The Prayer That Changes Everything

Dalyn Woodard shares on the second of the ACTS of prayer. What is the prayer of confession? Confession is more than just admitting our wrong or professing faith. It is following the example of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.  The message, "The Prayer That Changes Everything" is about 42 minutes long and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on Wednesday, October 12, 2016. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen. May God bless and keep you.

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

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

Unshackled Moments ~ October 13 ~ Plankeye

It's about an hour past when I normally post the day's Unshackled Moments, and I have nothing. Well, I have a burning ache of what I want to express and a great sense of inadequacy to do so without being a hypocrite or a pharisee. But every time I think I'll just drop the subject and come back to this another day, I feel like I need to stay on task.

Let me start by saying something very important to the understanding of what I will be writing. This is not a religious idea. That's part of what is making this so difficult to write, because what I feel the need to say could be taken and run with in a religious direction, which could be disastrous. Just as important to remember and understand, my regular readers will know this well, I am not perfect or qualified to impart anything other than my experience, strength and hope, which all come down to the grace of God that I have experienced and that has changed my life. But I am no shining example of what you can do when you decide to get your life right and stop doing wrong. I pray that I can be an example of what God can do, because I can't do anything worthwhile on my own. My natural default is to run in the dark and never choose the light or to do what's right.

There's a story about a person with different problems, depending on who's telling the story, down in a pit. I've seen it with the pit victim being an addict, and alcoholic, and a soldier with PTSD. The idea is basically a retelling of The Good Samaritan. This alcoholic's walking down the street when he falls in a hole. The walls are so steep he can't get out. A doctor passes by and the guy shouts up, "Hey you. Can you help me out?" The doctor writes a prescription, throws it down in the hole and moves on. Then a preacher comes along and the guy shouts up, "Rev., I'm down in this hole can you help me out?' The preacher writes out a prayer, throws it down in the hole with a Bible and moves on. Then a another alcoholic walks by and sees the drunk in the pit. He can barely muster up any hope when he cries out one last time, "Can you help me out?' And the alcoholic jumps in the hole. The drunk says, "Are you stupid? Now we're both down here." The alcoholic says, 'Yeah, but I've been down here before and I know the way out."

This is a great little reminder that when we find freedom, whether it be from addiction or mental and emotional damage or whatever, that we have a responsibility to show others the way out. What you have freely received, freely give. There are times when a doctor can actually be a great help, and my father is one example of a preacher who has never been drunk who has counseled with and helped more than one drunk and addict. I don't mean to disparage anyone who  tries to help, and I definitely am not saying that God can't use people without the same experiences, but it is true that there is something about being able to say I have been where you are, and I know the solution, I know a way out, I know how to make it stop, I am no longer bound by these chains and you don't have to be either.

But in the cute little story, the recovered person walks by and jumps in. If the two people had been stumbling home drunk together and both fallen into the hole together, the story is totally different. Now, one may think they know the way out, but the other won't listen. Why not? You're stuck the same as me! You're in the same prison, you're bound by the same chains, you're failing in the same way, and you have no more hope than I do, so why should I listen to you tell me how to get free?

Well, here's the thing, I am just as big a loser as anyone reading this, as chief and masterful sinner as anyone ever was, including Paul. And guess what? I still sin. Every day. Preachers aren't supposed to say things like that are they? Well, I wrote it, and it's true. There are times in every single day that I slip, at least momentarily, into self seeking and self will, when I choose my own way instead of God's. The perfection of my second born spirit is not yet fully manifest in my life, and I haven't met anyone who can say differently about themselves. The best Christian in the world is a sinner.

I am not who I should be, and not who I will be when God completes the work which He has begun in my life, but I am most certainly not who I once was. And that's the thing. We are indeed seeking progress rather than perfection, from glory to glory He is transforming us into the image of Christ, and today we can walk a little more closely with Him and be less bound than we were yesterday, by the grace of God. I am still a sinner, but I have learned to walk in grace by the power of the Spirit. And I learned it from others who have experienced the ability to walk without doing the things that they once did before grace.

