Unshackled Echo ~ July 15, 2019 ~ CAT Scan

I went to the doctor Monday to have a follow up and hear the results from the CAT Scan I had last week. It's been too long since I've had the sarcoidosis examined. My ophthalmologist said that the problem that I've had in my eyes for about 10 years and which was getting worse and worse actually was sarcoidosis in my eyes. He got a little frustrated with me because I had not mentioned the sarcoidosis in my chest when asked about any other serious health conditions. The surgeon who diagnosed me after a biopsy of my chest had not acted like it was in any way serious and didn't follow typical treatment protocols, so I kind of ignored and forgot about it.

I didn't get any new information about the sarcoidosis this week. I guess I'll have to wait until the referral for the pulmonologist comes through for the most recent scan to be compared to the old one, but I did get some new information about my health. Evidently the scan shows that I have a gallstone. I was told that I would need to have my gallbladder removed but that since I am not having any serious symptoms it should wait until after I see the pulmonologist.

Well, my thought was no, it can wait a lot longer than that, thank you very much. I have almost no symptoms, and those I do have are not bad or painful enough to give up what I would have to give up if I had my gallbladder removed. I like my diet the way it is, and it's going to take a lot more than the symptoms I have to make me sacrifice being able to eat the foods I want to eat. I have too much of my grandfather in me, I guess. He was an eat what you want and adjust insulin accordingly kind of diabetic.

But early this morning I got a taste of what it might mean to ignore this issue for too long. I had bloating and stomach pain to such a degree that I nearly screamed. Worse, I nearly got up at 5:30 AM on a day that I did not have to be up early. Ugh. I haven't had stomach pain like that in a very long time. It took over an hour for the pain level to subside enough for me to go back to sleep, but I still hurt too much to sleep well.

As I lay there hurting, I did some thinking about the situation. I had a motorcycle wreck in 2012, which led to an emergency room visit and a CAT Scan. They didn't find any issues from the wreck, but they did discover spots on my lymph nodes in and around my lungs. Fighting panic from fear over possible cancer I waited for the biopsy to tell me what was going on. Not cancer. Sarcoidosis. I had been a charity case without insurance at the time, and I guess the doctors and the hospital involved wanted to keep the cost at the absolute minimum, because the standard months long run of steroid treatment and the follow up with a pulmonologist that usually happens in such a case never occurred. In fact the surgeon told me it was nothing to worry about. It turns out that not worrying and and not treating are not really synonymous.

The sarcoidosis is much worse than I was initially led to believe and was also in my eyes. I would go blind without treatment. Thankfully the treatment is working, and my vision is already better, but when my ophthalmologist strongly suggested that I might see if the sarcoidosis in my chest had also gotten worse over the last four years and need treatment, I listened. Hence last week's CAT Scan.

And so far, nothing new on the reason I had the scan, but something else has been found. These inadvertent discoveries often happen. There's a problem with one thing, and examining that situation may or may not show anything but does show an unrelated problem. Then we have to decide what we are going to do with the information. With the sarcoidosis, I definitely want it treated. With the gallbladder, if I'm honest with myself, it's going to have to be as bad as it was this morning or worse, every day, for a while, before I will seriously contemplate having my gall bladder removed. I think the surgeon downplayed the sarcoidosis because I couldn't afford treatment. I think the PA is overplaying the gallstone a little because I have good insurance now and the health care system loves to yank gallbladders when people are insured and there's the slightest excuse.

But as I thought through the pain this morning, I saw some spiritual similarities as well as differences. Sometimes spiritually there are also inadvertent discoveries, inadvertent to us anyway. God always knows the full and complete diagnosis of our mind, body and spirit. But sometimes we go to God over some pain or situation and instead of addressing it like we expect, He shows us a seemingly unrelated area and says, there's a problem here we need to address.  Sometimes He shows it to us before the problem gets real bad and begins causing a lot of pain and damage, and sometimes the problem is revealed as spiritual things are getting infected and about to rupture. But whether we want to pretend it isn't there and it's no big deal because we think there's nothing to it or that it really isn't all that bad compared to the sacrifice to self that changing would cost us, God is not a human doctor with fallacies or hidden agendas.  His timing is always perfect, His understanding is complete, and He never makes a mistake about whether or not something needs to be dealt with or if it's serious or not. All sin is serious and leads to death in our lives. It can't wait. It can't be ignored. It can't be tolerated.

Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.

