced, I gave the other side of the just the facts situation, the blessing side, some serious thought. The side where Leah stood by me in full confidence of my innocence, despite my felonious past. She even allowed law enforcement to search our home because she could not even imagine that I had anything hidden. Within  a couple of days almost every friend and family member that had heard the news had dismissed the charges as ridiculous and gave me their love and support. In fact the only real negative or damage that came out of it was that my employer, worried about what customers might think if they recognized me or something, let me go. And out of all the acquaintances, friends and family relationships in my life, I know of very few who assumed, thought or believed the worst and where the relationship was damaged. For the most part the ministry continues to grow, personal relationships are stronger, my reputation has completely recovered and is even more stable, and the incident allowed me to tell a group in recovery that there is a solution that works so well you can find yourself in the worst situation, such as under arrest for a crime you didn't commit, and deal with all the mess and stress that goes with that and stay clean and sober. It became an experience that can help others and that demonstrates the awesome power of God to carry us through whatever we may face.

That is as awesome a miracle to me as the parting of the Red Sea. People who are naturally suspicious and know that accused people are guilty far more than not listened without closing off or becoming cynical and even laughed after I made a statement about how much easier it is to get a charge dismissed when you didn't do it. and how that was a new experience, since in all my previous arrests I had been guilty. People who know me and know my past quickly rejected the idea of my guilt, many from the very moment they heard the news, long before they heard my side of things or saw the result of the charges going away. How did that happen?

Well, duh, God. Yeah, and I get that. Seriously it doesn't take much to stack the deck against a felon. Guilty once, guilty the next time is the way the system is skewed...and it's probably fairly accurate. So how did God work this miracle? The miracle happened long before I walked through the shadow of false charges and came out stronger than I went in. This was my lion's den, and the miracle was not so much that the lion's mouths were closed but what happened before. God restored and transformed my life. He not only freed me from the obsession to drink and drug, but he changed my very character so much that I had something that isn't usually associated with a felon, drug addict and drunk. I had integrity.

If you've experienced addiction or habitual sin, if you've lived selfishly enough to hurt the people closest to you, you have most likely experienced the erosion of integrity in certain areas of your life. The lies and secrets and manipulations necessary to live that life are like acid on integrity. But integrity can be restored and rebuilt. Our transformation and restoration can be so solid and real and evident that a drunk can park at a bar and people who see his vehicle will first assume that he's meeting with someone or picking someone up in service instead of thinking that the drunk is drinking, which is the natural conclusion. God makes that change possible. God performs that miraculous change that removes the obsession and makes us free enough to walk into a bar, with a reason to be there other than flirting with danger, and walk out still sober. That change can be so evident and real that when a felon is rearrested, people declare with conviction that there's no way he did that instead of wondering how they missed seeing through a mask. The is the miraculous, life-changing power of God. That's the miracle that can make us someone who can walk through a crap storm and not get any on us. It's the miracle that gives us integrity that will stand in the face of whatever weapon is formed against us.

So yes, it's God's work and it's God's grace that enables us to walk in it. But there are things we can do to strengthen the fortress of protection and restore the integrity in our lives and relationships. Integrity is more that just doing the right thing, even when no one is looking. It is character that can not only survive a crisis, but can actually shine brighter after the crises than before it. Part of walking free of the bondage of the past is rebuilding integrity. But how?

Yesterday when sharing on Fighting The Shame Monster, I wrote that the weapon which can slay the shame monster is the sword of truth. As integral as it is with recovery, rigorous honesty is the foundation upon which integrity is built. We can't justify, make excuses, live lies and have integrity. Be totally honest with yourself, with God and with others in the little things, the big things, the embarrassing things, the motives behind the things, the things you struggle with, with everything. Now, not everyone needs to know everything. Show some wisdom and discretion. But don't pretend to be something you're not. Don't wear masks. And have at least one person that knows the struggles, the slips and the fears. Here's an idea, let's go to our grave without having a single secret about us that at least one other person didn't know. That's an honest and transparent life.

We need accountability and Godly counsel. We can be as rigorously honest with ourselves as anyone on the planet and still fall short, because perspective does matter. We can not be completely objective to a situation we are in, we can not see all the aspects of, pitfalls to avoid and ways to walk through all the situations life brings. Get feedback on your life and spiritual walk, and you will find yourself guided toward God, growing stronger and deeper in relationship with Him, and that relationship produces integrity, it build the walls.

