Unshackled Moments ~ July 31, 2018 ~ We can Go Home

I had a friend when I was younger who messed up and wrecked his car. No one was hurt, and the car wasn't badly damaged, but he freaked. He didn't go home for several days because he was afraid of what his father would do because of his mistake. I remember thinking that seemed odd. This happened not long after I had left the road in my truck and hit a culvert. My truck was totaled, but I managed to get it home, though I had to drive about 10 miles an hour the entire way.

I remember getting home, washing the blood off my face and then, after taking a deep breath, waking my father to tell him I'd had a wreck. There were two reasons that I didn't put off telling him. First, I knew that any trouble or negative consequences of my actions would only be worse if I delayed or tried to hide it. I am sure that my parents would be much more upset if I disappeared for three days and wrecked the truck than they were about my wrecking the truck. But the main reason is that I knew I was safe. Dad might be upset. I felt sure he would be. But I also knew I wouldn't be beaten or kicked out of the house or anything like that. I didn't have any need to try to form a backup plan on where to go if I were no longer welcome at home. I wasn't always as secure in my Dad's love for me as I should have been, but I never doubted that I was more important to him than a vehicle. This made it possible to overcome my fear and shame and go home.

This little story is an example of why it is so important for us to realize that our Daddy loves us as we are, not as we should be. He loved us before He adopted us, and without us earning or deserving His love. This is important because it means that His continuing to love us is not about us and our performance. It's about Him and the importance that He places on us and on relationship with us. He was willing to do everything needed and pay the ultimate price to make us His. After doing so much to attain relationship with us, He's not about to cast us out or away because of a mistake or a bad, selfish, willful decision.

This is great news, because we're going to mess up. We're going to have times when we slip and fall. We're even going to have times when we choose to jump. There may be consequences, but we don't have to stay our there in the dark and the mess. We don't have to be afraid to run back to Daddy. He's not going to abuse us or reject us. He loves us much better and more perfectly than any earthly father ever could be. We can trust that love enough to go home, no matter where we've been, what we've done or what led to our mess. We are securely kept in relationship by His love for us, not by our performance, so we can quickly return if and when we stray.


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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 ~ July 30, 2018 ~ Keeping The Wheel Of Life Rolling Right

I've been thinking a lot about the idea of putting relationship with God first. It's important. There is a hierarchy to life that matters and is essential to a life of purpose and contentment, a life worth living. But it is also important to be sure of what we mean when we say God is first and what comes next.

My relationship with Daddy can't be like a list. Jesus is not my priority. That's not what keeping Him first means. Now, before anyone goes running and complaining about the heretic saying that Jesus is not our priority, please stick around and see what I mean.


Do you have to do lists? Maybe it's not written down, but mentally we look ahead and think this is what I'd like to get done today. There are likely a few things on that list that get priority. These are needs and musts. I have to do's. For instance, I have to feed the animals today. I will have to do that again tomorrow. Then there are things that take priority because of their importance to us as much as because of their necessity. I have to have my morning time and do the things that are necessary for ministry, such as writing this Moment.

But will this is a priority, it's not an all-day thing. Nor is feeding the animals or washing dishes or any number of things that I need to do. I can check them off when done and not have to think or worry about them again for a while. My relationship with God is not like that. He is not a priority on my to do list. He is not even the highest priority. He is not first on a list.

Jesus is the wheel in the middle of a wheel. He is first as in the core and center, not at the top of something that can be checked off a list.

It's not #1 spend time with Jesus. Check. Now, #2 go to work. No, everything is connected. It's Jesus at the center of my morning time, Jesus at the center of my relationship with my wife, Jesus at the center of my commute, Jesus at the center of work, Jesus at the center of my time to relax and rest, and Jesus at the center of everything and every moment of every day.

The goal is not to make Him first but have moments where He is not a factor, but rather to have every part of our lives include Him, be for Him and in every moment to be aware that He is there with us. The only way that this illustration and the picture I used is inaccurate is that not all the spokes are equal. Everything is connected to my relationship with Him, and He is at the center of all I am and do. But my relationship with our animals isn't even close to the same thickness and importance as my relationship with my wife. The ministry God has called me to is far more essential than Texas Tech football. Every day there are spokes that can be broken or removed without the wheel of life being broken or losing integrity. But there are some spokes that are necessary because of what God has given me. You have your own.

But quickly, before I leave that brings up that question of what is next. Jesus is the center, what it is all connected to. Remove Him and everything falls apart. The wheel can not function. But the most important spoke, what is it? I don't know what it is for you. I know what it is for me. I do however know what it isn't for either of us. No offense to the campaign that tries to encourage people to put God first, but I am not second. You are not your second either, at least you shouldn't be if want to be spiritually fit and of maximum service to God and others. Leah is the most important spoke on my wheel, followed closely be the ministry that God has called me to. We are called to deny self, and that's hard to do if we insist of nothing but God coming before our own needs and comforts. I'm not number one is a good place to start, but in truth, we are not number two or even number three in most cases. We can be a spoke. I am putting my desires on that wheel every time I watch a Tech game (I am so ready for fall and football), and there's nothing wrong with that. But I need to keep that spoke in the right place and thickness (importance). It's not more important or essential than Leah or ministry or any number of things. Enjoy the pleasures and hobbies that God has created you with am affinity for. Maybe you carve pipes or play golf or hunt or fish or shop or bake or read or play video games or....... There is a time to rest and recreate and God designed us to enjoy things. It's fine. But our pleasures and desires and hobbies can't be the biggest spoke on the wheel or the alignment will get all out of whack.


