Unshackled Moments ~ November 14, 2017 ~ The God Problem, Part 2

Yesterday I wrote of the first of three issues I have seen people have with The God Problem. It's hard for people who have been hurt by and are angry at religion/church to look to God for help. Those who have fallen for the lie that to be intelligent and educated is to deny God and or the spiritual can also have a difficult time. Although there is often an overlap between those who try to rationalize away God and the spiritual and those who are angry at God. And this brings us to the second issue that I see with people who can't wrap their mind around the God thing. I don't believe in religion. I don't trust religion. I hate religion. I am not a religious person. I've tried religion, and it didn't work for me.

I could go on. I am sure there are more ways someone could say what basically amounts to the same thing. Religion? No thanks. I don't think that will work, and I really don't want to try it. And I don't blame you. With what we tend to think of and call to mind when we think of religion or say someone is religious is negative at best.

People in religion don't like, perhaps even hate, all those who disagree with them and don't belong to their group. Religious friendship isn't really friendship at all.  Non-believers are just projects or targets. No one really cares about the person, just about getting them into the group, making them one of the rest. If someone isn't interested or doesn't want to hear about their religion, then the religious people disappear, moving on to the next person. Or worse, they become condescending and judgmental, treating the person as less than and with disapproval. This can make work environments especially miserable. Religious people are seen as rude, stingy, selfish, judgmental, angry, non-accepting and always ready to strike out against those who don't believe or who believe differently. Religion is too hard. If you do enough of the good and the right and don't do enough of the bad and the wrong, then maybe God will like you and you can go to Heaven and get help. But often it seems like the person in need of help and love is just beat on. A scared girl facing a terrible choice is screamed at and told she's horrible and going to hell just for thinking about abortion. A young man looking across the street from a college campus seeing angry, yelling people holding signs that tell him he is hated by God because he is gay. Religion and politics become so intertwined that political view and religion become the same label and then the attacks, anger and hate towards the other side becomes so unloving and family and friends are exiled, cut out of life and blocked on social media because of disagreements over health care, gun control, drugs, and a host of other things, and the issue is political but the wounds are religious.

That's what many see and feel and think about religion. Doesn't that sound like fun? Not to me it doesn't. Being a part of that is like being friends with the bully simply to escape being a target only to find that you eventually truly become a bully. It's sad but true that we who claim to follow Jesus may be the only Jesus someone ever sees and then they see some variation of the above. Hurtful, hateful and hypocritical. No wonder that they run from the idea of turning to God.

But the truth is that we who are or were addicts have lived a very strict, religious-like life. No/ I hate religion! I won't let some set of rules and beliefs dictate all I do, think, and feel or how I behave. I refuse to be a part of a group that treats people who are one of them the way religions do. Oh really?

Well, thinking back, my only real friends who others who drank and used, particularly those who drank and used similarly to the way that I did/. I didn't like hanging out with those who were clean. I derided and judged and didn't trust those who were outside my group, especially those who were clean. I only acted friendly or like I cared about someone as long as I thought I could get something out of it in return. Goodness, I could go on.

And talk about being controlled in a religious way. Let's take a look at the Ten Commandments with a twist.

1. You shall have no other gods before Me.
The vast majority of my time was spent worshiping drugs and alcohol. Almost every moment was spent consuming, or thinking about being able to consume, or working toward getting something to consume. Seriously, what or who came before my chemical god? Nothing. I would do pretty much anything, walk away from anyone or anything for another taste. I sacrificed family, friends, freedom, careers, money, and more on the altar of addiction. I am not unique. Nothing and no one was more important. Nothing came before it.

2. Don't practice idolatry.
Idolatry is defined as the worship of idols and extreme adoration, love or reverence for someone more than or others than God. It didn't take long as a member of the Church of the Hallowed Chemical before that wasn't even hard. I couldn't really love or adore anyone, and the only thing I had reverence for were the chemicals.