I do still slip into selfishness and sin, the difference is that I don't do it as often, that I dip into the shallow end rather than diving into the depths, and I realize what I've done and get out a lot more quickly than I used to. I still have moments, for example, where I lose control to anger, but they are few and far between these days and no one is in danger of being physically attacked. When I first got out of prison, I was anger personified, scary angry, and there was a very real possibility that I would hurt you if you triggered my convict survival mode. Progress.

What I am trying to get across, is once you see the path to freedom, get on it. Show it others as you have the opportunity. Give away the solution that you have found. Don't wait until you're perfect to share with others how to overcome sin in your life, because that's not going to happen while you're still breathing. But you can't lead anyone out of the pit that you are also stuck in. You have to at least be moving toward the exit before someone can follow you out. You can't give away what you don't have. It's progress rather than perfection, but it is not theory and knowledge rather than perfection. Before I will listen to what you're saying about walking with God, about walking free from bondage, I need to see some progress, I need to see that you have something that I want and have not yet attained.

In How It Works, there is the call that if you want what we have, you need to do what we've done. If you're as big a mess as I am, I don't want what you have. If you are as captive as I am, then I don't need your ideas about freedom. But if you have learned to walk in the power of the spirit by grace to the point where you are free and have joy, and peace, and a life worth living, when I can see that you no longer live in the pit like me but have walked in to show me the way out, then I want what you have. Before you can help anyone else who is still suffering, you need to let God break your own chains. Surrender and walk free, and let them follow your path from the pit. You'll never help anyone find freedom chained in the dungeon with them, because your theory that God can set them free won't help nearly as much as them seeing that truth in practice.

Today let us remember that before we can tell someone how to get the speck out of their eye, we must first let God remove the plank from our own eye. Before we can tell anyone to get right with God, we must first have a repentant and broken heart ourselves, understanding that we too are in dire need of a Savior. We need to be calling people to follow us to Jesus as we run toward Him, instead of sitting in our own filth trying to tell others they need to get clean. Let us remember that we are still sinners, but by walking in grace today, we can live our life within the will of God and not do the things that detract from His will, His glory and His love. We can be shining examples of the love and power of God to set us free and give a life worth living, but it's not going to happen by speaking truth if we are not living that same truth. The 12th Step is at the end, after the spiritual awakening, for a reason. Surrender, find freedom, then share that freedom.



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 ~ October 12 ~ Jonah's Solution Shouldn't Be Ours

Then the men were exceedingly afraid, and said to him, “Why have you done this?” For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you that the sea may be calm for us?” - for the sea was growing more tempestuous. And he said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will become calm for you. For I know that this great tempest is because of me.”

- Jonah 1:10-12

I read the book of Jonah again this morning, it's short, only four chapters. As happens from time to time, I realized some things that I had not noticed or thought about the first however many times I have read this portion of Scripture. I have at times related to Jonah since he too ran from the calling of God on his life, nearly got himself killed and found himself spared miraculously, but I always felt like a minor leaguer looking at a man who made the MLB post season and saying we were both baseball players. True, but not the same.

This morning though I saw through the man of the Bible aspect of Jonah to the truth that he was more like me, and perhaps you, than we may have ever thought. There are parallels throughout the four chapters that I will be chewing on personally for a while, but there is one thing I noticed this morning that I see too common in the lives of people who believe in God, especially those in rebellion or who are actively fleeing a call to relationship and service. The common core here inspired me to share on this for today's Unshackled Moment.

Jonah was a mess who was called of God. I believe more of us can relate to a man like this than say someone with the steadfast, seemingly fearless, faith of an Elijah. He was sent by God to Nineveh, the capital city of Assyria, long time enemies of Israel and probably the most powerful country in the world at that time since they defeated Babylon. Jonah didn't want to go there. He didn't want to preach repentance or relationship with God to these gentiles, his enemies. Jonah earned himself the distinction of being the only prophet in recorded Scripture who says no and defies God when called to serve. It doesn't mean he's the only one, just that he's the only one who made the book with it.

So God sends a storm to stop his escape from the call and the manifestation of God's presence. Jonah couldn't outrun God's true presence, but he could flee the awareness of it, the reminder of Jerusalem. He couldn't flee the need to love and serve God, but he could also try to put it out of mind by getting as far from where he should be as possible. The city he was sailing to was on the opposite side of the sea from the land where he was told to go.