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.

You Don't Have To Be Perfect

We strive for perfection. That perfect standard of living and doing right, of not sinning, is the goal. But what happens when the goal becomes a burden? Darlene Woodard shares on what happens when the desire to do right becomes a source of distress and fear. The message, "You Don't Have To Be Perfect," is about 19 minutes long and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on Sunday, July 29, 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 ~ July 28, 2018 ~ Grab A Better Bike

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

March 19, 2015.

I know this is a joke, it's humor, but there's a truth in it that's heartbreaking. This is an attitude that I can relate to all too easily. We have become ingrained with the idea that gratification should be instant and that we should have what we want to the point that it overpowers everything else in life. The salt of selfishness, of what's in it for me, of take care of me first has been poured to heavily into our food, It's all we can taste most times, and we've forgotten what food is supposed to taste like without it, how much better it can taste, what life is really all about. 

If we do a+b+c, then we feel we have the right to demand that God do D. If we want to live for ourselves for a moment, not all the time, just this once, we do it. After all, it's easier to get forgiveness than permission. If God doesn't answer our prayer, our way and now, if not yesterday, then we quickly turn to some selfish pleasure or desire to feel better or we'll try to play God and answer the prayer for ourselves.

We've become selfish spoiled children spiritually, and it's sad. Because while living this way will hurt others, we're really robbing and hurting ourselves the most. If  we were great at being selfish instead of just good at it, we wouldn't settle for the trash we grab.We could have the best. God wants to give us something so much better than a bike. And that doesn't mean He always denies us the bike. I've gotten some pretty nice "bikes" (what I want) from God these last few years, and each one has been a better bike than I could steal, 

When we deny self and live for God, we get more. Make sense? It doesn't make sense to me either, but it's true. I look at my life today and feel like, "Wow, all this and heaven too!" Whereas when I lived like the boy pictured above, pleasure felt so fleeting, and misery my norm. There is a better way. Grab a better bike by waiting to see what Daddy plans to surprise you with. 

Abba, help me to wait on You for what You have for me. Help me not to live for my own desires and whims. I know that what You want to give me is better than even what I want for myself, and when they are the same, then Your way and timing makes it something that lasts longer and fit perfectly. Today I will, with Your help and by Your grace, act like Your loving, respectful child and not like a selfish, spoiled brat. 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 ~ July 27, 2018 ~ Praying Backwards

Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

- Step 11

I love and value this step. My primary purpose is not to help those who suffer from bondage and addiction, any and all I encounter who still suffer because of a lack of relationship with Daddy. That may be the primary purpose of various groups of people I associate and or worship with, but it is not my individual primary purpose. It can't be. It is only by seeking deeper and more meaningful relationship with my Daddy that any other responsibility or purpose can be done to its proper fullness. If God is not first in my life, I can't help you. To be honest, if God is not first, most times I'd rather do something else than try to help you.

If God is not first, I become first. When I slip into selfishness and self-centeredness I do not have any desire to do anything that involves sacrifice or inconvenience. I just don't. So improving my conscious contact with my Creator benefits every area of my life, not just my personal spiritual health and my recovery. Prayer and meditation is a major part of the foundation of relationship with God.

I have taken issue in the past with the phrase above that we pray only for His will for us and the power to carry that out though. I think it often is said out of fear of slipping back into self and trying to use God like a genie in a bottle. It is God's will that we bring Him the desires of our heart. Philippians 4 tells us that in everything we are to make our requests known to God. This is part of His will for us, to understand that He is our Daddy and that He loves us, so we can walk boldly into His presence and tell Him what we want, as we would with an earthly father that we know cares about us and has the resources to give to us. So, please, offer your desires to your Daddy.

That said, and I still stand by that, I also see where this idea of praying only for His will and the power to carry that out is also a response to an improper attitude and way to pray that is prevalent in religion. We tend to pray backwards. There is a teaching that basically tells us to take what we want to Daddy and make Him do what we want Him to do. We walk boldly, perhaps in this situation too boldly, into the throne room of the King of Kings and Lord of all, and demand that He do what we want, the way we want, in the when that we want. If we can conjure up enough faith then God ceases to be Lord and becomes our servant under obligation to work our will.