3. Don't take the name of the Lord in vain.
Taking the Lord's name in vain is calling Him Lord and acting like He's not. It's using His name to justify our sin. It's basically acting like the religious jerk in the paragraphs above and blaming God for it. So the addict, the one trapped in the bondage of habitual sin, behaves horribly and blames everything else but himself or herself. He or she constantly denies that they are slaves. I can quit any time. This thing doesn't have any real power over me. But in the times when everything gets quiet and truth can't be denied, we knew there was nothing more in control and more powerful in our lives than our addiction and the need to feed it.

4. Remember the Sabbath, to keep it holy.
There was nothing more holy to us than our free time, right? The time set aside to be able to drink or use or do whatever. Nothing was more important. Not family events, not holidays, not celebrations, nothing. We might could limit our intake or participation for a while, become a functional addict, for family or work, but only if there was a block of time, the weekend, the late night, the something, that could be totally devoted to worship and nothing could interfere with that without a problem.

5. Honor your father and mother.
This is the first one that must be totally changed. It simply gets reversed to don't honor your father or mother or anyone else for that matter, at least not more than the master. Devotion to the addiction supersedes all other relationships.

6. You shall not murder.
The second one that gets reversed. You shall harm all others who threaten your ability to worship at the altar of addiction, even to death. Beating, stealing, and even killing, are all options to protect the stash, to protect the freedom to continue using, or to attain what is necessary to consume.

7. Don't commit adultery.
You will be faithful to the addiction. Even years after quitting, the addiction calls the formerly faithful to worship in dreams, in cravings, in moments of temptation.

8. You shall not steal.
Reverse world once more. Steal. Seriously. What's mine is mine and what's yours is mine if I can' help you consume it or get it away from you. I would surely help you drink your wine in the name of a good time, and I would steal your stash and help you look for it.

9. Do not bear false witness.
This is another reversal. Say anything about anyone to get the blame, pressure, heat off you so that your ability to come to the altar isn't hindered. It's everyone else/s fault, every problem, every mistake, everything. Refuse to take responsibility for anything. Convict everyone else. If they didn't, if you didn't, I wouldn't have....

10. Don't covet.
Don't long for or be willing to work toward having anything that anyone else has. Don't try to get or maintain a family, home, career, anything really. All that you need is the addiction. You don't need anyone or anything else, so don't even bother trying.

At let's not forget the demands of our vicious god. We addicts sacrifice children on its altar. Sacrifice marriages, parents, siblings, even our ourselves. We trust nothing else but the addiction to meet our needs, and it is our only source for validation and forgiveness. Not true forgiveness of course, but when the shame becomes too much to bear, even the shame of the addiction and the things done to feed and in the name of the addiction, it isn't family or friends or even God we turn to. It is the addiction that helps us ignore, forget, pretend, escape.

I was far more faithful as an addict than I ever have been as a Christian. I hope that isn't always the case. I would love to get to a place where I truly was as wholly and completely devoted and consumed by my relationship with Daddy as I was for a quarter of a century with chemicals. I don't want anything to be more important to me than Him and our relationship. We addicts have plenty of religious tendencies. We are more like the religious that we despise and that have hurt us than we like to admit. We have done more evil and stupid in the name of our god than any hypocrite we've ever met.

The answer is not to stop worshiping at the altar of addiction in exchange for a different set of rules and commandments. It's not to stop being a selfish jerk for whatever your addiction is and start being a selfish jerk for Jesus, or Buddha, or Mohammad or ...... The problem with religion is the demand to measure up. Do this. Don't do that. Do it all well enough and hope it's been enough. Attack anyone different to show your devotion and commitment. Don't be tempted to stray or be guilty by association. Cut out everyone and condemn all those who will bot be like you. Pretend that you are OK and accuse everyone else of not being so. The God problem can not be solved by religion because religion is about us, created by us, to make ourselves feel better and to control ourselves. And it fails.

