A Grateful Heart

Dalyn Woodard shares on one of the keys to having a life worth living and our natural response to the goodness and compassion of the God who loves us. The message, "A Grateful Heart" is about 27 minutes long and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on Wednesday, January 10, 2018. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen. May God bless and keep you.

This site is free. If this blessed, helped and or informed you, the best thing you can do is pass it on via the social buttons below. And please subscribe or follow Unshackled Life Ministries on Facebook.

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 ~ January 10, 2018 ~ You're Delightful!

He delivered me because He delighted in me.

- Psalm 18:19

At that point of desperation when we give up all hope that there is anything other than the mighty power that created that universe that could possibly save us, deliver us, set us fee, perhaps we felt, or feel, that God would rescue and restore us out of pity. Maybe it's so that He will have another servant to work for Him? Maybe it's simply that He is so tired of our pleading for help He finally does it so that we'll shut up already, like the parable of the unjust judge and the persistent woman found in Luke 8:1-8? Maybe it's to protect all those innocent bystanders? After all, there are far fewer people being damaged and far less destruction in my life now that I am not longer drinking and drugging.

Later, as we grow more healthy and free and in our desire to be of maximum service to God and others, we may begin  to believe that Daddy helped us so that we could help others. Perhaps He had a need for a helper and we were the only possible fit? If we didn't step up to serve and help there might be someone Daddy wanted to help and set free who would never have responded to anyone else other than us? Maybe He helped us because He knew we would be so grateful and good if He did?

Nope. Not hardly. Look, we do have a calling. There are also people who God wants to use us to help and reach and care for. But we're talking about the One who spoke the world into existence and made a way for us to come to Him when that was absolutely and utterly impossible for us to qualify to do. He uses us and makes us a part of His plan, but He doesn't need us. And God didn't deliver us to make us stop annoying Him. We weren't so good or had so much potential that it made it worth His time and effort, nor were we so poor and pitiful that He couldn't stand it anymore.

He made a way for us, He came to set us, the captives, free and give us life, because of His great love for us. Daddy delights in us! He takes great pleasure in us being in His life! He is the proud papa with a zillion photos on His phone that give Him pleasure. Those photos are of us, you and me. This one is mine! That one is too! I saw him, her and them and wanted them so much I went to the most amazing lengths and paid the ultimate price to make sure I could adopt them. They are my pride and joy!

Oh but not me. I couldn't be anyone's pride and joy. I'm a mess. You don't know what I've done, what's been done to me, where I've been or what I've been through. You can't believe the things I did to support my habit. The selfish way I lived my life hurt everyone I ever claimed to care about. Surely, you don't mean that God delights in me!

Yes, I mean you and me and all the rest of us losers that never had a chance on our own. He knows what we'll be when He is done. Sure you and I may feel dried up, broken and worthless. It may appear to be true to everyone around us at times. But that is not the truth when our lives are in His hands and we belong to Him.

What we can't see and can't make happen is the transformation of our lives, like the transformation of the seeds above to the beautiful blue flag iris. In my hands, those seeds would just be ugly buried things most likely. I don't have a green thumb. But in the hands of someone who knows what they are doing and understands what they are, finding a wild iris seed pod isn't a discovery of an ugly, worthless, lifeless husk. It is a treasure that with care and tending will grow into something beautiful to be delighted in and that will bloom gloriously. Daddy has the ultimate green thumb, and He's not worried about our dirt or how dried and lifeless we may appear to be. Our lives, in His hands and in His care, are beautiful treasures that He sees and takes great delight in.

We don't have to clean ourselves up or make ourselves more presentable. In fact, we have no more hope of doing that successfully than seeds have of making themselves grow. The potential is there because the Creator put it there. But potential is not enough. We need His light, the Living Water and the fertile soil of a willing heart. We need His touch. His power. His grace. But when we take the tiny seed of faith He gives us and turn our hearts toward Him like a bloom turning to the sun and place ourselves in His hands and care, there is no stopping the transformation from lifeless to abundant life, from a husk to a beautiful reflection of Him.

You are not worthless. You have great value to the One who delights in you and will bring about the transformation from glory to glory. But also just as no one plants a seed today and has a full-blooming flower without first seeing a tiny fragile shaft of green, and the growth of stem and leaves and bud all come over time before the bloom, we do not become so obviously glorious overnight. It takes time.  Be patient and remember that it is progress not perfection, and do not stress over the ugliness of the past. It's only the seed pod left to rot in the dirt where we bloom in His beautiful love for us.