No. This must not be our approach. This is not following Christ. It is turning prayer into spell casting. We do not bend God's will to ours. We bend our will, by the grace and power of the Spirit, to His. It is God's will that we take our requests and desires to Him. But like Jesus in the Garden, we surrender our will to His and the desire of our heart, if not our words, becomes but whatever You want and know is best. Not my will but Yours Daddy.

Praying that we receive something if it is in His will for us is not hedging our bets, giving us an out to still believe in case He doesn't answer, or a lack of faith. It is following the Spirit and example of Christ. Daddy, if there is some other way than this suffering I would really appreciate being able to do it the easier way, but if not, let Your will be done. It's not being afraid that Daddy doesn't really love us enough to care about what we are going through and to make it all better and more comfortable. It's understanding that He is our Daddy who loves us and also knows best. His will is always going to be what brings us closer to Him and transforms us more into His likeness, what will make us more spiritually healthy and increase life. Life in us and life in others.

I remember as a child being exposed to Hepatitis and being taken by my Dad to the doctor for a shot with a very big needle. Um, I would rather not, thank you. This is going to hurt. Can we not do this? But Dad loves me, and he knew that it was much better for me to hurt a little in the short term and stay healthy than to skip the suffering of the short term and risk losing my liver and shortening my life. This is love. Daddy loves us and cares about us. He empathizes with our sorrow and suffering.  That's why the Holy Spirit is also called the Comforter. You can't comfort someone if you don't care about what they are going through. But while He will hold us and comfort us and be with us through the Valley of the Shadow, we still sometimes have to go through the struggle. It's not a lack of love. It's perfect love that understand what is going on and what is needed more than we can from the limited perspective of our fear and pain in the midst of our circumstances.

Daddy, I have things I want and believe I need. I ask for those things from You  out of obedience to take what I desire to You. But I trust that You love me and will do what is needed to accomplish Your good work in my life and to enable me to be a beacon for Your love and glory to others. Help me, as I rise from here, to do  Your will always. I submit my will to Yours and offer myself to You, the good and the bad, that You may have Your way in my life, knowing that Your will is always for my good and never for my ill. 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.

The Trouble With Tribbles

There are three things that are in opposition for what God wants for us. Dalyn Woodard shares on what the triangle of trouble is and what we can do about it. The message, "The Trouble With Tribbles," is 47 minutes long, and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on July 25, 2018. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen.

If you missed the first message in the series "The Daddy Heart Of God," entitled "Redirected By Love," it can be found here. The second message, "God Is Light," can be found here. The third message, "You Are Beloved," can be found here, and the fourth message, "You Have Overcome," can be found here.

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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 ~ July 25, 2018 ~ Changing Direction Is Not Enough

I have said and have heard it said that repentance means to turn from sin, to change our direction, way and mind. But upon reflection I realize that definition is incomplete. It's not enough. I look back over the years of one step forward and a hundred steps back and realize that under that definition I repented repeatedly. It never lasted and never produced any significant change in my heart or life. I have spoken with enough people who have struggled to walk with God, to walk free from the bondage of sin and addiction to know that I am not unique in this.

No, repentance under that simple definition is extremely lacking. The reason repentance failed for me over and over is that it relied on me. I saw the horrible consequences of my choices and actions and knew something had to change. I needed to get right. So I would change my mind. Meaning, I would determine to do better, to do differently. And it never lasted, because it was based on my determination, strength and will. It never brought life. It brought struggle and defeat, followed by hopelessness.

Repentance that leads to life has a very important added element. It doesn't rely on us. It matters just as much where we turn as that we desire to turn. We can't simply change direction but must change to the right direction in order to have any meaningful and lasting change of heart and life. Repentance with the usual definition allows that I recognize that I am in the wrong and feel remorse about that. But I also need to see that I am unable to do anything about it. Part of my wrong is more than my choices and nature and attitude. It is my inability to change that. When I turn from my wrong, I must do so by choosing to turn in the direction of life, to Daddy, with the understanding that I am tatolly incapable of doing anything more productive and life changing than to totally lean on and look to His love, mercy and grace for the change that I desire.

When we determine to stop doing wrong, to stop submitting to our addictions and serving our bondage, we set ourselves up for failure. We end up breaking yet another promise to God, to others and to ourselves. But when we turn in surrender to stop the fight and rely on Him, He provides the power to say yes to love and to right. He does the transformation work that we so desperately need. And He takes our mess and gives us a life worth living in its place. That is the only repentance that works, and it takes an understanding of grace. We can't. He can. I'll let Him.


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 ~ July 24, 2018 ~ Don't Fear Freedom

I preach grace and freedom. I have learned that my only hope is to completely lean on the grace of Christ. I am firmly convinced that is the only hope for anyone and everyone. Still, that message, which is the good news that should excite us, tends to scare people who, because of abuses in the past on the subject of grace tend to believe that it allows for license to sin. Sloppy grace, where people believe that we can do anything and everything that we want because we're forgiven. Get the slate cleaned so we can dirty it again. But freedom and grace are not there to enable us to sin. Grace isn't the freedom to sin and freedom isn't the ability to do whatever we desire.