And that relationship, the one with God, comes first. It comes before any and every other relationship. Deciding to honor God instead of pleasing people doesn't mean you won't please or honor people. I can please and honor and love my wife in a way that she can believe, trust and have complete confidence in because of the honor and primacy I place on my relationship with God. The primary makes the secondary possible. If I place the relationship with my wife over that with God, they will eventually both suffer.

Honor God, surrender to His care and will. Doing what is right isn't always easy or popular. It's not always going to make you look good. But the pain and rejection and ridicule that might come with doing what's right and staying in God's will, even when it would be easier or more comfortable not to, is nothing compared to the growth of relationship with Him and the resulting covering of integrity over your life. Even your enemies will say things like, he always kept his word. You could trust her.

We looked at the foundation, the walls and the roof of our refuge of integrity. There is one other thing. This is the door that allows for the right interaction with others. Part of integrity is our service to God and others, doing what we were called to do, it's loving people. It's having compassion and love and wisdom in interactions with others. One of these three was the area that made me vulnerable to the false accusation as I showed a lack of wisdom and didn't see the danger I was in. I put myself in a situation that gave the enemy a shot at me, and he took it. Since the door is all about interaction and service to others, it may sound strange, but the way we build and care for the door is to take care of ourselves first.

That sounds selfish and opposite everything I usually preach doesn't it? Well, it's not. I can't feed others what I do not have.  I can not give if I am empty. I can not be a light in the darkness if I am not oiling my lamp. I have to take the time I need to build and maintain my relationship with Jesus, and to get and stay healthy spiritually, mentally, emotionally and relationally with Him in order to be of maximum service to God and others. Don't forget Jesus often left the crowds to go into solitude and pray, to refresh Himself with time with Daddy.

Sometimes I don't enjoy that last 45 minutes to about an hour I spend most evenings alone before going to bed. I sometimes wish I could stay with Leah and still do my evening routine. This is because I love her and selfishly want every minute I can get with her.  But I know that my relationship with her is better, and the time I do have is closer because of the time I spend alone with God. Were I to regularly neglect my evening time with Daddy to hang out with Leah more, my relationship with God would suffer and then, my relationship with Leah would suffer as well. I'd have more time, but the time wouldn't be as good. Why?: Because I can't care for her the way she needs if I am living selfishly. I can't deny self for any length of time without staying close to Daddy. And neither can you.

Integrity is a natural by-product of an ever improving relationship with God, just as freedom is. We begin to live and walk in love and truth. It is that truth of life and being (character) that is centered in relationship with God that carries us through crisis when it comes. If you desire to rebuild the relationships and trust that were damaged in the past, the first step is rebuilding your relationship with the Master and regaining the integrity that makes trust possible.



Unshackled Life Ministries is grateful for every person that reads the daily Unshackled Moments and or listens to the messages. I want to thank those who have clicked "like" on something that blessed or ministered to them. It is encouraging to know that God is using this ministry to help and bless others. Please remember that if God used something from this ministry to help, encourage or bless you, it could also bless someone else. Would you help get the devotions to more people by sharing the Moments and messages that you read or listen to? Hitting the share button instead of or in addition to the like button will help us reach more people with the good news of freedom and the encouragement to live an Unshackled Life. Thank you and God bless.

If you would like to have notifications of new Unshackled Moments and messages sent to you via email, send an email to dalynwoodard@mail.com requesting to be added to the list. You can also follow Dalyn Woodard (@Dalynsmsings) on Twitter or Unshackled Life Ministries on Facebook.

Unshackled Moments ~ February 2, 2017 ~ Fighting The Shame Monster

In the rooms of recovery and in the culture of Christian spirituality it is often said and pointed out that that we are not perfect and don't have to be perfect to be loved and accepted. I regularly say and write things like God loves you as you are, not as you should be (which I totally stole from Brennan Manning, an awesome minister of the love of God, writer and a recovered alcoholic. Check out his work), but He loves you enough not to leave you that way (which is my addition to Manning's favorite saying but based on the work and words of other ministers such as my father and Max Lucado. There is nothing new under the sun). We say things like it's about progress and not perfection and principles over personalities. So, we know we aren't perfect and can't be perfect, and we're grateful that our love and acceptance is not based on our performance or level of perfection.