Storms happen. Not every storm is from God, but when we run from God we are going to encounter some serious storms in our life. This is because when we run to God, when we don't run, basically when we breathe in and out, we are going to encounter storms. Storms are a part of life, and even the perfect Jesus ran into a few significant storms during His days on earth.  But when we are running from God the storms are different, or at least feel that way, because we are different. We are out there, battered and blown about, without our refuge and our protector, and we have cut ourselves off from the power that is greater than we are and which give us peace, strength to endure, and wisdom. We are left to our own devices, thinking and reactions to deal with what's going on, and that's usually what got us in the mess in the first place.

Sometimes God does send the storm to remind us that we have left the place we need to be, sometimes the storms are simply the effect of our choices. God didn't send me to prison, but He did allow me to suffer the consequences of my own will and way and use that time to redirect me back towards Him and the path I had fled. Sometimes the storms really have nothing to do with us, as life happens, but our reactions are still to take it personally because when we are running from God, we tend to filter everything through our selfish narcissism and guilt.We know we're not treating our relationship with God right, so He must be displeased and angry and therefore want to punish us. So of course He caused me to have that flat tire in the middle of the thunderstorm or whatever.

The storm raged, and the sailors feared. It became clear to them all, including Jonah, that his running was the reason for the danger. If you, Dear Reader, are also familiar with the story, you may have, like me, either read over or listened to this part without thinking about it at all or assuming that it was God's will that Jonah be fed to the fish. There is actually no indication that this was in any way God's will. Did He allow it? Yes. Did He move to make it work for His will and glory? Sure did. He even provided a way for it to be used as a metaphor for His salvation through Jesus and what the Son would experience. But nowhere in the Bible does it say God wanted Jonah thrown into the sea or fed to the fish to teach him anything. We just assume that, because we are too much like Jonah, and this situation was all Jonah's solution.

God didn't tell Jonah how to stop the storm. We are told other times God spoke to Jonah, but here no such thing is said. We are simply told in verse 12 of chapter 1 that Jonah told them that if he were thrown overboard the storm would cease. The fact that when Jonah hit the waves God honored what he had spoken does not mean that was God's will for Jonah. God had proclaimed that Nineveh would be overthrown, but when they repented he relented and spared them. That was a gentile city, and was the capital city of a nation that was the enemy of God's chosen nation. Yet, God responded to their repentance. How much more had Jonah repented of his running and rebellion would God have responded with mercy?

Maybe Jonah did what he thought would be best and nobly sacrificed himself to spare the others. Maybe he was miserable and depressed and stuck in woe is me mode and wanted to die. There is some indication he responded to most things that didn't go his way with wanting to die.  Which brings me to the possibility that this was still more running and rebellion and that he would rather die than repent and go to Nineveh.  Maybe he didn't even see repentance as an option and felt he had messed up too much and it was too late to turn back to God. Regardless of why, and it could be a combination of things, including things not on this list, he didn't hit his knees and repent. He told the sailors to throw him into the sea to die.

Far too often God speaks to us and we rebel, disobey, make a choice to ignore the voice or even to run. It may not be on as grand a scale as being told to preach repentance to our enemy that may very well kill us for trying, maybe it's something as small as to give someone in need a few bucks worth of food or even something as cheap as an encouraging and caring smile. But no. We refuse for whatever reason to walk with, submit to and obey the will of God for that moment or period of time. It may be five seconds or five decades, but we are running from the call to love and serve by saying no to God.

Then regret sets in. And we throw ourselves into the sea because we feel we should be punished. We want to deserve to not feel guilty anymore or we simply despair of living through another failure and wish it all over and done with. If we, in those moments, or Jonah were the star of the story of the prodigal son, when we saw the father leap off the porch and run to embrace us and rejoice over our return, we would flee the reunion. Spotting him, we would turn from the path that led to the house, run to the barn and try to have the stalls all mucked and clean of manure before he reached us.

