Unshackled Echo ~ October 8, 2018 ~ Reacting With Love

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

April 6, 2015.

The night before last I stayed up too late trying to finish something that needed to be done before yesterday morning. Unfortunately being up late didn't set back the time the alarm would go off. It rang as early as it always does on days I need to work. Couple this with a general lack of rest lately, and I woke yesterday morning exhausted and grouchy. I could hear the frustration in my voice with everything. I wasn't so much upset at anything other than not being in bed asleep, where I really wanted to be.

At one point I realized I was short and snappy with Leah. She hadn't done anything wrong. I was just in a bad mood. About the time I realized how I sounded and worried that I may have hurt her feelings, she walked over to me, gave me a kiss and told me how much she loves me. It was the high point of my day.

I was being a jerk. I didn't mean to be, but while I saw what was happening I couldn't seem to stop it. It was like seeing the wreck about to happen when the car spins out of control and knowing that there was nothing to do but pray and wait to see how bad it would be in the end. Leah had two choices. She could get hurt and angry, let my bad attitude ruin her day and build a (temporary) wall between us, or she could choose to react with love and bless me, even though I wasn't blessing her. She chose love.
This is how we are to react to the world, to everyone in it.

But she loves you! That makes it easier, right? Wrong. Think about it. We all too often allow impoliteness and frustrations to leak out all over those we love in a way that we would guard against with strangers. And when someone we care about is hurtful or insensitive toward us it hurts much worse than when a stranger is rude. So Leah being able to choose love over anger with me is a greater task of love rather than a lessor one.

I want to open myself to the control of the Spirit so that more and more I choose to act and react in love. This is the example we see in the life of Jesus as He loved the ones who would cost Him His life...us. I am so grateful for the reminder by example that Leah showed me. We all have bad days from time to time, but if we stay surrendered we can avoid having a bad attitude to match and not take it out on others. And for the record I apologized to Leah and did my best to make it right.

Abba, help me to be quick to get out of self when my mood begins to crumble. Help me not take my off days and frustrations out on those around me. And when I encounter someone who is acting unloving, for whatever reason, help me to choose love over any negative reaction. Amen.

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

Unshackled Life Ministries is grateful for every person that reads the daily Unshackled Moments, the weekly Unshackled Echo and or listens to the Audio Messages. I want to thank those who have clicked "like" on something that blessed or ministered to them on social media, commented on the blog or replied to an email subscription. It is encouraging to know that God is using this ministry to help and bless others. Please remember that if God used something from this ministry to help, encourage or bless you, it could also bless someone else. Would you help get the devotions and sermons to more people by sharing this? Hitting the share button or forwarding this to a friend will help us reach more people with the good news of freedom and the encouragement to live an Unshackled Life. Thank you and God bless.

Joy Is Not Our Strength

It's no great mystery to know and understand that it is better to have joy than not to. Dalyn Woodard shares on why joy is an important by-product but it is not the goal, nor the answer  There is so much more to the truth that the joy of the Lord is our strength than that we can be or need to be happy. The message, "Joy Is Not Our Strength" is about 12 minutes long and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on Sunday, October 7, 2018. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen. May God bless and keep you.

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

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

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

Unshackled Echo ~ October 6, 2018 ~ Every Dog Can Have His Day

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

April 2, 2015.

This hungry hound cross has been running up and down the road and through the fields near where I work for a while now. I don't know if he ran off from where he belonged or if he got dumped. But he's been losing weight and looking rough. The day before yesterday a friend of mine coaxed the shy and wary dog to her and put him in a collar and on a chain for the night. She left him some food and went home, planning to take him to the vet to see if he was microchipped. In the meantime she sent photo to her husband who immediately wanted the dog and asked her to bring him home.