But then we go and act like it is. Hopefully we're at least not applying that bogus standard to others, but all to often we apply it to ourselves. We live in fear, at times overcome with it, worried that we won't progress quickly enough, walk free enough, deny self and follow Christ enough to be loved and accepted. If we are not careful we can drown in fear and insecurity. We can fall into the trap of living a performance based lie, constantly in fear that we don't love God enough, or that He doesn't really really love and accept us because we keep not measuring up to some standard, or we question if we are secure in our salvation or not, or we live with the fear and pressure of the question if we stumble and fall will we be attacked or rejected by our fellows, our brothers and sisters, or will the love continue? The result is that we can be set free from the bondage of habitual sin and addictions and then live in bondage to the fear of failure rather than living in the joy of the freedom we have been given.

We are told that we have a 24 hour reprieve from the bondage of addiction and habitual sin based upon the maintenance of our spiritual condition. That basically means we can walk free of the obsession to do those things which so easily beset, enslave, waylay us as long as our focus is on our relationship with Christ. When we are seeking God first and saying yes to the Spirit's call to come and follow we don't have to be afraid of falling back into our former chains. And we're told that we are free from the power of sin and death (Romans 8:2), but then we go through our day worried and afraid that the big boogie monster of sin is going to ambush us and drag us out of the will of God.

We become slaves to anxiety and foolish fantasy. Foolish fantasy? Yes. What if this happens? What if that happens? How will I react if they say this or do that or this trigger pops up or? And anxiety becomes our master when our primary concern for the day is staying free or least not being found out. Will this be the day when I screw up again? Will I fail? Will I have to admit my failure to...... Will I ever be able to quit this and not worry about going back to it?

While living in the minute to minute struggle of fighting against addiction or habitual sin may be a necessary part of walking away from the bricks of Egypt, it isn't supposed to stay that way. Those who the Son set free are free indeed. That means free, not on furlough. As we find our freedom in relationship with Jesus, our focus should change. Instead of seeking freedom from sin, we begin seeking Him. When we seek Him, His will and kingdom (which simply means His rule and reign in and over our life) first, then these other things, like our freedom from addictions and sin, come as added bonuses.

But when we continue to focus on the fight and on the foe, our attention is on the problem and not the solution. The cause of this performance based pitfall where we focus so much attention and effort on not relapsing, not backsliding, not falling rather than just seeking more and more closeness and relationship with Jesus and the effect of living under the weight of that pressure, anxiety and fantasizing about what might be, come, etc. is shame.

Shame causes us to hide from God rather than seeking Him and therefore increasing the feeling that we need to feel better by doing something ourselves. We have to solve our own issues, ease our own fears, and numb, distract from or erase our own pain. Shame says you can't go to God for help because you're too _________. You don't deserve His help. Better to try something else than try God and find out it's true that He won't help you. So we try something else, we eat our forbidden fruit.

Anything we do to meet our needs that is outside of and apart from the love of God for us is sin and wrong. It's pretty simple, and deep down we know that. So as soon as we chomp down on that alternative to the provision of God, as soon as we return to the bondage of the past and that old familiar addiction or habitual sin, we know we messed up. And this only feeds that shame monster that chased us from the protected way of God's will, making him even bigger and giving him more control over our life.

We isolate and hide, cutting ourselves off even more from the help that is in God and the support we have from others because we fear being rejected, ridiculed or labeled a failure or hypocrite or...... This leads to torment until we do something to relieve the shame, and since we have cut ourselves off from the grace that takes us into Daddy's arms and provision, we return to the same thing that started the downward spiral of shame. It's a hellish cycle.

Shame makes us hold ourselves to a different standard then that to which we hold others. We say that someone who rejects the lies of shame and seeks the help they need has done the right thing, is brave and good and back on the road to recovery and freedom. But shame makes us believe that while that is the right thing for so and so, we can not be so exposed and vulnerable ourselves. We wrap ourselves in the parasite ridden cloak of feelings of worthlessness, shame, and failure and hide in the isolation, shivering in the cold separation from the warmth of God's love. We hide from the fear of the rejection from God and others by acting as though we have already been rejected. That's how stupid our logic becomes when we are driven by shame.