This site is free. If this blessed, helped and or informed you, the best thing you can do is pass it on via the social buttons below. And please subscribe or follow Unshackled Life Ministries on Facebook.

Unshackled Life Ministries is grateful for every person that reads the daily Unshackled Moments, the weekly Unshackled Echo and or listens to the Audio Messages. I want to thank those who have clicked "like" on something that blessed or ministered to them on social media, commented on the blog or replied to an email subscription. 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 and sermons to more people by sharing this? Hitting the share button or forwarding this to a friend 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.

Unshackled Moments ~ January 9, 2018 ~ This Little Light Of Mine

Lighthouses don’t go running all over an island looking for boats to save; they just stand there shining.

- Anne Lamott

I saw this quote this morning, and it gave me something to think about regarding how those of us who have found freedom and life in Christ live, or at least should live. Jesus said that those who follow Him would be a light to the world. Now that I am getting older and am having more trouble seeing, I am more aware of how awesome light is when you're trying to move around. Like the lighthouses, light itself doesn't boss us around or try to tell us what to do or where to go. It simply illuminates the path so that we can see where we need to step without falling all over ourselves and obstacles.

We aren't called to stand near the cliff and shout at people so that they know they're about to go over the edge. We are called to light the area enough so that they can see the danger and choose to turn toward the safety of the source of our light. The lighthouse doesn't go looking for boats to save nor does it give the boats orders about how to turn to navigate the rocks. It simply shines the light.

It is the Holy Spirit that convicts, not us. We don't need to go tell everyone how they are wrong or where they are messing up. I remember when I first walked into the rooms of recovery a little over nine years ago. I struggled at the beginning to the point where some who had themselves been hopeless causes once spoke of their belief that I would never make it. The funny thing is that few bothered to tell me how messed up I was, no one came and beat me about the head and shoulders with the truth that if I didn't get sober I was going to go back to prison or die, no one said if you don't do this and this and that there's no hope. No one needed to tell me how much danger I was in or how much of a mess I was. I knew that. What I couldn't see was how to escape the danger of the rocks in the seas of my life.

Here's what the ones who helped me did do. They were there. They made themselves available to me and let me hang out with them. One man spoke to me after a recovery meeting where I stumbled in late and drunk and told me that I could call him any time I needed to, day or night, as long as I called before I picked up. He told me if I called him drunk he wouldn't waste his time talking to me when I wasn't sober. Others let me spend hours with them, at their homes, so I didn't have to be alone if I didn't wish to be. But no one tried to make me stay with them or preach at me while I was there. They simply lived their lives of recovery and lit the area around them so that I could see that I wanted what they had.

But here's something else those lighthouses that helped me safely reach the docks didn't do. Not only did they not hunt me out and try to drag me in, they didn't dim or turn off their lights when I got close. What I mean by that is that they didn't try to be cool, they didn't lower themselves back to my level so that I would be comfortable or accept them. They didn't try to camouflage or filter their light or life so that they could fit in with me and seem no different that I was. I needed different. It does no good to show and tell that we have been where someone in need is if we're not also showing that where we are now is significantly different.

We all too often hide our light under a bushel in some weird desire to expose those in the dark to it slowly so as not to hurt their eyes or scare them off. But Jesus said that isn't what we are to do. No we don't try to force our light on anyone, but we don't walk around and hide it either. Live as bright as God can make your life so that those who are as desperate as the drowning can make for it, seeing the life they want for themselves and that it is much different than what they have, even if it was once very similar.

When we shield others from the full brightness of our light there is no reason for them to do what we have done. Why bother when there seems to be little difference in the results? When we turn off our light to make someone else more comfortable, suddenly we're both in the dark and in danger of falling into the ditch. Instead of shining the light of escape for our friend in need we put ourselves in danger. It broke my heart to learn recently of a friend who had relapsed. Another friend spent time with the one who had stumbled. Instead of lighting the way back home to safety and life, he dimmed his life to fit in and be accepted. Now they are both running and gunning again and headed for the rocks.