Yesterday I arrived at work about the same time my friend showed up to take care of the dog. She told me about him and how her husband wanted him. As we got to the spot where she'd left him we noticed he was gone. The dog had eaten the food left for him, broken his collar and fled. He's spent who knows how long fending for himself, barely surviving, and had run from an amazing opportunity. He was about  to be cared for, have a home with AC and Heat and a back yard to play in, a master who wanted him to enjoy life and be happy and would provide for his every need, to have all the food he could eat and live the rest of his days in comfort. But he ran from the perceived restriction of the collar.

A few hours later he showed back up, and my friend caught him again. He was worse. At some point after his escape he had been shot with a pellet gun. She scooped him up, took him to a vet and treated his wound while checking for the microchip. With no microchip or tag to say who he belonged to, she took him home. By the end of the day, he was comfortable,

well fed and had his wounds treated. If someone shows they're missing a dog, my friend will gladly return him, but if not, he will have a loving home with her and her husband. He will have a better life. If only he hadn't fled the night before he wouldn't have gotten shot before finding a home.

Too often we are like the stray. We want to fend for ourselves, to run our own life. We want freedom and to have no master but ourselves. But at best we barely survive. We got sick. We go hungry. And from time to time we get shot. There is One who loved us from the first moment and has called us to him. He wants only the best for us. He wants to give us purpose, relationship, nourishment and love. He wants to give us the paradise of a home, sheltered from the elements and protected from enemies. He wants to give us heaven. But in some misunderstanding of freedom verses the collar, we try to take a little food and then run away again to do our own thing. It usually ends with us being shot and crawling back, wounded for help. We can avoid all that extra pain by just letting our new master love us and care for us without running. Life will be so much better and easier. It's not too late for us old strays to learn this new truth.

Lord, help me to remember that You love me and want only the best for me. Let me not try to break Your collar to be my own master any longer. Let me settle into the comfort, safety and pleasure that comes from belonging to You. Amen.

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

Unshackled Life Ministries is grateful for every person that reads the daily Unshackled Moments, the weekly Unshackled Echo and or listens to the Audio Messages. I want to thank those who have clicked "like" on something that blessed or ministered to them on social media, commented on the blog or replied to an email subscription. It is encouraging to know that God is using this ministry to help and bless others. Please remember that if God used something from this ministry to help, encourage or bless you, it could also bless someone else. Would you help get the devotions and sermons to more people by sharing this? Hitting the share button or forwarding this to a friend will help us reach more people with the good news of freedom and the encouragement to live an Unshackled Life. Thank you and God bless.

Unshackled Moments ~ October 5, 2018 ~ Are You A Loser?

Some who read the title of today's Moment  will be upset at even the question that they may be losers. We have made an idol out of self-esteem and the general message of our society is you are OK as you are. We share memes and quotes to inspire one another to believe in ourselves. Others will see the title and simply bow inwardly in defeat and self-loathing believing that yes, yes indeed they are losers.

First, the reason for all the affirmations is that there is too much devaluing of people today. People, sometimes even we ourselves, too often believe the lie that we are worthless. Others treat us as thought we have no value until we are broken and shattered and begin treating ourselves that way. Life becomes miserable and barely worth living. Feeling worthless and insignificant destroys lives, and if anyone feels that they are of no value, I promise you, that's a lie.

But you don't know me! No, I don't. But I know the One who knows you better than you know yourself, and He has declared you precious, loved and  of great value. That said, combating a horrible and destructive lie with another lie doesn't help.

A hundred people are stuck on the roof of a multi-story building that is on fire and know that if they don't get off that roof they'll die. The evil jerk who started the fire is sitting on the roof with a bullhorn trying to encourage the hopelessness. He wants to see everyone burn and die. So he shouts repeatedly that there is no point in trying to escape the fire. They are all weak and can't do anything to save themselves. This is a lie, and he knows it, but some believe it. They sit down and wait to die.

Others know instinctively that this is wrong. They try to keep everyone motivated to try. They want to survive, and they're doing their best. They say that everyone has strong legs and is in good shape and can jump to the next building which isn't on fire. The problem is that they aren't all in the same shape. There are some who are more weak than the rest, even some who are cripple. The other problem is that the next building is 40 feet away. The world's greatest long jumper is there, but he knows that even he can't make that jump. Others though continue to encourage him and tell him he's good enough and can make the jump. Finally, he believes it and tries.  And falls to his death.