But God didn't ask us to clean out the stalls of our life before we get our welcome back hug, and He didn't ask us to throw ourselves into the sea or onto our sword to pay for our foolishness, mistakes or rebellion either. All He ever wanted us to do was to leave the pig pen and head home, to stop or determine to change course with the next port or passing ship and go and do what He asked. He even went as far as to tell us that He considers the child who says no to what is asked but later repents and does it faithful.

It's too easy to look at Jonah and see that running from God has a price with a hefty punishment. It does, but Jesus paid that price with the rest of our sin. God doesn't demand payment from us before we can turn back to obedience and relationship. He's the loving Father on the porch searching for signs of our return so that He can love on us and rejoice. We need to stop throwing ourselves into the seas of our storms.



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 ~ October 11 ~ Kept Man

I feel old more and more often as I watch myself turn into that crudgety old timer who says things like kids these days and Honey, do you remember when $10 worth of Halloween Candy would last a month? I slipped into both modes of antiquity yesterday. The latter when a commercial for Halloween candy came on and whoever was trying to sell it to me thought it would help to show the candy fill a bowl and say that it was only $9.96 or $9.94 or whatever few pennies they were sacrificing to try to trick me into thinking it wasn't ten bucks. The former event happened because of one of my nephews.

Now I don't know the details, motives and reasons here, so I am giving him the benefit of the doubt. I love the kid, and he rarely makes me feel old when we're talking comics and movies. Yesterday though I heard that he was unmotivated to finish Driver's Ed. I was floored and felt so old I almost checked prices on walkers. Back in my day...

Sigh, did I really think that, say that, and write that? Yes. In the ancient days of the 80s, I didn't know anyone my age who didn't want to get Driver's Ed over with. Sure, there were several of us that didn't want to take it, but because it wasn't fun or, in my case, necessary. I wanted to just go to the DPS and take the test. I had been driving for years by the time I got my permit. Driver's Ed was a waste of time and money in my opinion, but the law said it was the only path to get my license at 16. I didn't want to take it, but nothing could have stopped me. I wanted that license.

Getting the license was critical. It was independence and freedom. It was a rite of passage showing the world that I was no longer a child but that instead I was one day closer to death and taxes and having to be responsible for myself, and having to choose who would lead this country. Awesome. I was ready. If I had been smarter I would have drug my heals and waited. Maybe my nephew has the right idea. Don't be in such a hurry to grow up and join the rat race. After all, it's full of rats. Keep in mind, he may not be feeling that way at all. He may be chomping at the bit to turn 16 and drive like I was and just trying to postpone the agony of someone trying to teach him what he thinks he already knows. The boy may think he's grown already.

I sure did at that point in my life. It's a miracle I survived the 80s. The mistakes I made as a teen led to the mistakes I made in my 20s, which led me to misery, destruction and prison. Sometimes it still shocks me that God didn't let me die. I tried hard enough to shorten my existence on earth, sometimes purposefully, more often by simply pushing the edge further and further. Better to burn out in a blaze of glory than to fade away. Live fast, die young and leave a pretty corpse. I actually tried to joke away my self destruction with mottoes like that.

But now I am growing older. I have made it 15 years further than I ever thought I would. I never intended to or believed I would see 30, and I'm 45. I'm not really old, although sometimes I feel it, but I am definitely middle aged, and I am sure I look, sound and act beyond old to teens who think they know everything and think their 30 something parents are too old to understand them. I think there's a good chance I am going to live to see a ripe old age. I'm looking forward to it, which is something I never thought I would say when I was stuck in the 80s and dying to speed up time so I could escape.  Now there are several hours a day I wish I could slow down. Time is going by so quickly, and I only found my treasure six years ago, I pray for time to slow when she is with me the way I used to pray for it to accelerate when I was stuck in high school.

Why am I here? Haven't I found that answer? Oh yeah, I wrote about that less than a week ago in the Unshackled Moment for October 7 ~ Why Are We Here? I guess what I am really asking is how am I here? God kept me. That's all there is to it. Through all the pain and all the stupid choices and the times I seemed to seek a Darwin Award, and the suicide attempts and the Valley of the Shadow I pitched camp in rather than walk on through, it is truly a miracle I made it this far. Too many of my friends and party associates didn't. I don't know why God keeps some like me who court death and deserve the grave and lets others dance into the afterlife.