Grace gives us the freedom and the power not to sin, and freedom gives us a choice to do what's right instead of being in bondage to what is wrong. The difference between legalism and grace, law and freedom, is not rules verses the lack of rules. The rule doesn't change. There are spiritual laws, and they do matter. No, the rule doesn't change. Love God. Love others. Don't do that which distances us or others from Daddy and do those things that bring us closer to Him and gives His love and compassion to others, drawing them to Him. Selfless love is a much tougher law of the heart than a list of external do's and don'ts. In fact, it is impossible without grace.

We are called to do what is right, to obey our Daddy, to love and care for others. We are to walk in the power of the Spirit so that we do not fall into the trap of living for ourselves and the impulsive selfish desires of our old nature. Believing in grace doesn't make it OK to steal, to be selfish and mean, to be unfaithful, etc. The rules don't change, but the reasons do. Now instead of striving to do the impossible, choose good on our own, love unselfishly from a broken, selfish heart, measure up and please a perfect God with our own might, we are responding out of love, to His love, relying on His love and power to enable us to do it. Before we had no choice. We were ruled by sin and a slave to it. No matter how hard we tried or determined to live differently we would always eventually say yes to the bondage of self and wrong. Now, we have a choice. Now we can choose to say yes, to obey and to love.  That is grace and freedom. It's not something to be afraid of. It's something to rejoice over. The cross of Christ has set us free from the bondage of sin and death, not to sin, but to finally be able to stop.


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 ~ July 23, 2018 ~ He Is Always With Us

Step 11 calls us to seek to improve our conscious contact with God. The truth is that He is always with us. Whether we feel it or not, we are always in His presence. Jesus said that He would never leave us or forsake us and that He is with us always. Psalm 139:8 reminds us that when we ascend into the heavens He is there, but also when we make our bed in hell, He is also there.

I love that verse. Yes, it reminds me that He is with me in good times and bad. But it also reminds me that the presence of Daddy with me and in my life is not based on my performance. It's not about me. It's about His faithfulness and love. When I am doing well and spiritually minded, He is with me. But when I am not thinking of Him at all, even when I choose not to deny self and choose wrong, literally make my bed in hell, He is faithful and still with me. That isn't about me or up to me.

What is up to me is that conscious contact, the awareness of His presence. His presence is of most benefit when we remember it, acknowledge it, and pursue that awareness. Americans on average spend 4-5 hours a day checking and using our phones. We often grab our phones first thing in the morning and check one last time as the last thing before going to bed. I am grateful for the pocket computer I call a phone but rarely use it as such, and I am not saying they are bad things. We use them to connect, to get information and direction, and escape from the day with games and distraction. There's nothing inherently wrong with that. But what would it do in our spirit if we spent as much time and were as thoughtful of escaping stress and pressure, of connecting and getting direction and information by reaching for Daddy? What if before we reach for our phone to check notifications we checked in with Daddy? Lord, I know you are with me, no matter what happens today, I will not be alone because You are faithful, and I am grateful for that. What if the last thing we do is to acknowledge that He has been with us?

Keeping an awareness of the truth that He is with us, regardless of our feelings, is a great way to increase our awareness of that presence. It helps us to remember that when we make our bed in hell, we take Him with us. Lord, I don't want to drag You into the muck so help me to walk free of the miry places. Keeping in mind that He is with us helps us to look for evidence of His presence and love. Thank You Lord for that butterfly and for the breeze on this hot day. Thank You that even though I am in pain, You are with me and I am not going through this alone. We are promised that if we seek Him, we will find Him. Prayer and meditation is important, but an attitude of prayerful remembrance that we are not walking through our day alone and checking our connection with Him throughout the day will keep our awareness of His presence fresh and alive. And with the awareness of His presence comes an awareness of His love.


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.

Good That Lasts

There is a lot of bad in life, but God can use all of it for our good. Ted Mannes shares a reminder that we do have a hope and that what God gives us can't be taken away. The message, "Good That Lasts," is about 6 minutes long and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on Sunday, July 22, 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 ~ July 21, 2018 ~ Dreams Of Me

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

March 17, 2015.

I may be the only one who does this, but I sometimes fantasize about being able. If somebody mistreats me or disrespects me, if I don't watch it I'll catch myself imagining myself back in the situation or in a future similar situation where I have the perfect quip or comeback to stop it from hurting. Or maybe I am able to turn around and walk away, not out of love, but because  I have no fear of the negative consequences and I have found or created a better situation. Or maybe I can give that person that look that backs them down and shuts them up without me having to raise a finger.

When I start hurting from work, it's so easy to fantasize about suddenly being good at something else or being able to erase my criminal record and get a job I  would love more where I make enough and work less. Or I'm able to figure out the mathematical formula to pick the numbers and win the lottery. Maybe I just find the $300 million ticket in a parking lot.

