She was minding her own business. Just a girl in her world. Life wasn’t too kind to her. Dad never affirmed her. Dating relationships never worked out. Now she is left alone to raise a child on her own. Cannot make ends meet. No foundation, no guidance, just left to figure it all out on her own.
Merely just existing.
There he was. Wanting to get into someone else’s business, not caring about his own. Just a man who thinks he can. Bright future. Confident. But what appears to everyone on the outside is not what is happening on the inside. His private struggle. His demons he has to fight. He notices her. It’s okay if know one knows that he really has a wife, right?
Merely just existing.
The two worlds intertwine. She thinks he walks on water. He believes he can. She sees no one else but him. He sees an opportunity and is making a plan to take advantage. She is blind to the game being played. No one prepared her, no one warned her. He is saying the right words, he is doing the right things. All she sees is sunshine and rainbows. Just like Eve saw how pleasant to the eye the fruit from the tree looked. Eve took the bait.
And this girl in her world gave away her most precious gift to this man and she can never get it back. She took the bait.
Neither situation ended well.
She was left hurt and abandoned. Just like Eve’s eyes were opened knowing good from evil, her eyes were opened, but much later. She fell into the abyss of trusting people she should not have trusted. Lies were told about her and against her. Innocent people were hurt unnecessarily. The shame and guilt were unbearable. It was his word against hers and as a result, she was left holding the bag and there was nothing she could do about it.
He goes on with his life. Not caring about how he treated her. Their paths crossed numerous times over the years but he pretended he did not know her and she pretended she did not know him. But for her, it was like it was yesterday. How can she let go of this? How can she move on? How can she rebuild her reputation? How can she undo what she did?
She was being known as something God never saw her as. Low self esteem.
She retrieved to her safe place by putting walls up in her life so that no one can get through and hurt her ever again.
That’s no way to live.
Giving into temptation is basically doing what FEELS good to you, but not necessarily good FOR you and it usually goes against the word of God. That constant desire to do what is pleasurable to us versus what the word of God says is a constant battle.
Giving into temptation does not always have to take the form of an inappropriate relationship. You can be tempted to over eat or use drugs or drink alcohol. You can be tempted to go out to a place you should not be at or cuss someone out. You can be tempted ot overspend. You can
be tempted in any area at any time.
I believe (in my opinion), that being tempted involves your mind and it is a battlefield. Isn’t it ironic how the things we should not be doing find their way into our minds and our thoughts? Just the slightest thing can be a trigger in our minds and we can easily fall back into what we are trying to stay away from.
I believe that to help with not falling into temptation, a few things need to happen:
1. Renew your mind. You have to want to get out of it. You have to want to stop doing it. This is where overcoming temptation needs to begin. Pray.
2. Set up barriers in your life. I am just being real here but there are some people you just cannot hang around, be around, call or communicate with. Keep the door shut. Lock it. Don’t even keep it propped open. When God provides a way of escape, RUN…and pray.
3. Don’t take the bait. Giving into temptation is a trip, it’s hurtful and painful. Giving into temptation leaves behind victims, breaks trust and ends friendships. Temptation is a setup for failure. Pray.
As Christians, we go through what is called Spiritual Warfare - that never ending battle between good and evil. We know what we are SUPPOSED to do but our flesh is feeling something altogether different. However, the side that we pay attention to the most, or the side that we “feed” the most is the side that will win. Were there opportunities for her to find a way out? Probably. Were there opportunities for him to find a way out? Probably.
I think part of the problem is that we don’t look at the end result of our lives. We all know, as Christians, what our ultimate goal is, and that is to live with Jesus when He returns. So, when we look at the “why” in our lives, is that situation enough to make me risk eternity? Is that situation enough to make me miss the one thing that I changed my whole life for in the first place?
That inner voice that is telling us not to go here, not to go there, not to call or not to visit, is there for a reason. Sometimes as women, we ignore the warning signs because we are feeding the wrong part of us.
God has so much for us to do but we can’t do it because we are getting fat off of mess!!
In order to lose that fat, it may require us to kick, fight and scream our way through it. Lose the phone number. Change your friends. Relocate. Block them on social media. Whatever you have to do, do it. Don’t take a bite of the fruit. Don’t take the bait.
Rising Above & Moving Forward,
Y.
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