I am a preacher's kid, which put me in a different category from the other kids in my eyes and many others. While my parents stressed that they understood I was not and could not be perfect, that they would not hold me to such a standard and neither did God, and that God's grace was as available for me as for everyone else, I still felt the pressure to live up to some mythical standard of setting a good example, of being a little Jesus at the church and being as much a leader and shepherd of the other kids as my father was a leader and shepherd to the church. I was told that we have all sinned and fallen short, and yet, when I misbehaved with one of my friends, my part always was made to seem more wrong, more sinful, more of a failure with the people in the pews than my partner in crime's part, regardless of who came up with the idea and who followed. So while we all sin and can be forgiven, I learned not to believe that truth and learned instead to hide the real me and prevent others from knowing I was just as bad as every other kid my age.

I was told nothing could separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, that there was nothing that I could do that would make God stop loving me or love me less, but I lived the opposite, as though every time I sinned in thought or deed that God was about done with me. Before long, because shame ties your shortcomings to your identity, I believed that I was myself the mess that God could not abide to be with. It's shame that can convince us that God so loved all the world that He sent His only Son...except me, God doesn't and can't love me that much because I'm worthless and a failure.

The natural impulse is to try to escape shame, to ease the emotions and symptoms that are attached to it as fast and as painless as possible. Shame tells us that we are hopelessly worthless and unlovable. But that is a lie. And therein lies the answer; the weapon that slays the shame monster is the Sword of Truth. The response to shame that leads to freedom from it is not in hiding from what it says about us, or wearing a better mask of perfection and rightness, but in reminding ourselves as often as we need to that we are significant to Daddy, valued above even the life of His Son, and loved with an everlasting love by the God of all creation. Everlasting means just what it sounds like, lasting forever. And forever is a mighty long time that can't be shortened because of anything we do or fail to do. Nothing shame accuses us of or says about us is greater than God's love for us or costs more than the blood of Jesus can cover. Nothing we have done nor will do is so bad that God will ever write us off and say I have no desire that any should perish, except that dude - he/she needs to go, but that everyone else should have everlasting life.

Since we have all fallen short, each and every one of us, and since we have not yet been made perfect and are works in progress that He has promised to complete, we desperately need to remember that failure and sin doesn't mean that we are worthless or beyond the love of God. It means we're still alive and on this side of eternity, which means there is still time to turn to Jesus and say yes to His loving call to come and enter into the rest of relationship with Him.

If the shame monster is not faced and slain with the sword of truth, then it's only a matter of time till it beats us into submission and sin once again. The cycle of shame to sin to greater shame to more sin is never ending while shame is allowed to feed on us. Seriously, how well has shame worked for you so far? Has it really kept you living love and doing the next right thing and kept you free of the sins of the past? Or has it made you miserable and feeling unloved and unlovable and on the verge of permanent rejection at any moment or mistake and therefore feeling like you might as well fail and get it over with? Shame makes us hide and cut ourselves off, which means we live in hell, because we were created for relationship.

Imagine finishing this day and waking in the morning free from the fear of failure. What if you didn't once worry about relapse of falling back into habitual sin? What if that freedom didn't come because of some acceptance of the inevitability of failure but because you are looking instead at the great love of God for you and basking in it? What if you finally went through your day like you believed in that love and its power to keep you free from sin, and at the same time felt secure enough to realize that if you do mess up you will not be written off, that you won't make Him love you one little bit less, that Daddy will still love you, accept you, value you and cherish you?

Your value and identity doesn't change based on performance or failure. Your value is based on God's love for you, which is so great that He'd pay everything it cost to save you from your slavery and debt. Your identity is based solely on your relationship with Him, and that is something that shame can not affect because His mercies are new every morning and He is quick and faithful to forgive, old things have passed away and He has made all things, you, new.

When you are no longer ashamed of who you are, those secrets aren't so scary. Your past can become a weapon, another sword, the word of our testimony, with which we can walk into the dark dungeons of despair and lead the captives to the freedom we have found. We no longer have to hide part of our life, pretending we don't sin and haven't been despicable and disgusting compared to the standard of God's holy and perfect love and presenting only an illusion of being right, good and loving to the world. We can allow ourselves to be seen, completely seen, shortcomings, sins and failures included, because we will also be displaying the power or the love of God to overcome all of it. Instead of feeding shame, our mistakes and recovery from them while remaining confident in His love for us can set afire a blaze of hope in the hearts of the hurting.