I know all the right words to help my hurting friends and bless those I encounter. I actually am able to fix and control those things in my life and the lives of those I care about that in truth or so beyond my ability it breaks my heart. I can jump in my mental time machine and go backwards or forwards and fix it all, have the skills and the smarts or maybe just the will and the chance to succeed. I can....I...

And honestly, therein lies the problems. My heart and mind  are turning to the absolute fantasy of me being my own answer and or someone else's. But this is a fantasy which could never happen, things getting better because I become the answer, the solution.

How much better would it be if it were the other way? Maybe when the circumstance, situation or relationship came to mind, if my imagination kicked in, I could imagine me getting totally and completely out of the way and letting God have full and complete control. Suddenly the Spirit is driving the car, and He knows the words that save me and the others, it's the look of compassion that Christ showed so well that stops the escalations, or the look of pure forgiveness that endures them. It's God who opens the doors or grants the power and grace to bear the heat and pressure of the present place. It's God...God who does the work, gets the glory, makes the impossible happen.

Maybe one of the reasons it can at times be so hard to surrender my will to His and do it or go through it His way, is I still wish I could somehow keep my will, keep control, succeed and "serve" God. Surely I could have my birthday cake and eat it too? I can celebrate who I am and my own accomplishments, go through life being able to get and do what I want through my own power, strength and ability, and yet somehow still manage to have a good relationship with God. I can do it all myself, not really need Him and still be spiritually OK and have relationship with my Creator.

No way, I truly have a better chance of winning the lottery without buying a ticket. And I don't want it to happen. There's something amazing about how life keeps getting better the more I learn to lean on Him, the more I surrender, the more I accept that I can't, He can and I should let Him. But maybe it'll be easier in reality if it stays true in dreaming as well.

Abba, I need You, and I can't do this, whatever this is, on my own apart from You. Help me not to desire approval from my self and from others but rather only seek to please You and get closer to You. Let my idle, hurting or upset mind even keep You in Your proper place of King in my mind and life, of Director of my play, of Master of My Universe so much that when the time comes in reality to choose Your will or mine there's no hesitation to surrender. Let the meditations of my idle mind even bring me closer and not fuel any desire or hope to be my own answer. Jesus I acknowledge You as Lord and declare that You are the answer, both in reality and in fantasy. There is no where that it is proper or safe for me to be self-reliant. May I lean on You always, even in my daydreams. 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 ~ July 20, 2018 ~ Perspective And Temperature Changes

The central heat and air doesn't work in our home, and since we can't afford to fix it right now, we are making do for several months. Making do can be translated as three electric heaters in the cold months and two window ac units and a few fans for the past few hot months. The current set up has a window unit in the bedroom and one in the living room. The living room AC is really only effective for the area on the couch near it, which is why it is there. Leah does her morning reading and meditation on the couch that is cooled by the ac.

My study has a fan that blows on me, but I can't put a window unit in it. It also happens to be the hottest room in the house for some reason, even with the fan going. I'm not complaining. It's a choice that I can live with as long as the fan is blowing on me and I have plenty of water to drink. I only mention all of this only so that the following will make sense.

Yesterday afternoon I went to the study while Leah walked on her treadmill. When I came out of the study into the living room I felt quite a bit cooler. It actually felt good in the living room. I walked through the living room into the bedroom, and it felt great. Nice and cool. Then I realized I forgot my phone charger and walked back into the living room. After less than a minute in the coldest room in the house, what had felt good now felt horrible. The living room felt so much hotter than it had literally less than a minute. Nothing had changed except the conditions in which I had been.

So, what's the point? The point, Dear Reader is that our spiritual lives are similar. When we first come to the place of surrender to the will and care of God with the desperation of a drowning man, our lives are messed up. Things get better. We find freedom and feel good. But as we continue to progress closer and deeper in relationship and conscious contact with our Creator, we become more and more accustomed to the effects of His presence in our life. In the presence of God is the best, most comfortable place to be. If we then return to even the area we just left, that which was progress yesterday but now is regress, we will be uncomfortable. What felt good before, because it was better and more right than where we'd been, now feels worse.

Now, we all have times when we feel the presence of God more and other times when  we feel it less. That's why we walk by faith and not by emotions. As a dear minister friend, Don Hurley, used to say, we don't go on what we're feeling, but it's nice to know feel what you're going on. But I'm thinking about those times when something that felt OK or even good stops feeling good and starts making you uncomfortable. It's not a sign that you're being judged by the Spirit or that you're messing up. It's a positive demonstration of progress. Don't beat yourself up for regressing, just recognize it and head back into the place you were in before, that place that is better, the presence of God, and spend some time with him.


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.

You Have Overcome

We do not have to live life as though the only option is to fail. Dalyn Woodard shares from 1 John 2 that we are forgiven and that we have a Father. The message, "You Have Overcome," is about 53 minutes long, and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on July 18, 2018. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen.

If you missed the first message in the series "The Daddy Heart Of God," entitled "Redirected By Love," it can be found here. The second message, "God Is Light," can be found here, and the third message, "You Are Beloved," can be found here..