- Psalm 139:23-24

This should be our attitude regularly, Daily we should be going to Daddy, the Great Physician and saying search me, show me, lead me from death to life. It's more important than check ups and follow ups with physical doctors. There is nothing worth holding onto and risking the spiritual sickness that happens when we ignore the call to keep appointments for exams and treatment with God. Today let us ask Him to show us anything that He wants to treat within us, and let us not underplay, delay or act like it isn't important. Even small sin brings death when left untreated.

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

July 15, 2016.

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.

Undone

Darlene Woodard shares that when we come into the presence of the Lord, the mask and the pretense we hide behind is undone, and that's a good thing. The message, "Undone," is about 6 minutes long, and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on July 14, 2019. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen.

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 13, 2019 ~ Let It Burn

What we have freely received, we are to freely give. In fact, there are things that we are given for the sole purpose of giving them away. Almost like we are not the receivers as much as the carriers. Sometimes this concept can be a little hard to take from the standpoint of our humanness, born in selfishness and clothed in what's in it for me. That's because we see the gifts of God as ours in a way that a discovered treasure is ours. If I found a million dollars and gave a million dollars away I would be as broke as before I found it. No thank you.

But that's not the way it works with spiritual gifts and treasure. Spiritual treasure is not like gold which can be held by only one person at a time, but rather it is like a fire, which does not diminish when offered from one candle to another but gives us even more light and is twice what it was before it was shared. When I found the wonder and truth of God's grace in Jesus Christ for me, I became a blessed and rich person, a spiritual heir of God. But I don't lessen that by giving it away. It can only be lessened by hoarding it. When I find Jesus and the treasure He brings to life, I find something more valuable than gold. When I give the Jesus I have found to a hundred others, my portion is not diminished. Now a hundred and one people have Jesus, and like with a flame to a candle, each have a full portion. In fact, as you give His love away, your flame grows brighter than before, you actually get closer to Jesus, a little more of the Spirit, your portion increases as it is released.

I have been given spiritual gifts that make me able to be of service to God and others. So have you. Those gifts are ours, but they are not directly for us. We use them to bless and help others and to bring glory to God, to make the light of God burn brighter and in more hearts. So what's in it for us? When we light a fire, it is not really the fire that we burn for ourselves and our purposes. We set a fire for the effects of that fire, for the by-products and the results. We are after the energy, heat and light that a fire gives off when it burns.The gifts and things of God are like fire. They do us no good if not used, because it is not them but the effects of using them that we are after.

Using the things of God and sharing them with others doesn't diminish them. It increases their effects and multiplies their by-products of Light to see truth, Warmth to comfort and heal, Energy to endure and excel and spreads love, joy and peace. These things are found and multiplied to us, and through us to others, when we give everything away and are consumed by the fire of God in our hearts. They are only lessened by holding back and tying to prevent some of our self from being burnt, reduced to ash in the transfer. From the ashes of what we give of ourselves to God something beautiful and alive spreads through our lives, and in the end, we are left with more life, more contentment and more reason to live than we had before we were exposed to the fire.

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

July 13, 2016.

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 Echo ~ July 12, 2019 ~ Fix The Leak

My wife and I have dogs. There are 11 canine units ranging from the tiny poodle Katie Bug, to the overgrown puppy Luna, who weighs well over 100 lbs. The majority of them are small and medium sized, the Cavaliers and the Brittanys, but the two Great Danes and the hound are larger. Keeping them all fed and watered can be expensive and time consuming...and frustrating.

For quite a while the largest source of frustration has been Luna, the largest of them. Luna is a beautiful Great Dane who still acts like an energetic puppy despite her hugeness.. She bounces around, knocking things over, and is in no way graceful or lady-like. Luna is short for Lunatic, and she  lives up to the name. Part of me knows we should let her go to another family who can more easily afford to feed her, since she eats more every day than the six smaller dogs in the yard. But I love her and selfishly want to keep her, especially since she is literally a huge deterrent to unwelcome guests. But one thing I didn't love or even like about her is how her exuberance made it impossible to keep her watered.

In all her scampering and bouncing around it never failed that no matter what I did in an attempt to prevent it, she would manage to dump her water. No matter where her water was placed, she would spill it, even when I tied a bucket to a tree, she still managed to waste it, making me have to work harder to make sure she didn't dehydrate, not to mention wasting gallons and gallons of water.