I do know it's not a question of love, because God loved my fallen friends as much as he loved me. I know it's not a question of deserving, because I know my life, my past and who I am in my heart when it turn my life into a No God Allowed club house. I know it's tied to how I am free. I could never walk free from the chains that I have wrapped myself in on my own. If it weren't for the grace of God I would have been high yesterday, if I lived that long. When I couldn't imagine just saying no, God kept me.

I don't know why, but I am so glad that He did. I do know this though. If you, Dear Reader, are still alive, and I am assuming you are since you are reading this and zombies don't read, then He has kept you as well. For whatever reason that you may or may not ever know on this side of eternity, He has kept you and given you the opportunity to be made free and whole. If the journey is already begun, praise God! Don't quit. Don't hold back. Don't let religion or church or stupid Christians or the illusion of happy heathens and the lives of the party dancing their way to destruction distract you from the source of life worth living. It's not Christianity. It's Christ. Wrapping ourselves deeply and unhindered and uninhibited in relationship with the God who actually loves us and has kept us so that we could know Him is the way to wholeness and peace and joy and freedom.

If you haven't yet begun or have taken a rest stop, please join me on this pilgrimage. We're off to see the King who's kept us. He will give us peace and joy and love and yes, even wisdom and courage. But He's no wizard, no illusionist or con artist. He's not hiding behind a curtain. The curtain has been torn into and cast aside. The people in the courtyard can be quite the distraction, some bring us joy and some bring pain, but they are not the point. The point is to see Him, not them. He has promised and provided for a private audience. No matter who you are, what you've done or haven't done, whether you've never thought there really was anyone behind the curtain of life or whether you got hurt and angry and cursed the God you knew was there when the man holding the bridle of the horse of a different color let the beast bite you, He wants to bring you to Himself, alone, just the two of you and show you how much He loves you and heal your wounds and restore your soul and tell you that He'll keep on keeping you.



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

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

Unshackled Moments ~ October 10 ~ God Needs No Cookies

Google, Facebook, Twitter and so many other frequently visited internet sites attempt and claim to tailor themselves to us. Through the use of tracking cookies and and other information we supply them, they use programs to try to target us with advertising that will be effective. Stories, posts and people are suggested that we should like or find interesting, and even the news that is shown to us from some sites is personalized.

It's not only internet sites that try to know what we want, what will appeal, what we need. Pandora has  built their entire existence on the idea that with a little input from me they can build music stations that I will prefer over not personalized music stations on air, satellite, or internet. Netflix, Amazon and other companies that stream entertainment make suggestions based on previous viewing or listening choices.

It can be helpful. It can be a little big brother and frightening,  and it can also be flawed and way off to the point of seeming amusingly stupid. One example that always makes me wonder at the thinking of the programmers is whatever causes the ads on Facebook to be for items that I just purchased on Amazon. OK, I need or want a particular book. I go to Amazon and buy it. I go to Facebook and there are ads from three different places trying to sell me the book I just bought. I understand the protection I am provided by not giving the advertisers access to information that would show I bought rather than browsed, but it is still amusing.

And Twitter...how well it knows me. Not. The tailored trends featuring hashtags that are, as the name implies, tailored to me. Today, for some reason some hashtag for the association of mid-level educators was there. Yeah, that doesn't even blip on the radar of relevant to my life, but that doesn't come close to the horror that was the suggestion of who to follow they made for me Saturday. At the top of my suggestion list was @Hookem, a University of Texas athletic account. I went to Texas Tech two semesters. I follow every Texas Tech Red Raider athletic site and a a couple of non athletic sites. Do they not know me at all?

Facebook is just as bad. Despite all my Houston Texans people and accounts I follow and the fact that I am not following anything Dallas Cowboys they thought I would want to post the Dallas score with all my posts last night. Really? I haven't been a Cowboys fan since Landry was fired and won't be until they get a new owner; I don't care how many Superbowls they win. Netflix can be even more ridiculous. I am sure you have your own examples, Dear Reader.