Jesus spent so much time with the outcasts and the sinners that the religious folks despised Him for His associations. Still, there is no record of Him walking into the home of someone in desperate need to clean up their life and tell them to straighten up or forcing them to lay aside the wrong. He loved them and had compassion and helped them, and then, after they had responded on their own to the light of His love, gave them the answer, told them that there was a better way and that they could live free of the sin that had them in bondage. But He also never dimmed His light. He shone so brightly as He went through life that even the blind could see Him  and cry out Son of David have mercy on me! Lighthouses don't turn off or dim their lights to keep from hurting the eyes of the boat captains in their area, to look better or to fit in. Don't go grabbing boats in the water and try to tug them into shore, just keep shining so that they can see where to go, but just as importantly, don't dim your light.

Lord, may we always shine brightly with Your love and way of life. Let us realize that shining with Your light is enough, and we are not to try to force anyone in out of the dark. But let us never feel ashamed of the light and that we are no longer in darkness. May we never dim the light or run it through a filter to make our lives appear to be like those who are in need. May we remember that it is not their comfort or acceptance we want but to be of service and to show them that there is a solution. Amen.

This site is free. If this blessed, helped and or informed you, the best thing you can do is pass it on via the social buttons below. And please subscribe or follow Unshackled Life Ministries on Facebook.

Unshackled Life Ministries is grateful for every person that reads the daily Unshackled Moments, the weekly Unshackled Echo and or listens to the Audio Messages. I want to thank those who have clicked "like" on something that blessed or ministered to them on social media, commented on the blog or replied to an email subscription. 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 and sermons to more people by sharing this? Hitting the share button or forwarding this to a friend 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.

Unshackled Moments ~ January 8, 2018 ~ Just Not Feeling It

I am about two hours into the morning, and I feel I have accomplished little. That sentence is the first thing that I have written this morning on a day when I have much to do and little time to do it, I should be done with today's Moment by now, not barely starting it. Now, despite how it feels, I haven't wasted the morning. I have already given the horses their first serving of hay and broken the ice on all the outside animals' water. I have completed all my morning reading and also accidentally found a book that I want to read with Leah. I also discovered a song that I like. I shared it with Leah, and it turns out she is familiar with it and loves it. Sometimes I'm a little late to the party. I have a load of laundry going. So I've at least made a start on the housework that I seriously need to get done today.

But I haven't gotten done what I feel I need to have gotten done by this time, nor what I wanted to. And part of that is I don't really want to. I want to have completed my devotions, reading and writing for the day by about an hour ago. I want to have completed the first load of laundry and the dishes already. But most of all, I still want to be in bed. I do not feel well. And that, as is often the case when I feel ill, means that the really really true want is that I don't want to do anything besides stay in bed and alternate between sleep, reading and watching some TV or going on a Facebook/YouTube binge. I don't have time to be sick, and there is too much to do to be self-indulgent and lazy. I am not sick enough to truly excuse staying in bed, but more than enough to kill my motivation. I'm just not feeling productive or ministry minded right now.

It happens. Sometimes we're on when it comes to responsibility, service and such. Sometimes we're off or unable. Both of those are somewhat easy, or at least understandable. When I'm on, the love, compassion and desire to serve and give and be productive are flowing, making it easy to do what needs to be done. When I am completely off, such as when too sick to function, I can relax and try to recover. But those middle moments, when I am not on or wanting to or feeling like doing what needs to be done but do not have a good reason not to be responsible and of service, those are the tough times for me. The selfish me is the me that runs totally on feelings. I have quit jobs in the past over being upset with someone or simply disliking the job and not caring about the future, my responsibilities or even how I would pay for my drinking and drugging without a job. I felt like quitting, so I did. I didn't feel like going to work, so I didn't. I didn't feel like being there for a friend in need, so I wasn't. Even as a child I would at times blow off my friends to stay inside and read or watch TV, often lying and telling them my mom told me I couldn't go outside and play so that they wouldn't be upset with me or realize the truth that I just didn't feel like playing with them. If they knew that, they may not want to be around me when I did feel like hanging out with them, and that would be unacceptable. My friends were supporting cast for me, to be there when I wanted them and to leave me alone when I didn't. I didn't become a selfish jerk when I became a drunk and addict. I already was one.