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 ~ July 18, 2018 ~ Spiritual Vampirism

I've been watching some tattoo themed television with Leah lately, and, as it often does, it caused me to think of ink I want to get, ink I used to want to get and ink I want to get covered up. One of the tattoos that would fit in the middle category is a Do Not Resuscitate order. I used to want a DNR tattooed on my chest. Even worse than the idea of being revived and robbed of finally being able to die was the fear of being confined to a bed and being alive because of life support. Yet, the majority of my misery and pain came from trying to live on the wrong life support system.

I'm not talking about the chemicals I used and became a slave to. Those were my cure, or rather my attempt at a cure, for the pain that came when my life support system failed to work. There is no such thing as a truly happy hermit. We were made for relationship and to be a part of. A part of family and community. Even outcasts and loners will gravitate to another of like mind or situation, because when we don't or can't belong we will make our own community and redefine family or we will work diligently to deceive ourselves into believing we are OK without them until the weight of loneliness and despair crushes us into dust made up of bitterness, misery and hate.

There is a reason that hospitals use machines to maintain life support when a person can't function on their own. While a human being, or a team of them, can do CPR and do things to keep the heart beating and force oxygen into the lungs for a while, it won't work for any serious length of time. For one thing, it's not as efficient as an electrical signal to the heart and a tube of air in the lungs. For another, it's simply not practical or healthy to have one person whose life and purpose has been reduced to standing by another's bedside and breathing for them.

This is not only true with physical illness but with soul sickness as well. I can't be anyone else's source. I can't breathe for you. And if I try to get my life support from you it will fail and fall short. I know, I tried to have a life worth living by plugging into others for years. The desire for a DNR tattoo is the best proof I know of how well that worked for me, especially if I tell the truth about how I came up with the idea for the tattoo after an ER team so rudely refused to let me leave life behind after an intentional overdose.

I learned that I can't live as though another person is there to be my life support. I can't plug into a person to be the air I breathe or the answer to all my pain and inability to function. Sure, a person can help in a crisis, but they are neither equipped nor qualified to be my full-time lifeline.

The weight of these unrealistic expectations about acceptance, comfort, security and pure love from others will crush both the one who expects it and the one who is being expected to play a role they were never created to play. As I said earlier, we need relationship. We were created for it. So I am not saying it is bad or wrong or unrealistic to need people. But the reason that it is said that expectations are resentments under construction is because some of our biggest disappointments are caused from people failing to meet our expectations. And looking for people to be our ever present help in time of need is selfishness. It is constantly saying my need, my pain, my fear is more important than your life, so I should be able to tap into, and even deplete, your life to make mine better. It's spiritual vampirism, and it needs a wooden stake through the heart. Or more accurately, it needs to be nailed to the wood of the cross.

The truth is that while it is not good for us to be alone and isolated and we are designed for community, family and relationships, the first relationship that is required for all others to be healthy and right and serve their proper purpose is the relationship with our Creator, our Heavenly Daddy. Connecting with Him is our true primary purpose. So the question becomes are we approaching life looking for our fullness in Him and our life support from Him? Or do we look to people for our deepest needs to be accepted, cared for, blessed and loved? Do we look to people to be the air we breathe or do we accept and live that it is in Him we live and move and have our being?

When we live from the place of fullness in God, we still need people. We still need to be a part of. But we are a part of relationship from a position of power. We are loved as we are, regardless of the good or bad reactions of a few or many. We are not coming into relationship from a position of desperation and need. The more we let the Spirit fill us with His love, the less we are filled with selfishness that sucks the life from others. The less we reach for anyone and anything to at least temporarily fill that longing for love and acceptance.


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 ~ July 17, 2018 ~ Sharing Is Caring

Most are familiar with King David for writing many of the Psalms and killing Goliath as a teen. One of my favorite stories about the patriarch is found in 1 Samuel 30. David and his small army have their camp raided while they are away. The women and children are carried off. David and his men go back and get them, defeat the ones who took them and take what the enemy had as plunder.

The reason this is one of my favorite stories about David is because of how he handles the post-battle conflict. You see, 200 of his men were too weary to make the journey after the women and children. Some of the 400 who did fight wanted to cut them out when it came time to divide up the spoils. These 200 were to be given their wives and children but no spoils of war. David's response to this was decisive and Godly. No. We're not being selfish with what God has given us. The men who stayed with the supplies get a share along with those who fought.

1 Samuel 30 calls these selfish men wicked and worthless. David remembered that he didn't win the battle without God's help and that all he had came from God. This is an important reminder to us. We have given our lives and will to Daddy. We and all that we have are His. What He has given us is because of His great love for us. It is as much so that we can show His love for others as it is to feel His love for us. Let us not be like the wicked and worthless selfish men who want to keep what God has given us for ourselves, but let us, like David, always be quick to give blessing to others when we are blessed. I'm not talking about  money, although that would be included, but everything, grace, joy, forgiveness, compassion, mercy, patience, love, and all else that Daddy shares with 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 ~ July 16, 2018 ~ No Filter, No Problem

Guard your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.