As the weather grew warmer and having water constantly available for all the dogs became more important, Leah conceived a great idea that would work for eight of the dogs at once. I bought a small kids wading pool, placed it where both of the Danes and six of the smaller dogs had easy access to it, filled it up and hoped that would solve the problem. It seemed to work for a short time, but soon our crazy Luna made it clear that she could manage to splash out most of the water in a day. The ground around the pool stayed wet and muddy, even more water was wasted than before, and it took even more time to water in the evening.

Frustrated that she just couldn't keep from wasting water and making meeting her needs more difficult, I finally moved the pool out of her reach, replaced her old water bowl and prepared to have to water her more often. Today the water is almost gone again and the ground around the pool is still wet. It appears that there is a small leak in the pool. I guess one of the dogs must have made a small puncture with their claws. I may have been blaming Luna for something that she wasn't doing. Even though it very well may have been her heavy paw that made the hole, it's possible that she wasn't splashing the water out after all.

No matter where I move the pool, it's going to leak. I can't keep the water level up and keep from wasting water as long as the hole exists. To simply keep adding water is an exercise in futility. Being frustrated with the dog won't help or solve anything. I need to find and patch the leak.

Life can be like this situation. Sometimes, no  matter what we do we keep getting drained. Drained of our awareness of the presence of God, drained of faith, drained of energy, drained of hope, just drained and exhausted from the effort of trying to fill ourselves back up. We may scramble to attempt to prevent it, which uses more energy and resources and simply emphasizes the truth that we are drained and continuing to drain. The obvious cause, the things that once caused the majority of our problems may not even be the issue any more. But we continue to spend frustration and resources attempting to control the craziness we blame for the situation.

But if we can step back and see the situation for what it really is rather than reacting, the Spirit can show us that it isn't the old issue but something else. It's not the external at all, but rather we have a leak. There is only one thing that can keep us from being drained, and that is to let God repair the leak in our soul. We can change the external, change location, eliminate the access that crazy has, and other things, but regardless of how we react or what we do, until the hole is fixed, our life will be a constant battle to fill a leaky vessel.

Being drained and losing the water of life is an internal problem. The external changes we make and the things we try to deny access won't solve the problem and keep us filled. One reason we can find our rest in God is that He dwells within us. He is the internal solution that can keep us filled with what gives life regardless of the crazy externals.

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

July 12, 2016.

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.

Most Excellent Forgiver

We all need to be forgiven. Dalyn Woodard continues the series, "Jesus Is Most Excellent: A Study Of Hebrews," with the good news that God desires to forgive us all and how the forgiveness that Jesus provided is enough for every sin for all time. The message, "most Excellent Forgiver," is about 57 minutes long, and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on July 10, 2019. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen. Video below.

You can hear the first message in the Jesus Is Most Excellent: A Study Of Hebrews series, "It's All About Jesus," here, the second message, "A Most Excellent Word," here. The third message, "Jesus Is Enough," here. The fourth message, "More Excellent Than Angels," here. The fifth message, "Defeating The Dangerous Drift," here. The sixth message, "The Most Excellent Man," here. The seventh message, "The Most Excellent Help," here. The eighth message, "Consider Jesus," here. The ninth message, "Don't Lose Your Rest," here. The tenth message, "There Remains A Rest," here. The eleventh message, "Living And Active," here. The twelfth message, "Hang On And Come Close,"  here. The thirteenth message, "We Need A Mediator," here. The fourteenth message, "Wax Build Up," here. The fifteenth message, "Growing Up Is Not Optional," here. The sixteenth message, "Don't Get Burned," here. The seventeenth message, "Blessed Assurance," here. The eighteenth message, "A Sure And Steadfast Anchor," here. The nineteenth message, "Pointing To Greater," here. The twentieth message, "Access To Draw Near," here. The twenty-first message, "Saving To The Uttermost," here. The twenty-second message, "A Better Way," here The twenty-third message, "Curing The Guilty Conscience," here, and the twenty-fourth message, "Why Did Jesus Have To Die?" 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 Echo ~ July 10, 2019 ~ Terminally Unique - The Rest Of The Story

In yesterday's UM, Terminally Unique,  the thought of the day was about what it means to feel terminally unique and basically how we aren't. But since all those unique emotions aren't all that uncommon after all, why is it that the feeling of being different and set apart, of being terminally unique is so common? The answer is because those feelings, although fueled by self pity and inaccurate, have a basis of truth. They are a lie from the enemy, the lie that no one could understand and that our situation is different from all other human experience, but Satan's favorite lies, and the ones that are easiest for us to believe, are lies which are born from a seed of truth.