That old selfish nature is still haunting me. So, when I don't feel like helping someone, it makes it hard to go do it, or I feel put out. If I don't feel like writing, making the words flow feels a lot like breaking ice. It takes a lot of work and the splash back is wet and cold and uncomfortable as can be before the barrier is gone and things begin to resemble the liquid water of a warm, sunny day. When I hurt and feel achy all over, the desire for a clean house drops way down on my list of things I care about. When I don't feel well, whether that be emotionally, mentally, physically or spiritually, that impulse to blow off what needs to be done, to neglect the needs of others and to wallow in self indulgence is stronger and harder to resist. That is why I can't live based on feelings.

I don't just love my wife when I feel overwhelmed by how awesome and beautiful she is, which thankfully is the majority of the time. I am grateful that even after years I am still stunned by her in so many ways. I don't just love God when I can feel His presence. I don't only help others or try to be a decent friend when I am feeling social and hospitable. I don't only write and preach when I feel inspired and prepared. Part of good recovery is responsibility. I'm not really talking about responsibility as in duty, although it feels like that sometimes. I am thinking more along the lines of being responsible to myself. I need to selfishly fight my own selfish instincts to isolate, to let things that need to be done go, to blow off people and work, to only seek to serve and draw near to God when I'm in trouble or feel His presence and my own spirituality. The truth is that what I want overall, is to be happy and free. I want to be loved and to love others. I want to be of maximum service to God and others. I want to make my wife happy and demonstrate how much I love her and how important she is to me. I want to be a part of Daddy's desire and plan to draw people deeper into relationship with Him and to set them free.

These wants and desires, and more, are things that come from loving God and loving others, from sacrificing selfishness and self-centered behavior. But they are also in my own selfish interests. They are what make me happiest, bring contentment and satisfaction, keep me free and make life worth living. The fleeting feelings that I don't feel like doing something, that God is not near or doesn't care because I can't see or feel His hand on my life, that nothing matters beyond myself at this moment, not even my self of tomorrow, can not rule my life and my choices, because they will lead to more misery later than satisfaction now. Not everything I feel is real nor worthy of being a guiding or controlling motivation for life.

In recovery, in service, in work, in relationships, in life in general, it's awfully nice to feel what you're going on, but we can't go on what we feel. Sometimes we do have to get out of bed and wash the dirty dishes in the sink, even if we feel like I can buy more paper plates. Sometimes we do have to turn off the TV and talk to someone on the phone who needs our experience, strength and hope. Sometimes we do have to just do the work, even when it's not inspired, it's not fun or we're not feeling it. Sometimes we need to put what will make others happy, what will make us happier tomorrow, over what we feel would make us happy now. That truth, the truth that keeps me turning to the Spirit for the power to choose to stay free on the rare occasions when the temptation to drink or drug returns momentarily, is the same truth that has keeps me going, working and serving during those middle moments when I can but just don't want to.

This site is free. If this blessed, helped and or informed you, the best thing you can do is pass it on via the social buttons below. And please subscribe or follow Unshackled Life Ministries on Facebook.

Unshackled Life Ministries is grateful for every person that reads the daily Unshackled Moments, the weekly Unshackled Echo and or listens to the Audio Messages. I want to thank those who have clicked "like" on something that blessed or ministered to them on social media, commented on the blog or replied to an email subscription. 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 and sermons to more people by sharing this? Hitting the share button or forwarding this to a friend 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.

Forgiving God And Ourselves

Wally Flynt shares a short message on a key to forgiving. The message,  "Forgiving God And Ourselves is about 7 minutes long and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on Sunday, January 7, 2018. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen. May God bless and keep you.

This site is free. If this blessed, helped and or informed you, the best thing you can do is pass it on via the social buttons below. And please subscribe or follow Unshackled Life Ministries on Facebook.

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 ~ January 6, 2018 ~ Wiser

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

February 14, 2015 as Learning From Experience.

I read a saying this morning as I went through the materials that I read daily, experience is what you get when you don't get what you want. I understand the message behind this statement. I even agree with it. I've learned a lot from not getting my own way, from learning to accept things as they are..
But I believe that the most important lessons I have learned in life, and therefore my best experience gained, have come from the many situations where I went right down the path of my own choosing, did exactly what I wanted to do, received exactly what I wanted, only to realize that the road led to misery, pain and heartache. When I want what my Heavenly Father wants for me, I can have joy and peace in any situation, after the Gethsemane moment it takes to line my will up with His. But if I don't line my will up with His, then even if I get what I want, I don't.