Today, let us not hide from nor try to appease the shame monster, but let's kick its butt out of our life with the sword of the truth. The truth is that nothing you've done is more evil than God is loving and good. Your self-hatred is not how God sees you. God loves you and cherishes you and longs for relationship with you, right now, as you are and not as you should be, but He loves you enough to transform you from who you are to who you were always meant to be and what deep down you wish you were. Joy in the face of shame can be yours, and that joy in His love will have shame turning tail and running...well, in shame.



Unshackled Life Ministries is grateful for every person that reads the daily Unshackled Moments and or listens to the messages. I want to thank those who have clicked "like" on something that blessed or ministered to them. It is encouraging to know that God is using this ministry to help and bless others. Please remember that if God used something from this ministry to help, encourage or bless you, it could also bless someone else. Would you help get the devotions to more people by sharing the Moments and messages that you read or listen to? Hitting the share button instead of or in addition to the like button will help us reach more people with the good news of freedom and the encouragement to live an Unshackled Life. Thank you and God bless.

If you would like to have notifications of new Unshackled Moments and messages sent to you via email, send an email to dalynwoodard@mail.com requesting to be added to the list. You can also follow Dalyn Woodard (@Dalynsmsings) on Twitter or Unshackled Life Ministries on Facebook.

Joy In Facing Death

Dalyn Woodard continues with Part 5 of the series on joy, returning to Philippians. Paul continues  to show that there is reason to rejoice for the believer, even in the midst of suffering. But he narrows the focus some to the natural conclusion of death with the awesome truth and key of this section of scripture, to live is Christ and to die is gain. The message,  "Joy In Facing Death" is about 45 minutes long and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on Wednesday, February 1, 2017. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen. If you missed any previous messages in this serious, Part 1, "Pursuit Of Happiness," can be found here, Part 2, "Joy From Loneliness," can be found here. Part 3, "Suffer Well," can be found here, and Part 4. "Happy Joy," can be found here. May God bless and keep you.

Unshackled Life Ministries is grateful for every person that reads the daily Unshackled Moments and or listens to the messages. I want to thank those who have clicked "like" on something that blessed or ministered to them. It is encouraging to know that God is using this ministry to help and bless others. Please remember that if God used something from this ministry to help, encourage or bless you, it could also bless someone else. Would you help get the devotions to more people by sharing the Moments and messages that you read or listen to? Hitting the share button instead of or in addition to the like button will help us reach more people with the good news of freedom and the encouragement to live an Unshackled Life. Thank you and God bless.

If you would like to have notifications of new Unshackled Moments and messages sent to you via email, send an email to dalynwoodard@mail.com requesting to be added to the list. You can also follow Dalyn Woodard (@Dalynsmsings) on Twitter or Unshackled Life Ministries on Facebook.

Unshackled Moments ~ February 1, 2017 ~ Perspective Matters

Yesterday evening on the way to the jail to visit with someone I received a text from Leah telling me that my stepson had been in a car accident but that she thought he was OK. I am so very grateful that she was right and that he wasn't hurt, although I suspect he'll be sore. The part of the story that got stuck on replay this morning in my mental Mp3 was Leah telling me that he started the conversation with her to tell her about what happened with a simple and vague text saying I can't catch a break, followed a short while later with photos of his wrecked car.

I can't catch a break. That's how he felt, and I can certainly understand where he's coming from. My stepson is an awesome young man who works hard to take care of himself and his son. He's smart and has a good work ethic and is very capable, but for some reason it seems that the dominoes refuse to fall just right for him since finishing his Air Force service. I'm sure that he feels like every time he gets close to the point where he can touch bottom with his head above water there comes another wave to not only cover him again but also to push him back out toward the deep.

Maybe I am projecting because that's how I feel for him or how I would feel in that situation. I don't think he is wallowing in self pity, but I do believe he is weary and discouraged. Who wouldn't be? These are discouraging and fearful times. A lot of things just don't seem to be going right or are falling apart, and it is so easy to imagine that what is not bad is turning that way. It's natural to see things that way, it's easy, and it feels realistic and honest. It's so much a part of our life that we aren't shocked or surprised when someone expresses how they are feeling after another set back or in the face of anxiety and stress by saying here we go again, or I can't catch a break, or when it rains it pours, or we are living in a dystopian society.