Compared to me, you may not be a loser. Compared to Billy Graham you may be great. But we aren't held to the standard of what I can do, or even how good Billy graham did. It doesn't matter that we're better than Hitler. The standard we are held to is the perfect sinlessness of Jesus.  It's not that God is being unfair. It's just that there is a gap between us and Him and we are not strong enough, able enough, to leap that gap.Compare yourself to me or any number of more obvious losers, and you may be able to convince yourself that you are great. But when it comes time to make that leap to life, you;ll fall short. The cripple and the long jump champion both die, even thought the long jumper is more able.

The good news is that Jesus is for losers. Jesus willingly placed Himself on our burning building. Then He made the leap, doing what we need to do and can't. But He didn't just jump and leave us. Reaching the other side, He turned and made a way for us to cross the gap to Daddy behind Him. He stood on the other side and set a bridge in the shape of a cross from life back to our place of death. Anyone and everyone who wants to can cross the bridge. Even the cripple just has to want to cross it, and He will come and carry them across. The least able and the most can all freely make the journey over the cross because the One who made the bridge declared it is for all who see the need and accept it.

But those who say I don't need the bridge and try to jump the gap themselves will fall short.  The ones who don't try will die on the roof. It's not because Daddy is unfair or doesn't care. He made the way. You, no matter what you've done or what has been done to you, are not too cripple to escape. The bridge is for you. Daddy loves you as you are, not as you should be, and He wants us to make it off the roof to life. You are worth so much that Jesus died to save you. And if you are the best person to live since Jesus, better than all the rest of us, you are not good enough, You can't make the leap, but the bridge is there for you as well, because Daddy loves you too. So, please don't try to escape the roof yourself. Don't believe the lie that you are good enough. Don't believe in yourself. Believe in Jesus and live.


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.

What Daddy Wants

If you know what someone wants from a relationship, you can evaluate their heart towards those in that relationship. Dalyn Woodard shares on how we can get a truer sense of the Daddy heart of God when we see what He wants from us. The message, "What Daddy Wants," is about an hour and 5 minutes long, and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on October 3, 2018. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen.

If you missed the first message in the series "The Daddy Heart Of God," entitled "Redirected By Love," it can be found here. The second message, "God Is Light," can be found here. The third message, "You Are Beloved," can be found here. The fourth message, "You Have Overcome," can be found here. The fifth message, "The Trouble Of Tribbles." can be found here. The sixth message, "Who's Your Jesus?," can be found here. The seventh message, "Truth Tattoo," can be found here. The eighth message, "Who's Your Daddy?," can be found here. The ninth message, "Responding To God And Others," can be found here. The tenth message, "Relationship, Religion Or Rebellion," can be found here. The eleventh message, "Follow The Yellow Brick Road," can be found here. The twelfth message, "Know Love No Fear," can be found here. The thirteenth message, "The Father, Family And Freedom," can be found here, and the fourteenth message, "You Can Know," 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 ~ October 3, 2018 ~ We Can't Hear Until We Can

Those familiar with the New Testament may be familiar with the phrase, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." It's an odd phrase that we may not understand right off the bat. In the Bible this is always said by Jesus, and it is obvious that He isn't speaking of literally being deaf. He had a tendency to simply touch those who couldn't hear and heal them. He is speaking of a different way that we hear, a way that our hearing gets messed up.

Our spiritual ears are not connected to our brain as much as they are to our hearts. I know from experience how deaf we can get. No, deaf isn't the right word. It's worse. It's like reverse aphasia. We hear what is being said, but we don't  hear it right. I say God loves you as you are, not as you should be, but  He loves you enough not to leave you as you are, and instead of hearing that Daddy loves and cares about you, you hear God will love me if I change the way I am.