- Proverbs 4:23

Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and is eliminated? But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. These are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man.

- Matthew 15:17-20

A conversation I had recently where someone told how a certain medication turned off their filter and they ended up saying things that they never would have normally got me thinking. We've all had those moments. Those of us who have over indulged in chemicals may have had more frequent and more embarrassing moments, but we've all had them. You know the moments I mean. That time when a rush of anger short-circuited the filter. Or maybe you were just way too stressed and tired. Maybe you only got carried away with a conversation and the next thing you knew that line had been crossed. Maybe it was something silly. Perhaps it was a little embarrassing. Maybe it was mean. I'm talking about that moment when you shocked yourself and had to ask did I really just say that? Maybe you didn't even say it. Maybe it was a thought that made you think, where did that come from? Oh those moments when we do something or say something that is totally out of character for us. Or are they?

Proverbs tells us that everything, thoughts, words and deeds, comes from the heart. We can't fall back on the old stand by of the devil made me do it. Some of us empathize all too well with the line from the Lit song "My Own Worst Enemy."

Can we forget about the things I said when I was drunk? I didn't mean to call you that. I can't remember what was said or what you threw at me Please tell me...

But the devil pushed buttons that we have and the chemicals turned off the voice that says this isn't a good idea. Neither created the impulse. While I can say there are things I did high and drunk that I would never do sober, I can't say that they weren't in my heart. Stone cold sober I have said, done and thought things that made me cringe.

We must guard our hearts against those things that defile us. Not because of some legalistic religious rules, but because in order for the garbage to come out of our hearts it must be put in and left. Those things about our nature we don't like, those ugly aspects of our hearts will come out. Period. They have to. They make us sick, and our soul will spew them out like vomit from food poisoning. It's going to come out. The question is how? Will it be removed because we give it tot he One who can take it and cleanse us and replace those things with better life-giving heart stuff like love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control? Or will it come out in a moment of anger, weakness, weariness, etc.?

We can't do anything about what's in our hearts already, but the Spirit can and will if we let Him. What we can do is choose to follow Daddy's advice that we should think on what is lovely and true and of a good report. We can guard our hearts and refuse to indulge in what we would be ashamed to have come spewing from our heart at some future inopportune time. When we let the Spirit cleanse us and control all our lives, even our thought life, we don't have to be afraid of the filter coming off.


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.

Making Failures Disappear

There are two things that leave us feeling stained and unworthy. Dalyn Woodard shares on what makes us feel dirty and how to leave that behind. The message, "Making Failures Disappear," is about 5 minutes long and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on Sunday, July 15, 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 ~ July 14, 2018 ~ You're God's Cherry Pie

Today's Unshackled Echo is a six-minute audio message originally delivered at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on March 15, 2015.

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 ~ July 13, 2018 ~ The Great Escape

Wednesday afternoon my back got messed up again, and I am grateful.  Yesterday I could barely walk and hurt more than I have in a long time. I had to use my cane when I went out to feed the animals, and carrying that five-gallon bucket of water to the chickens just about did me in. For the first time in my life I probably came more close to resembling my grandfather Joe Woodard than my my mom's dad. The difference is when I watched him slowly walking to feed troughs with a cane in one hand and a bucket or a sack of feed in the other, he was in his sixties and seventies.

I felt like a slow, old man, and I hurt a lot. And, like I said I am grateful. No, it's not because I'm a masochist. I'm not. I hate pain. I spent the vast majority of my life trying to escape pain. in ways that usually ended up only causing more. And no, I am not grateful because I have attained some spiritual level that makes suffering a pleasure or any other such nonsense. Suffering sucks. I still hate it.

No one is going to put St. before my name after I'm gone, and if anyone says at my funeral, "He was a good man," someone please ask them to tell the truth or be quiet.  Hopefully as the years go by, more and more people will mistake me for a good man, but I assure you, I'm not one. It's just that I started spending more time with Jesus and let His Spirit have enough control to start making me more like Him and less like the natural me. Jesus and I love you. But the good you may see in me is all because of Him, I assure you. I'm like the writer who says the great things about what I write are because of help from an excellent editor, and any mistakes are my own. I have an editor who has done a great job at rewriting my character and making me likable and a decent human being.

So, it's not because I suffer well or am so spiritual that I am grateful that I hurt. In fact, I am not grateful I hurt. I wish it would stop. What I am grateful for is that although I haven't had a pain free day in several years now because of a back injury and my back being wrenched Wednesday just made things worse, I am not running for escape. I'm not  mad at God. I'm not giving the Lord of the universe ultimatums about how He better take my pain away now or I'll fix it myself, which is exactly what I did in my teens. I'm not seeking oblivion over suffering. I am enduring. I hurt. I've been hurting. I'm going to rest my back, but I suspect the pain levels will stay at a seven or higher for another day or two. There was a time when this would have been an excuse to escape. I am grateful that is not where I am anymore.