OK wait, I must admit when I heard that last one it caught me off guard. My first thought was really how can any American believe that to be true? Dystopian society. America. Seriously? Dystopia - noun: an imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one. Now I understand how some can say, with a straight face that America is dystopian. Its how they imagine the world to be due to their great discouragement.

And please don't misunderstand me. I am not saying imagined as in they are making things up. I am saying imagined, as in: 1. form a mental image or concept of - synonyms: visualize, envisage, envision, picture, see in the mind's eye; 2. suppose or assume -synonyms: assume, presume, expect, take it, presuppose; suppose, think (it likely), dare say, surmise, believe, be of the view, figure. Imagined is a great word for how we see the world, our lives and reality. It is the assumptions and deductions that we make based on our perceptions of reality.

Reality exists. It is real. But we aren't realistic, and we can't see, feel or experience reality, not truly. Our perceptions of reality are illusions, imagined, because we make deductions and conclusions and assumptions based on our experiences, which we never clearly see from all perspectives and objectively, and can't rise above to see from the outside. Observation from within the problem skews the results. That's why we can have Christians in America crying persecution over being picked on or called a name or mocked on social media while in other countries people sit in prison and will die for their faith today. That's why in a country where it is almost impossible to starve to death, where there's an emergency room not far from the majority and in which even the poorest and the criminal can receive care (unlike countries where people are watching their children die from easily treated sickness or starve because there are no provisions), where both sides of the political spectrum feel threatened and begin crying totalitarian and dictator when first Obama and then Trump begin wielding their pens signing executive orders that are questionable and disliked (meanwhile in other countries with real totalitarian dictators political prisoners starve and leaders are slaughtering thousands in political oppression and genocide), and where free people able to speak their minds can truly feel and believe that we have reached a point where everything is unpleasant and bad and call it dystopian while with the same breath try to advocate for the thousands upon thousands of people trying to enter the country because it would mean hope and a better life.

I am not making fun. I am serious. It's our perspective from the place of pain and fear and discouragement that makes for dystopia in our life. My stepson felt overwhelmed and discouraged and battered by life (this is my imagining of his feelings, my assumption based on my perspective of what I heard and saw and not a direct statement from the observed), and yet regarding the same situation his mother and I rejoiced greatly. No, we weren't happy to hear about the wreck or rejoicing over his suffering and discouragement. We rejoiced because he was not hurt and neither was anyone else. We rejoiced because his car can still be driven and the other vehicle wasn't damaged badly. We rejoiced that He is OK. It could have been so much worse, totaled cars and hospitals and funeral parlors. But I don't blame him for not going there first.

My father left the country Sunday for a missions trip. He told me Saturday that I contributed to the missions by giving him peace of mind that things would be taken care of here. I had volunteered to care for his animals, among other things, while he is gone. Sunday, before he even arrived anywhere beyond our borders, I learned of mechanical issues with my mom's van that Leah and I, as well as my brother and his family, use. Monday, Dad's trip barely begun,  one of his bird dogs broke her chain, got loose and killed some laying hens and destroyed the chicken coop they were in. My natural response is to feel like I failed and let Dad down, I failed to clear the blocks before the race even got fully started. But my mom's first instinct was to be grateful it wasn't the horses that had gotten out, hurt or killed, etc.

There are pessimists and optimists and people who call themselves realists. The latter are usually pessimists who claim not to be negative but rather real. We can't be realists. We aren't capable. But we can be close, or at least make the effort to be objective and see the big picture. But that doesn't mean that we will, or have to, become pessimists or negative in the name of keeping it real. I am not an advocate of the power of positive thinking in any way, and Pollyanna suffered. Positive thinking will neither prevent nor eliminate our pain.

If you look around your life, home, country, etc. and see utopia, you're delusional and living in an imagined extreme that isn't even close to the reality that we can not completely observe. But, while that is true, so is the opposite. If you look around your life, home, country, etc. and see dystopia, you're delusional and living in an imagined extreme that doesn't actually exist. Positive thinking is not the answer to our discouragement and suffering, but perspective does matter and affects things.