So what? What's the point? The point is that no matter how much information we give them, even when we rate things and answer questions, we are not going to fit easily in a box of parameters that will tell anyone else fully who we are, what we will do and or what we will like. Even people miss it. Family members, best friends and spouses can all act suddenly out of character, do something surprising, and even hurt us or let us down. No matter how much love there is and how well we know someone and are known by someone, there is the potential for disappointment and misunderstanding.

I thought I knew them and could trust them, but they did this to me. I thought they knew me, but look what they said/thought I would want/like/do.  The people I should most be able to trust have all hurt me, so I won't trust anyone. I could go on. That last one made me realize that the people who should have all been able to trust me have all been hurt by me, but that's just how it is because as true as it is that no one can quite measure up to perfect trustworthiness, perfect understanding of who I am, what I need and want or perfect anticipation of my needs and actions, I can't be that for anyone else either.

But God doesn't need cookies, tracking programs or questionnaires. He knows us, inside and out, better than we even know ourselves. He knew us in the womb, and He understands our hearts, our motives and our hidden desires and fears. He knows us completely, without even the lies we tell ourselves messing with the information, and yet, He accepts us and loves us as we are. When we would run from who we are and the truth of the darkness in our hearts, He would have us run to Him. He invites us to know Him. He calls us to relationship and offers His love for our selfishness, His faithfulness for our fickle affection, and His rightness for our propensity to do wrong. He's not selling us something, in fact, He paid for what He's offering. The power to be who we are innately created to be is ours for the asking. He never gets it wrong. What He suggests for us, is indeed perfectly suited for us, and the life He gives is better than anything we could ever create on our own.


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 ~ October 9 ~ Not Trivial Pursuit

I did not want to get up this morning, although I didn't want to lay in bed all day either. I most certainly did not want to go to church. I wanted to spend some time with Leah, but I didn't feel like being around anyone. I felt like a grouchy old hermit that wanted to cuddle. I am a heaping pile of contradiction.

I hate days like this, because I inevitably say something wrong or do something insensitive or uncaring. I want to release everything going on in the tumult of my mind and enter into praise and fellowship with the Father, but I also want to isolate and hide and cry and scream, and I had no idea why I was feeling this way. It may be the steroids I'm taking for my eyes and will hopefully be done with soon. It may be this lingering cold that I can't seem to completely kick to the curb. Or maybe it's because  I didn't sleep well at all last night and am in need of rest. It may be something else all together.

Or maybe it doesn't matter. It's nice to know and understand why you're feeling what you're feeling, but in the end it doesn't really matter. I kept telling myself that this morning as I tried to do what does matter. I can get so caught up in what's wrong, why am I off, why do I feel like I'm in an emotional hurricane this morning? Why me? Why now? Blah, blah, blah, self pity, blah blah. Lack of rest and sickness can drain us so quickly spiritually that lifting our heads to find the grace we need can feel an overwhelming task.

But it's a necessary one. If I were to be diagnosed with cancer. I have no doubt I would have some of the same questions and despairing, tumultuous emotions, only worse. Why? Why me? How bad is this going to get? Leave me alone and hold me... but if I had a choice between answers to questions about how and why and all that or treatment, I would choose treatment. I believe most would. Why? Because those answers don't matter. Of course, they matter, but not as much as the solution matters.

Why am I an alcoholic and an addict? I could look into a hundred different reasons that all have some merit. It could be genetic. It could be environmental. It could be..... It doesn't matter. I could know exactly why and say to myself, this is why I get messed up, as I slowly kill myself. Or I could know no definite answers and have the solution. Solution matters.

It doesn't matter that I woke feeling off, and messed up. It matters that I know that no matter if it feels overwhelming to do so or not, the solution is to set aside self and seek contact with Daddy. It's as important to do that when I feel blah or bad as when I feel good. The solution is the same and why I felt wrong is less important if engaging in the spiritual solution wins the victory and brings about change.

It might be nice to be able to say why I drink and drug without God, but it's far more important to remember and proclaim the miraculous truth that I don't drink and drug or wake up wishing I were dead when walking through my life worth living hand in hand with my Heavenly Daddy.