For those who don't know, I am a preacher's kid. Yes, one of those. I grew up in a home where the love of God was shown and preached from a father who believed in grace not works and lived what he preached. Yet somehow, I still don't understand why, I constantly heard I needed to do better, be better, that I was worthless and didn't measure up. This is not the message that was given. The truth that I believed this still breaks my parents' hearts. They didn't say what I heard. They didn't speak through actions what I heard. But that's what I heard, and before I could drive I had become thoroughly convinced that my father who would  die for me hated me and that my Daddy who sent Jesus to die for me hated me as well.

Later in life, while living in the hell of addiction, committing slow motion suicide  and dumping destruction on myself and all those I cared about, I had drug dealers try to cut me off and tell me I needed to "slow my roll." But I couldn't hear it. I didn't  have a problem. I just needed things to start going my way and for people to leave me alone. I honestly believed that, even after intentionally overdosing a month before being arrested on a felony that would  blow bridges in my life in front of me and behind me to hell. Yet, even then I denied being an addict. No matter how many people tried to show me I had a problem, I couldn't hear it.

Being told God loved me and that I needed to return to Jesus sounded in my ears like condemnation. Couldn't anybody understand? Jesus loved them, but  He didn't love me. He couldn't. I was worthless. I was broken. I had done so many bad things and had so many bad things done to me.  I was dirty and hurt everyone I got near, ruined everything I touched. God couldn't love me. And didn't they see that I had tried. I had tried so hard to be good, to do what was right, to walk with God. I couldn't do it. I started that walk and fell so many times, and it hurt so much. I couldn't do it anymore. I couldn't  fix it. I just wanted to escape the misery until God finally finished making me live a life of hell and let me die.

Someone says this might have been a better way to do  something, and all we hear is you're a moron and never do anything right. Someone says I'm worried about you, and all we hear is you're messing up instead of hearing loving concern. God says you can't be good enough to come to me, so I'll come to you and do everything needed so that you can enter into relationship with me, and we hear I'm not good enough, so I need to try harder, or I'm not good enough and there's no point in trying.

We can't hear, until we can. No amount of logic or reason will change that. Since our hearts are not healthy we hear wrong. Since we can't make our hearts better, we can't change that.  Finally though we can reach a place of such brokenness and desperation that the walls crumble, and we can hear. Some call that place repentance. Some call it rock bottom. But it is a place where we can hear that there is an answer to the chaos, emptiness, fear and shame of life. Of course, we hear that there may be, just might perhaps be, a solution. But that's enough. That's a start. Because if we can hear enough to start hearing Daddy say, I care for you, and I want to help you, then we can finally turn.

That hearing, that ability to believe that God wants to make your life better, instead of wanting you to make your life better, that He wants to heal, restore and transform you, instead of wanting you to clean up, straighten up and do right, is a gift. It's a gift of faith. But we have to be broken enough to be willing to receive it. We have to understand our need and our inability to satisfy that need ourselves.

If you are in that place of desolation, drowning in fear, shame, condemnation, and hopelessness, I pray you can hear me when I say you don't  have to fix it. You don't have to clean up or make it right. Jesus already made it right. You don't have to work off your debt. It's paid. You don't have to get cleaned up to take a bath, you can come as you are, relying fully on the work that was done on the cross to do everything you can't. If you can't hear that yet, I pray that this sits dormant in your soul until you are broken enough for the living water to seep in and start the seed growing.

And if you have a friend or loved one who is busy killing themselves, all the while seemingly unable to hear the solution, don't be hurt, don't be surprised, and don't give up. Keep loving them. Keep praying for them. You will be amazed at the difference in their lives when they are finally able to hear the Spirit say you are free to come to Me.


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~ October 2, 2018 ~ Strong Meekness

What do you think? Did I choose an oxymoron for today's title? I submit to you that the answer is no, no I did not. I hesitated to broach this subject. I don't know why it is that I feel comfortable and confident in saying that "God loves you as you are, not as you should be, but that He loves you enough not to leave you as you are" hundreds, if not thousands, of times. That I have covered the 12 Steps to freedom and discipleship many times. But on other topics my instinct is to push down the inspiration to write or speak on the subject a second time, because "I've covered that before."