I know this is getting long, but please bear with me for an example from my life. This is why I can relate to my stepson's discouragement. Just the facts.....

Through running from God, rebellion, addictions, etc. I destroyed my life and razed my future. I spent 7 1/2 years in prison. But God worked healing, freedom and restoration. I got clean and sober, began living in service and ministry. Things improved. I got a job that, with my wife's salary, came close to paying our bills and had a future. The ministry God called me to begin to grow and become established. Things looked like they were getting good and heading toward hope.

Then disaster struck. My past left me vulnerable. I found myself in an adverse legal situation facing false accusations I had fought hard to protect myself from through change in lifestyle, accountability, rebuilding trustworthiness, showing through my life and actions that I am not the man I once was, etc. Years of effort rebuilding my reputation were wiped away in an instant. Relationships were lost. People jumped to the conclusion of smoke means fire. I lost my job. I suffered through reliving an experience I never believed I would face again and having the PTSD symptoms I  had almost completely found healing from resurfacing, and I've struggled with those symptoms since. Some of the damage done to my reputation and relationships have gotten worse and have yet to be repaired in the two plus years that have followed. The stress overflowed to my wife who had to deal with crap because of her relationship with me that I never wanted to expose her to.

In the meantime, my wife's health has deteriorated. She suffered a serious heart attack and developed an autoimmune disease. She has had to struggle with the pain and anxiety and limitations of a weakened body and immune system, and (selfishly) I have had an increase in anxiety and discomfort caused by having to observe her suffer while being powerless to make it better. I have had to face the fear of losing the love of my life so soon after God gave her to me. These are facts, and seem so negative and overwhelming and discouraging. They lead naturally to the questions of when will I ever be free of my past and when will the suffering ever end?

These are also facts over the same events and time period. God protected me and my family, and the attack against me did not prosper. The legal issue was proven false and squashed in a short time and at little cost. The vast majority of damage to relationships and my reputation was restored in even less time. The ministry was not destroyed and actually continues to grow. Both Leah and I have grown closer to each other and to God and learned even more to rely on Him. I witnessed my wife live through a heart attack and her health improve. She was treated despite our lack of resources. Her illness has not destroyed her life, spirit or ability to care for others. Despite losing my job, we have had our needs met and are secure in that continuing. The last few years have been some of the best of my life, and many relationships and burnt bridges have been rebuilt.

Life is hard but good. There has  been suffering, but there has also been blessing. We do not live in heaven or utopia, but all is not lost and all is not bad. Living in the extremes of delusional optimism leads to disaster and heartache when the illusion finally falls apart. Living in the extremes of pessimism and negativity leads to hopelessness and misery as our fears and pain cause us to lose perspective.

There is and will be suffering. This world will never be utopian or right as long as the effects of sin and the curse continue to reign. But when we choose to look past our pain and fear, we can still find evidence of love. We can still see that there is goodness fighting against the tide of evil in our lives and in the world. In relationship with God, we can find comfort in the midst of suffering, we can see protection from the worst case scenario and the truth that life is not truly all bad and that there can be purpose and good come from even the worst of situations. There is no evil or pain that can overcome the love of God when we embrace the latter instead of focusing on the former. And in relationship with Him we have the sure expectation that one day the suffering will finally end to be replaced with perfect peace, fullness of joy, unhindered expression of love and understanding of the big picture that we can not see. Perspective matters. If we focus on the solution and look for the hand of love we can find it and we can be a part of its expression in the world. Or we can focus on the fear and the problem and live overwhelmed and struggling to breathe.



Unshackled Life Ministries is grateful for every person that reads the daily Unshackled Moments and or listens to the messages. I want to thank those who have clicked "like" on something that blessed or ministered to them. It is encouraging to know that God is using this ministry to help and bless others. Please remember that if God used something from this ministry to help, encourage or bless you, it could also bless someone else. Would you help get the devotions to more people by sharing the Moments and messages that you read or listen to? Hitting the share button instead of or in addition to the like button will help us reach more people with the good news of freedom and the encouragement to live an Unshackled Life. Thank you and God bless.

If you would like to have notifications of new Unshackled Moments and messages sent to you via email, send an email to dalynwoodard@mail.com requesting to be added to the list. You can also follow Dalyn Woodard (@Dalynsmsings) on Twitter or Unshackled Life Ministries on Facebook.