But relationship with God is not about what we have or haven't done. It's all about what Jesus has already done for us. It's not about earning or deserving but about receiving. It's not about excluding and exiling others. It's about loving even enemies. Christians will and do fail. They get caught up in political and moral battles and react wrong. They try to cover their sin and shame by acting good enough. They try to feel superior by pointing out the wrongs and flaws of others. And more. And worse. In other words, they are just as human as non-Christians. And if you have been beaten up by judgmental jerks in the name of Jesus, I am so sorry. I have been there and felt that. I got pushed around and beat up so bad in and by the church that by the time I turned 13 I completely and totally believed that God hated me. That crap is not Christianity and we are not called to that. Christians act that way sometimes, because Christians are not yet made perfect and we sin. But Christianity is not those things. It is a call to love God and love others, to deny self and follow in the example and footsteps of Jesus. When we do that, we find freedom. We find a life worth living. And we discover by grace the love of Daddy that doesn't have to be earned or deserved. The God problem is solved in relationship not rules.

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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 ~ November 13, 2017 ~ The God Problem

I can't say how many times I have heard someone early in recovery or in need of recovery refuse a spiritual solution because they can't wrap their head around the God thing. And it usually boils down to one of three issues or a combination.

Issue one is often some variation of I have been hurt too often and too badly or see too much pain and evil in the world to believe in a loving God. What this usually means is that the person is consumed with and controlled by anger towards a being they claim not to believe in. I get it. I spent far too much of my life hurting myself to show God I was mad at Him. God was way up there on my first resentment list, second only to myself. There are many resources to answer the question of evil and the problem of pain if someone really wants to know the answer to if God is loving, then how can He allow.....? But I have found that most people who say things like that don't truly desire an answer. They want to be mad. They want to keep God off the throne of their lives, and this excuse is as good as any. I am no longer angry at God, and I truly believe that He loves me and you as we are, not as we should be. I also believe that He loves us enough not to leave us the mess that we are. I have seen the evidence of that love as big, bright and beautiful as the evil is dark and ugly. But the ironic thing is that I wasn't able to get past the anger and then surrender to God. I had to surrender first.

I was a lot like a wild horse that thought he was in control and needed to avoid be dominated by the person he feared. Whenever the man came near he ran, hid, kicked, bit, threw up his head and extended his stride. Look at me, the horse thinks. I'm wild and free and you can't catch or break me. Look how awesome and majestic I am. I see myself running through the wilderness with the movie in slow motion and an instrumental version of Born Free playing in the background. I am free and everyone should admire that and want to be free like me.

Poor deluded horse. The movie isn't in slow motion. It's just that misery always feels like time is crawling. It's joy that goes by at the speed of light. And that mental image of majestic independence is fiction. The truth is days struggling in the heat or cold trying to find enough food and water to survive. The truth is wolves and mountain lions and other horses and perhaps other predators all trying to hurt, to drive away, and even to kill. The truth is never truly being able to rest or know peace. The truth is harsh winters with never enough to satisfy. The truth is the ribs are showing, the mane is matted, there are cuts and scrapes and scars all over, and there is a panic in the eyes that never completely disappears. The truth is that he is dying, a slow and hard death.

Then one day the man captures the horse. The horse hasn't gotten over his fear and gone to the man. The man, seeing the misery and danger the horse is in has gone out of his way to find it. The horse fights the ropes and tries to escape the corral and fears the movements of the hands and sounds of approaching feet of the man. But slowly, over time, because the man is patient and ignores the threats and abuse the horse displays and just gently keeps caring for him, something begins to change.

The horse looks better. He is eating regularly and finds out what it feels like to be full. His coat shines with health and the care of brushing. His mane is not tattered and tangled. His water is always close at hand, and his thirst is quenched. There is shelter from the elements. The man and his dog keep the predators at bay, and the horse can sleep and rest without fear. Then the gentle taming, the feel of the saddle and the weight he feared of the man on his back. But even that is not bad like he thought. Now he has a purpose, and a companion, and he gets to run with a strength he didn't have before, with security he never knew and he is not alone. Now the horse feels truly alive, has purpose, truly is healthy and beautiful and doesn't live in fear and danger. And this is when we say he is broke?

Yes, I was this horse. I ran from God. I wanted to be free. I was mad at God and afraid of Him, especially the idea of His control over me. I didn't want to be broke and live as a servant. But I was broken in the wilderness, I was full of need and sickness and fear and despair and hopelessness. When I got hurt so badly I could no longer flee, after the panic had driven me into a place with no escape, I chose to let God take me from the wilderness rather than to die. I still feared God, and I was still mad at Him, but I feared and hated and was mad at the alternatives more. My image of God wasn't a gentle, loving, good Daddy. My image of God was that He was the lesser of the evil options that were all I had.