I don't know why, but it doesn't matter. What matters is that I am learning to simply speak and write on whatever the Holy Spirit gives me, regardless of whether I have ever covered it before, no matter if it doesn't fall neatly into the box of recovery and doesn't fit nicely under the umbrella of how I see my calling. Perhaps the area I am called to minister in is growing and expanding? Maybe it's more that God is teaching me not to put Him or the ministry in the borders of a box that I can't ever exceed? Maybe some of these non-recovery themes are simply something that I needed and something that at least one other person needed to see or hear? I don't know. I am learning and slowly becoming more comfortable with just covering whatever God puts on my heart. Part of denying self and following Jesus, of surrendering to the care and will of the God who loves us, is stepping outside of our comfort zone and going where He leads and sends, to do and say what He wants us to. In other words, one of the keys to freedom and discipleship is obedience. It takes a lot of strength and trust to simply follow Jesus and to let the Holy Spirit lead, guide and direct us when He refuses to stay in the situations we feel comfortable and confident in.

And that is what meekness is all about, obedience that conflicts with instinct and comfort. If God told me to spend time with someone by watching a football game with them, I'd be all, "Sure, Lord! No problem!" That would be similar to letting the reins loose on a horse that loves to run and calling it obedience when the stride goes from a gallop to full speed. But it takes grace, the strength of the Spirit within me that I do not have on my own, and trust in His leading to surrender my selfish will and desire in order to step out in love to care for someone that I may not like or who has hurt me or to spend time doing something that I do not want or like to do or don't feel confident in my ability to do well.

Meekness is not submitting to abuse or allowing yourself to be put down and used by whoever is strong. Meekness is not a synonym for weakness. It's not being a doormat. It's not going with the flow and refusing to make waves. It's not inheriting the earth you allow others to bury you in. Being a people pleaser and letting the opinions and will of the people around you dictate your life is not being meek. It's being foolish. Meekness is strength and power and will under control.

But not just any control and certainly not under everyone else's control. The word Jesus used for meek when He said the meek shall inherit the earth is the same word used to describe a war horse. There's nothing weak about a war horse. And he is not submitted to the will and whim of just anyone. Circumstances like rough terrain and fire or the shouts and threats of the enemy don't phase a warhorse. Infantry soldiers were terrified of war horses. They were strong and powerful and dangerous and not easily diverted. They would charge into situations that average horses would bolt from by instinct. And they were the epitome of meekness, because they didn't choose when and where to charge, what difficulty to push through, what part of the enemies lines to trample beneath their hooves. They were completely surrendered to the control of the one riding them. They submitted, through practice and training, their desires, instincts and abilities to the command of another, but of one specific another. They spent so much time with the cavalryman they teamed with that their actions became an extension of his will.

It is easy to go with the flow of society and public opinion. It is easy to avoid conflict and compromise. It takes strength and courage to face to fire and the spears and stand against opposition, to go into areas of danger and uncertainty in  order to go where the Master sends. It takes a lot of trust in the protection and care of Daddy for us to love those who don't love us and may try to hurt us mentally, emotionally and, even, physically. It takes trust and courage and refusing to listen to our own instincts to walk around a wall, blow a trumpet and believe it will fall instead of either fleeing that stronger force or fighting with our own weapons and abilities and understanding. Meekness is simply saying "God, I give all of me, the good and the bad, to You to do with as You will, whether I am comfortable with Your plans or understand them or not. Remove from me my selfishness and desire to reflexively obey my instincts rather than Your voice so that I may be of maximum service to You and my fellows. May I do Your will always."

So, today and every day, let us be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might, and may we pair that strength with meekness so that every step, every word, thought and deed, is under the reins of His will and direction rather than us taking the bit in our mouths and running with it.


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.