I want to be happy joyous and free, to have and be loved, to be content with life and have a life worth living. In all the times that I have refused to surrender my will and line it up with God's I have had some fun, I have had pleasures, I have had times where distraction made life not so bad, but I have not had a life worth living. Only in surrender of my will and life can I find life. It's a paradox, but it's not complicated.

This site is free. If this blessed, helped and or informed you, the best thing you can do is pass it on via the social buttons below. And please subscribe or follow Unshackled Life Ministries on Facebook.

Unshackled Life Ministries is grateful for every person that reads the daily Unshackled Moments, the weekly Unshackled Echo and or listens to the Audio Messages. I want to thank those who have clicked "like" on something that blessed or ministered to them on social media, commented on the blog or replied to an email subscription. 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 and sermons to more people by sharing this? Hitting the share button or forwarding this to a friend 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.

Unshackled Moments ~ January 5, 2018 ~ Goodness And Mercy

This morning I rose from bed, threw on some clothes, grabbed the coffee pot and headed for the study to see how much of my morning devotions I could get done before it warmed enough to go break the ice so that the horses, goats, chickens and dogs on our property and my parents' place would have water without my having to worry about it freezing back over. As I usually do, I put on Pandora, today I had my stations shuffling, and while I opened my email, one of the first songs to play happened to be a reggae song by Israel Houghton entitled Surely Goodness. It's an awesome song, if you like reggae. Even if you don't, the lyrics are great.

It's primarily based on the last verse of the 23rd Psalm, which begins by saying, Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. The song is about how the writer hadn't been able to believe at first that God wasn't mad at him and wouldn't leave him, but now he's confident in God's love and faithfulness and he sees goodness, mercy and grace all around him. I like that a lot. One of the things I've always liked about that psalm is the idea of goodness and mercy following me. When you follow someone, you react to them, to what they are doing and the direction they are going. And I love the assurance that wherever I may turn or whatever I may do, good or bad, right or wrong, Daddy reacts out of love with goodness and mercy. It doesn't mean that there are no consequences, but it does mean that He's not a mean old man in the sky waiting for me to step out of line so that He can punish me.

But this morning something occurred to me about this idea of goodness and mercy following me. This is not what the verse is saying or means, but I believe it to be a truth that can be extrapolated from the true meaning and intent of the scripture. Before, my life was marked by negative consequences to my selfishness, my choices and my addictions. What I left in my wake, you could say what followed me, was damage, destruction, hurt feelings, wronged bystanders and the like. It would make sense if people said, here comes trouble, when they saw me heading their way, because of what I left behind as the consequence of how I was living.

I don't ever want that to be the case again. One of the blessings of being set free from the bondage of my addictions for over seven and a half years is that people are often actually happy to see me. People trust me again. I am not constantly having to try to remember who I need to avoid because they have reason to be angry with me. But I would love to move beyond that on a more constant basis. Once we understand that awesome truth that Daddy loves us as we are, not as we should be, and that His reaction to us is always loving goodness and mercy, then we can begin walking in that same love as we grow closer to Him and become more like Him. How great would it be if the people we encounter all came away from the meeting with the feeling that they had just been washed over with goodness and mercy? If love, kindness, compassion, goodness and mercy became our constant wake behind us, what a blessing we would be to those whose lives we touch.

No longer bringing pain and destruction into the lives of others is amazing, and it is a great place to start. But to be of maximum service to God and others, for our every day life to be a demonstration of His love, power and way of life, we need to go beyond that. If we are truly surrendered to the Spirit, than the fruits of the Spirit are what people will feel and see as the consequences of our life. It's so much more than simply the absence of the negative. It is being ruled by love and living love in such a way that the positive wonder of God's goodness and mercy is what follows us, what we leave in our wake as we pass through the lives of others. My prayer is that you and I would be so overcome with Daddy's love for us and so in tune with the Spirit that when people think of or describe what it's like to be around us, it would boil down to goodness and mercy follow them.

This site is free. If this blessed, helped and or informed you, the best thing you can do is pass it on via the social buttons below. And please subscribe or follow Unshackled Life Ministries on Facebook.

Unshackled Life Ministries is grateful for every person that reads the daily Unshackled Moments, the weekly Unshackled Echo and or listens to the Audio Messages. I want to thank those who have clicked "like" on something that blessed or ministered to them on social media, commented on the blog or replied to an email subscription. 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 and sermons to more people by sharing this? Hitting the share button or forwarding this to a friend 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.