So I surrendered. Daddy took me in. Cared for me. Took His time. I think sometimes the reason the recovery is slow, that restoration seems to crawl almost as much as misery, is so that we can become accustomed to the patient, gentle, caring hands of the Father on us. Yep, I've been captured and broke and placed under the control of another and all those other things I feared about giving up my right to self rule and my independence. And the irony is now I feel free. I know what it feels like to feel satisfied and content. I know what serenity feels like. I am not dying to fill my mind and body and soul yet never having enough. I have learned through experience and time that Daddy's hands are gentle and kind, that He truly is good and His mercy does endure. That He does love us.

I lost the war of rebellion against the King. And He took this prisoner of war, removed my chains, cleaned me up, treated my wounds, and made me His son. And the great news is that I am not special or unique. He wants to do the same for you, Dear Reader. Maybe you can't wrap your head around the idea of a loving God because it's a truly alien concept to you. It's like trying to imagine the taste of ice cream when you've never even had sugar. But if you let Him, He will show you, and then you don't have to figure it out. You can simply experience it for yourself. Taste and see that the Lord is good, and He loves you. He is the easier, softer, more satisfying way.

We'll look at the other two issues in The God Problem in the upcoming Moments.

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.

Sometimes Doing The Right Thing Hurts

Wally Flynt shares on the tragedy of the First Baptist Church at Southerland Springs, Texas and recent atrocities and how difficult it can be to step up and walk in the light and what is right. The message,  "Sometimes Doing The Right Thing Hurts" is about 6 minutes long and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on Sunday, November 12, 2017. 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 Audio Echo ~ November 11, 2017 ~ More

Today's Unshackled Audio Echo was previously published on

November 6, 2014 as More Of Jesus.

Dalyn Woodard continued the series on spiritual freedom and recovery from bondage of all kinds. The sermon, “More Of Jesus,” focuses on Step Ten of the Twelve Steps and the Biblical principles behind it and is about 38 minutes in length. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen. May God bless and keep you.

Photo "Old Time Religion" taken by Dalyn Woodard copyright Eclectic Imagery.

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 ~ Novembers 10, 2017 ~ The Relapse Before The Relapse

I have a few friends who were set free from the chains of addiction once and done. What I mean by that is that they got beaten into submission, surrendered, quit drinking or drugging or.... and never picked back up, never relapsed. Not. Once. Free for years from the get go.That is not me. That is not most people I know. It could be you. It might not be. Either way, recovered with or without relapses, there is a solution. There is a way to have freedom from the bondage of addiction and habitual sin.

There are those whose story is God set me free and I have never done ______ since. I never looked back. He can do the same for you. And there are those whose story is God set me free. It wasn't easy. I stumbled. I slipped. More than once. But God never stopped loving me, caring for me, calling me back to Him and helping me. The grace was there to get back up, to learn and grow and walk free. I myself went back many times in early sobriety, and it took me months to string together over 30 days clean and sober. Then I finally truly surrendered and what a difference it made. Suddenly it all came together and I recovered from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body, found healing for the spiritual sickness eating away at me and found freedom from the obsession to drink and drug.

I had it. I thought there was no way and nothing that could ever change that. I celebrated my first year clean and sober at 38, and it was by far the longest stretch of unaltered consciousness I had ever had since the age of 13. About three months later I relapsed and nearly died before I made it back. That was the last time. It's been over seven and a half years since I turned back to chemicals to fill the space in my life that only God can fill. In a week it will be seven and a half years since I returned to recovery and got clean and sober once more. I pray for the last time.