The truth that has been twisted to alienate and isolate us is the rest of the story. The root of truth is that we are indeed unique. No matter what boxes we fit into, no matter how much we have conformed to society, no matter how average our lives may be or how common our reactions and actions are in given situations, the truth is that we are all unique. There is no one who is living, has ever lived or will ever live exactly like me, or you. And if we get back to the truth of the how and why of that, then being terminally unique can take on an entirely new meaning and can become a beautiful and glorious thing.

To be terminal is to be dying, so there may not seem to be an upside to that condition. The truth though goes against our reason and says that we must be terminal, we must die to find life. Our lives are so much better after we die. I'm not talking about heaven, although there is that. I'm talking about the here and now and dying to self and living in Christ. And once we have died and been reborn as a child of God and learn to stay terminal, to die daily to self and follow Him, our uniqueness becomes a treasure. We each have a unique assortment of spiritual gifts and characteristics that are ours with our birth in Christ. While there are similarities with our brothers and sisters, no one else is exactly like us.

We have a calling that enables us to serve in a unique way that uniquely reflects an aspect of our Creator No one else can show and reflect His glory in quite the same way and degree as I can. No one else can take your place in that glory puzzle either. When we refuse to die to self and insist on walking in our own way, then the world misses out on seeing some of the beauty and wonder of the Father. Others fit the puzzle in their own unique ways and can not do more than what they were made to do.

Today, let us not wait for someone else to try to fill in the gap for us. Let us be gloriously and wonderfully terminally unique. Let us die to self, live in Him, and let our lives give Him the glory that only our love, service and praise can.

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

July 10, 2016.

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 Echo ~ July 9, 2019 ~ Terminally Unique

I can remember the first time that I heard the words terminally unique. Someone helping me with my early days of recovery used them to turn the volume down on the pity party I was throwing. She couldn't make me stop feeling sorry for myself, but she could kill the soundtrack. "Dalyn, you are seriously not terminally unique." She went on to tell me that in all the years that she'd been in the rooms of recovery she had never talked to anyone who hadn't expressed feeling the feelings I was whining about, especially in the start of the process.

But it's different for me. If you just understood what I have been through, what has been done, you'd drink/drug too, or at least you would see why I do. If you just understood what they did to me you would understand why I have to hold on to this particular resentment. I know Jesus said to forgive, but He wasn't talking about this kind of situation. You just don't get it. Etc., etc., blah, blah, Nobody understands me and what I'm feeling. I'm dying inside, and nobody sees why but me. I'm alone. I'm different than everybody else. The pity party anthem of the terminally unique echoes out of tune.

Like many teens, when I was younger I put up posters in my room, mostly of bands and cars I'd never drive, much less own. But I had one poster of a tiger looking like an overgrown depressed kitten. The caption on the poster consisted of three words. Nobody Understands Me. My father hated that poster. I know because he told me so. I didn't take it down though. If he had only understood how I was feeling he would understand why I loved that poster. But he did understand. He saw and understood me reacting to pain, confusion, disappointment, rejection and fear by isolating and playing the victim, and he saw the danger of it.

I just didn't get that the truth that there is nothing new under the sun includes emotions and the way I feel. Of course we all have unique experiences. No one has lived the exact same life as anyone else. Even the friends I strolled through hell with all did so from a slightly different angle and perspective. But our fears and emotions and reactions are far more mundanely average than we would like to believe. Being used and abused and treated wrong means we have at some point been victimized, but it takes wallowing in self pity and, yes, pride over it to play the victim. To take advantage of another, to have brought destruction into someone else's life means we have at some point played the victimizer, but it takes pride in being predator rather than prey and, yes, self pity to revel in killing before we can be killed. And the feelings and motivations of both extremes and the states between are predictable and boring and anything but unique.

Even if we could come up with some situation that absolutely no one we know could possibly understand and empathize with, Christ can and does understand how and why we feel what we do. In fact, He not only volunteered to  experience our hell, but He gets it and understands it even better than we do. From our perspective at the center of our own universe we may indeed seem terminally unique, but in truth our actions, reactions and emotions are common and shared by millions.

Rather than taking our pain and fear as an excuse to hide and wail that no one could possibly understand, we can run to the One who understands us even better than we do, who can help us, heal us and transform us, and then we can courageously share our experiences and what we felt with others so that they can see that they too are not alone and that there is indeed a solution.

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

July 9, 2016.

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.