I'm still just a man who is a work in progress. Pain makes it hard for me to think. I don't do my best work when I'm hurting. I may get a little snappy. My tone of voice may not be the nicest. My life's reflection of Jesus may dim as I hurt more. I suspect that is true for many of us.  But I am starting to see how Eliza Edmunds Hewitt could lay in bed for 12 years after a spinal injury and, instead of spewing misery and bitterness, write several time honored hymns of praise. Pain can drive us to Daddy as easily as it can drive us from Him. We can find comfort in His presence, even if the pain remains. It's an awesome thing to learn and discover. I hope you, Dear Reader, are spared serious suffering, but if not, I hope you seek Him in the storm of pain.

You don't have to be a spiritual giant  to get to that place. I'm not one. You just have to reach out and let Daddy take your hand, and He will lead you there. And for those of us with chronic pain, we, like Hewitt, can know and sing the wondrous love of Jesus; sing His mercy and His grace. We can look forward with her to that day when we all get to heaven. What a day of rejoicing that will be. When we all see Jesus, we'll sing and shout the victory.



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.

You Are The Beloved

What does it mean to know the Lord, and how do we know we do? Dalyn Woodard shares on the blessing of belonging to God and how it changes us. The message, "You Are The Beloved," is about an hour, and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on July 11, 2018. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen.

If you missed the first message in the series "The Daddy Heart Of God," entitled "Redirected By Love," it can be found here. The second message, "God Is Light," can be found here.

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 ~ July 11, 2018 ~ The Gratitude Challenge

When it comes to life, the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude.

- G. K. Chesterton

In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

- 1 Thessalonians 5:18

G.K. Chesterton was right, but of course, the idea is not original. Gratitude makes a difference. It may not change our circumstances one little bit, but in changing the way we react to, see and understand our circumstances will change. Thessalonians tells us to be thankful or have gratitude in all things. It doesn't say for all things.We don't have to be grateful or thankful for evil and suffering, but we can be grateful that nothing that is going on or that we have done or have had done to us can separate us from the love of God. We can be grateful that He is able to use whatever circumstances, the good and the bad, to bring us into closer and deeper relationship with Him, to forge us into the best us we were always created to be and to make us more like Jesus. It's not the power of positive thinking, but not taking life for granted, not becoming bitter and resentful at the hardships, and instead seeking to draw near to Daddy and being grateful that we can and that He loves us means that we always have something we can be grateful for.

I have noticed over the years that challenging myself to come up with five things that I am grateful for every day has made a huge difference in my resentment levels, in my ability to trust God and in the way I view life. I  have had some rough days over the past eight years of recovery, but even on the worst of them, in the midst of deaths of loved ones, job losses and more, there has never been a day when there weren't at least five things I can be thankful for. I haven't been sharing that list publicly on social media like I used to lately, but I still make it. Sometimes it takes more effort than others, but the results have truly blessed me. I challenge you, Dear Reader, to take the gratitude challenge and find things to be grateful for in the midst of every day and every situation. Give it a month and see for yourself how it can change your perspective and your levels of peace and joy.


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 ~ July 10, 2018 ~ Selfishness That Blesses Others

The image to the right was what was spotted a couple of days ago while feeding my father's chickens. It's not the best photo, but you can get the idea of what was going on. The branch of the tree is being held down by the big white goat on the left, which is making it possible for the rest of the goats to eat the leaves off the end.

A friend of mine insisted that the white goat was holding the limb down so the others could eat. But no. She's not that selfless. She managed to get her legs on the limb enough to pull it down so that she could eat the leaves herself. You can see the leaves she was working on just above her head. The action just happened to lower the end so that the rest of the goats benefited as well. This is not some altruistic moment. In fact, from feeding these goats for my father on multiple occasions I can testify that she is a selfish feed hog who will step all over smaller goats to get her head in a feed pan. She has stepped on me more than once in her rush to eat as much as she can before any of the others get a chance.

But this image does make me think. Most times when we are selfish about satisfying our desires and needs all we do is hurt ourselves and others sooner or later. But God created these goats to eat this way, and it worked out for all involved. When we reach up to feed on what Daddy is providing, to have relationship and fellowship with Him it's a selfish act. OK, so it's not totally selfish. It's obedient and doing what Daddy desires for us to do. But it is what is best for us. It gives us what we need and brings satisfaction, contentment, peace, joy, love, etc. We may deny self and die to self to follow Jesus, but let's get honest here. If all we got out of that was misery and death, we wouldn't do it. We give our life to Him, and He gives us a better life, a life worth living, in its place.

That said, when we take care of our own needs through relationship with Daddy something amazing happens. Behind us, our selfish act of feeding on relationship doesn't bring destruction to others or deprive anyone. It actually helps those around us find it easier to access what feeds and sustains them as well. Man does not live on bread alone but in contact and relationship with our Creator, and when He is our source, our reaching out for that spiritual food will always enable others to eat more freely as well.


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.