We can get so caught up in trying to understand and figure ourself out that we forget we're supposed to be sacrificing self. The main difference between the Old and New Testaments is God doesn't demand our sacrifice be perfect, because Jesus already made the perfect sacrifice. We don't have to understand ourself, or fix ourself, or get ourself, our attitude or our act together before bringing self to the altar, taking up our cross and following Him for the day. We can come right away, as we are, spiritual morning breath and all.

Today let us be quick to run to Him, and let us focus on the answer more than the questions. Let's keep in mind the things that truly and eternally matter and let the other stuff fall away or at the very least become secondary. What's wrong with me? It doesn't matter. What matters is where I can go for treatment, that there is a solution, that He can make me OK, and better. What matters is that this is true for you as well. What matters is relationship and love. There is a time and a place for the things that aren't eternal and let us not forsake them, but let us not let trivial pursuit distract us from the solution and purpose that matters.



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 ~ October 8 ~ Lessons From A Cowardly Cavlier

Leah has a puppy almost six months old that makes the Cowardly Lion look courageous. Seriously, this little Cavalier is so anxious it's irritating. I have seen dogs that have been beaten and have lived as strays that weren't nearly as traumatized by the sound of their own breathing as Tiffany is. OK, I don't know if her own breathing scares her, but noises that don't make the other animals turn to see what's going on have her running for cover, and if a stranger were to see her react to me when I walk into a room they would testify that I surely must beat her savagely, although I have never raised a hand to her. She will cuddle with Leah and follow her around the house, but the moment Leah calls her or turns in her direction, she scampers off afraid.

I really hope she outgrows this stage or gets over it, although she seems to have been born with it. There is no cause for her to have the worst case of PTSD I've ever seen in a canine. Yesterday the situation escalated beyond belief or logic. I have never seen anything like it.

Leah and I have a yard fenced off for the many canine units that I feed daily. I think my love for my wife can be somewhat measured by the number of Cavalier King Charles Spaniels and Cav mutt mixes running around the yard and actually living in the house. There is a low powered electric fence around the perimeter that serves to keep our dogs in the yard and the neighborhood dogs out. It's not bad, I've hit it several times myself, and it does the trick. Even the Great Danes and the Walker Coon Hound respect it. All of the dogs have hit it once or twice, given a little yelp and stayed in the area designated for them afterward.

But Tiffany. I am beginning to wonder if her fear has caused intellectual development problems. Yesterday I took the two puppies we have indoors outside. Princes Selina Kyle rushed down the steps and charged Luna(tic), the Great Dane, as soon as I opened the door. She didn't let a little thing like not being half the size of the other dog's head give her pause. As soon as she began to be allowed in the yard, she owned the place. I am sure she never knew I watched carefully to make sure the other dogs didn't attack her until I was sure she was safe. Princess Tiffany on the other hand will cower on the top step and wait to be let back into the house unless she is carried out into the yard.

So, I did just that. I carried her out about 20 feet from the steps, and she was actually doing pretty good. Then Itty Bitty, one of the mutts, had to go an act like an idiot. In all honesty, I don't believe she's acting, but that's another story. Tiffany bolted for the shadows. She went up under the edge of the house and, consequently right up to the wire, which doesn't have a constant charge but rather runs on a pulse. I counted the seconds, expecting her to jump and cry when the electricity hit her. I wasn't sure what to do.  If I went toward her she might run through the wire under the house, and I really don't need her realizing that she can do that. I called her, softy and tenderly, but instead of coming to me she only leaned more into the fence. All I could do was watch and wait for the consequences of her actions to cause her to come back out. If she had run to me instead of away when Itty Bitty frightened her, I would have scooped her up and taken her back inside. She didn't understand that I had already disciplined the mutt and restrained her. Instead she ran for shelter to about  the worst place she could, and it would literally bite her in the butt in a second or two.

Nothing. Great, I thought. The fence isn't working. I walked back to the steps hoping she would follow or that if I left the area and the other dogs came with me that Tiffany would venture out away from the wire. When I looked back to see if she had moved from sitting under the edge of the house, lower back leaning into the fence and facing the rest of the yard, wrongly assuming out there is where the danger was, I saw her flinch. I waited and counted to see if maybe I was wrong. A few seconds later, she flinched again.