Today I won't say that I will never drink or drug again. I will say that I know that I don't have to. None of us ever have to return to our sin like a dog returns to vomit. We do not have to go back to our old master. We have been set free and can stay free. I will also say that as long as I remain under the control of the Spirit, I know that I won't go back, because that's not the direction He's going. The point is that relapse doesn't have to be a part of your story. It's not God's will for us, and He can set us free without it. But if we do fall, we have One who intercedes on our behalf, who is faithful and quick to forgive and who will not cast us away or forsake us. Daddy's love for you and me is not based on performance. And finally, until we have been fully made like Jesus, whether we have ever lost ground and fallen back into the hands of the enemy in an area we'd been given victory over or not, if there have been no relapses before or many, we all have one more in us.

That's right. As long as we are in this flesh we all have the potential to go back to living for self to the point where we get as stupid as Samson. Even after Delilah betrayed him to his enemies more than once, he finally told her his true weakness. He was defeated. Blinded. Put in chains, and spent the rest of life grinding the corn of his enemies. We all have that potential if we get outside the will of God, take our lives back, begin to live for self and in the power of self again, to listen to the lies and take and eat of the deadly fruit of temptation. But we may not have another recovery in us. I have buried far too many friends who went back out one more time and died. I don't want that to be me. I don't want it to be you. It doesn't have to be.

Above I said that about three months after I reached a year I relapsed. In a way that's true. But it's not the whole truth. The truth is my relapse happened about three weeks after that one year mark. It just took a while before I actually picked up that first drink that led to the rest. It's easy to mark a relapse as the moment when the addict takes that first drink again, takes a drug again, places another bet, loads up that pornographic website, sits down with a spoon and a tub of ice cream, or engages in/consumes whatever their particular area of bondage is. But that's not really it. It's like falling off the cliff. It may be hitting the ground that does the damage, but slamming into the earth is not when we fell. We fell when we went over the edge. I didn't relapse when I went back out. I relapsed when I got mad at God again, took back my will and quit trying to improve (or have any, really) conscious contact or relationship with Daddy.

After that I was falling. It was just a question of how long I would fall before I hit the ground. How long could I or would I fight on my own will and power to stay clean and sober. Turned out to be about two months. When Samson walked in the power of the Spirit he couldn't be defeated by thousands. When he wasn't walking with God he placed his very life in the hands of a single woman who'd already betrayed him before. As much as it may seem so, Samson really isn't especially stupid. We're all like him. When we're walking with God we are more than overcomers, more than free, more than able to go anywhere and do anything that He calls us to do. We don't have to sin or relapse or fall back into old behavior or however you want to label putting the chains back on. But if we get outside of God's will and stay there, sooner or later we will do something epically stupid. It may not be relapse. It may be something totally new. But we will bring destruction and captivity into a life that God has set free.

The sickness is a spiritual one. The addiction is a symptom. The cure, treatment and solution for the spiritual sickness is also a spiritual one. Jesus is the answer. Relationship with God is our only hope of freedom and a life worth living. Relapse is also spiritual. It happens in the spirit, heart and mind before it manifests in the actions. The good news is that if you feel like you've fallen, like you've gotten off track, you don't have to hit the ground and make that crater before you (hopefully) return to the road that leads to life. If you have taken or do take back your will, if you have begun or begin trying to do it yourself, you're rushing toward a painful crash. Like Peter who took his eyes off Jesus when walking on the water and immediately began to sink into the sea.

Peter was doing the impossible. As long as he kept his eyes on Jesus he strolled on the sea. But when he started thinking of himself, oh my, what on earth am I doing? How am I doing this? He began to sink right then. But beginning to sink, he cried out, Lord save me! And Jesus did. We in recovery are doing the impossible every day. Our entire lives are miracles. We are walking above and free of what should have killed us and what we never had power over. As long as we keep our eyes on Jesus we will be OK. But the sinking starts when we get back in self, not when we drown. And we don't have to be near drowning to cry out for help and return. Beginning to sink we can cry out, Lord save me! He will. We all have moments we live for self and get out of God's will for us. When we see them, we need to get back under the shadow of his wings as soon as we see it, when our ankles start getting wet. If we wait too long, we just might drown.


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.

Spirit Filled Marriage: Part 1 Wise Husbands

Dalyn Woodard returns to the book of Ephesians, verses 25-33 of chapter 5,. Looking at the longest passage of New Testament scripture on marriage and the call for husbands to love their wives as Christ loves us. The message,  "Spirit Filled Marriage: Part 1 Wise Husbands" is about 38 minutes long and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on Wednesday, November 8, 2017. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen. May God bless and keep you.

If you missed Part 1 of the Identity Crisis series, Who Are You, it can be found here. Part 2, Living Free, can be found here. Part 3, The Blessing Of Belonging, can be found here. Part 4, The Fullness Of Jesus, can be found here. Part 5, Good News, Bad News, can be found here. Part 6, But God's Amazing Grace, can be found here. Part 7, Welcome To The Family, can be found here. Part 8, Count It All Joy, can be found here. Part 9. Power Prayer, can be found here. Part 10, Walking In Unity, can be found here. Part 11, Grow Up, can be found here. Part 12, Trading Up, can be found here. Part 13, Daddy Knows Best, can be found here. Part 14, Turn On The Light, can be found here, and Part 15, Living Under The Influence, 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 ~ November 8, 2017 ~ Pay Attention To The Focus Of Attention

Do you know why you're supposed to pull into the left lane on a four-lane highway to pass a car on the shoulder, especially a law enforcement officer with lights flashing at night? It's a response to many accidents where a car that has plenty of room to drive right on by has clipped a vehicle on the shoulder, or worse slammed straight into it. Far too many law enforcement officers standing at the pulled over driver's window have been struck by passing cars that had more than enough room to easily pass by safely, even without changing lanes. In videos of the accidents, it often looks like the driver targeted the parked vehicle and drove into it on purpose. There's a reason it appears intentional.

We have a tendency to drift toward whatever we are focused on. It's not just when we drive either. I've seen videos of people walking perfectly straight down a sidewalk, glance off to look at a store window display and angle over in the same direction without noticing. The next thing they know they have walked into a sign or something and people all across social media are laughing at them. It's the reason you look where you want to throw or shoot. Where we focus tends to be where we go. It's even true with our thoughts and emotions.

Have you ever noticed that when you feel sad, that the more you examine and focus on it the worse you feel, often until you are fully and truly depressed? But if something distracts you from it, you begin to cheer up? It's the truth behind the cliche that you can't be hateful and grateful at the same time. We can't focus on more than one direction, situation or thing at a time,

I can. I multitask all the time. I multitask as well, and I think I'm fairly good at it. But the truth is while we may be satisfactorily completing multiple tasks simultaneously, we are not fully focused on any of them. To focus, to pay particular and continuous attention to something, distracts from all else. What is our focus? Are our eyes on Jesus? Is our attention on His will and His love? Are we turning our thoughts toward all things working to good, what He is doing in and through us and drawing closer to Him? Are we dwelling on our relationship with Daddy in gratitude for His love and goodness toward us? Or are we dwelling on the negative and misunderstood and painful?

Bear in mind, I am not suggesting we should put on blinders and not see, acknowledge or address wrong, pain and suffering in our lives and the lives of others. I'm not saying pretend everything is OK when it's not. I'm suggesting that when we encounter misfortune, if we acknowledge it, accept responsibility for our part, if there is any, and turn the situation over to God and turn our heart, thoughts, attention, etc., all of us that participates in our mental and emotional dwelling on Him and things above, that are true, lovely, etc. it makes a difference. The situation may or may not improve, but our reactions will be better. We find peace in the midst of the storm when we focus on the One who gives peace, not when we focus on the wind. It's not when we trick ourselves into delusion and profess the wind isn't blowing but when we realize that even if the wind blows us to pieces we are safe in the arms of Daddy, He loves us and will work even disaster for our good.

When we dwell on the misery and the suffering we fall into self pity and lose sight of the love Daddy has for us. It then becomes a battle to stay surrendered to His will for us, and we begin to try to care for and provide for ourselves and to continue in our own strength. Of course, that is something we have proven through experience time and time again doesn't work. That is when the storm brings true destruction. That's when we are truly in danger, when we are running on self, even if the storm is gone and the sun is shining. The faster we turn our attention from the situation to Him, the less ability the situation has to hurt, hinder or destroy.

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