She didn't yelp. She didn't cry. Most of all, she didn't move. And every few seconds for almost a minute, the electric fence, that seemed to be working fine after all, would go off and she would flinch, otherwise remaining frozen in fear. I shook my head and walked back in the house. I didn't know what else to do. She didn't trust me, so I couldn't go to her and help her. I watched out the window as I told Leah, and a few seconds later Tiffany snuck into the yard and began to play a little.  A little while later I opened the door and she, Selina  and Prince Westley came back inside while the other dogs looked at me with those eyes that seemed to say that's not fair, we want equal rights to inside.

I don't know what to do about Tiffany. I am nicer to her than any of the animals we have. I try to be gentle in action, expression and word with her. I treat her like a spooked horse all the time, and it's exhausting. I began to wonder if she was even worth the effort. I really don't like that attitude and behavior in a dog, especially if there is no history of trauma or abuse. Then I realized that I'm just as bad as she is at times.

I wonder how much I frustrate the Father when I act like that? If I know that I'm not stupid, God does too, and yet, evidence would show otherwise. How often do I go through life as though the sky is falling and the whole earth is out to get me rather than is filled with His glory? How often do I sneak through my life, eyes down, back slumped, hoping the day won't turn predatory as I try to make my way across it? How often do I run when I am afraid, and worse yet, not only run, but run to the worst possible spot to hide? It would be one thing if I bolted for Daddy and His protection, but instead I go hide in the shadow where the light doesn't reach me well, stick my butt against an electric fence and freeze in fear. I spasm in pain and increasing terror every time the invisible beast bites me, and yet I act as if it is the voice of my Master, gently calling me to come to Him, that I should be afraid of.

On one hand, there is a difference between Tiffany and me. I have reason for my fears. I have had some trauma in my life, and when it comes to the aftermath of trauma, it really doesn't change things or help to know that I caused most of it myself. But on the other hand, in some ways I am as stupid as she is. I have never once run to the arms of Jesus and gotten beaten. Oh, have run to the arms of His followers and been nearly killed, but never has He hurt me. And those followers? Isn't He responsible for them? Yes, and a hefty price will be put on the pain they caused, just as will be put on my tab for the people I have hurt instead of showing the love and care of Jesus.

Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling, treating me with compassion and patience and loving care to help and soothe the wounded and broken and crazy thing I am, and far too often for far too many years I have snapped at His healing hands and run from His voice to lean against the biting beasts in the darkest places. Frozen in my fear of His followers, of losing myself, of being disappointed again, of of of of and of so many things that were, in truth, only the shadows of my shivering self and the empty echoes of my own screaming, I stayed in the very place that I should of been afraid to be, the places where the light didn't reach and where the boundaries I pushed myself against for reassurance had teeth that made my entire being spasm and twitch in pain.

I can imagine Jesus, with tears in His eyes and compassion in His heart, holding out His hand, pleading with me to come out from the places of pain and let Him scoop me into His arms and carry me to safety. I can imagine His voice telling me that it's the very things that I am using for security instead of Him that are hurting me. I imagine Him saying He will protect me from the Itty Bitty's, the others of His that hurt and scared me, if only I will run to Him and not them. If only I will stop looking to the strays for a solution or to the others He has made His own, as though they have become Him, and instead go to Him, the source, I will find the refuge, the comfort, the healing and the peace I seek.

Then I realized that, in this case at least, my ingination is grounded in experience and truth. So, as understanding and hope slip into my soul, I ease my butt from the wire. I stay low and scared, but I move out of the shadows into the light and pray. Lord, help me to listen to the truth behind the gentleness and compassion in Your voice. Help me to start being more faithful to come to You first when fear hits. Let me finish breaking the habit of running into the dark boundaries that have teeth that bring misery, destruction and death. Let me not look to the strays that stay forever in survival mode for solution and safety. Let me instead help them to find that they too belong with You and can have the same peace, refuge and restoration that You offer me. Most of all, let me never again confuse the fists and abusive shouts of the other broken ones that are Yours, and are also trying to make their way from their own biting boundaries to Your kingdom, with Your hands and voice. Amen



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.