Authentic Christianity

“Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.””

Isaiah 30:20-21 NIV

These are one of the most precious verses to me right now. They give perspective and purpose to my suffering. They are proof that all the grief was worth something.

Preacher and Teacher Christine Caine said once:

"To the degree that you are willing to embrace pain is the degree that you will be restored."

This has definitely been my reality. The pain of not just my wrong choices as much as the wrong things which were done to me has built a greater wisdom and understanding than any preacher could preach or teacher could teach.

Our greatest lessons in life often come through adversity.

Hope Igniter Steve Backlund loves to declare:

"The unexpected is always an opportunity to experience unprecedented breakthrough."

This for me has also be true over and over and over again. Most recently through my 2 year battle with cancer. I went into chemo at Stage 4 and no one knew where it came from or how I could have gotten it, but it happened to me. However, the unprecedented breakthrough I received through the whole experience was stunning. Not only did I receive my healing both medically and supernaturally, I received my DIGNITY and I learned that I MATTER actually. When no one stood up for me, I did and that right there was LIFE CHANGING.

No longer living unseen I became my own being and started owning myself and my dreams wholeheartedly. He does indeed have a thousand ways to set you free (Psalm 130:7 TPT)! I'm able now to stand on my own two feet healed and whole physically AND emotionally.

This is the grand finale of an epic 10 year season of one intense suffering after another. It makes so much sense now when I hear the Apostle Paul say things like:

“We consider living to mean that we are constantly being handed over to death for Jesus’ sake so that the life of Jesus will be revealed through our humanity.”

‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭4‬:‭11‬ ‭TPT‬‬

And so I would also agree:

“We are like common clay jars that carry this glorious treasure within, so that this immeasurable power will be seen as God’s, not ours. Though we experience every kind of pressure, we’re not crushed. At times we don’t know what to do, but quitting is not an option. We are persecuted by others, but God has not forsaken us. We may be knocked down, but not out. We continually share in the death of Jesus in our own bodies so that the resurrection life of Jesus will be revealed through our humanity.”

‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭4‬:‭7‬-‭10‬ ‭TPT‬‬

For me walking through a living death of a holocaust of a divorce, multiple betrayals from those closest to me, and then actually facing death through cancer, I began to experience the reality of Paul's conclusion that:

“It felt like we had a death sentence written upon our hearts, and we still feel it to this day. It has taught us to lose all faith in ourselves and to place all of our trust in the God who raises the dead.”

‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭1‬:‭9‬ ‭TPT‬‬

Through all these things I discovered that something wild starts happening on the other side of all the death, pain, and suffering and it was called: DEPENDENCY. Once I got to that place where there was no longer any confidence left in me, here is where I got my wings and began to fly over the hard things.

With Sarah Crew in "The Little Princess," I agree that:

"The worst never actually happens."

Instead something quite unexpected and unexplained takes place. There is a RESURRECTION that defeats every grave!

And in those places of broken, pain, and grief, comes a holy, sweet BREATHE of the Spirit blowing over everything and doing once again what was done once and for all for you and me. He is the God of RESURRECTION and I am here to testify that the come back is SWEET!!

Not only am I saved, healed, delivered, redeemed, I am now RESURRECTED too and carrying an anointing that makes me INDESTRUCTIBLE to the enemy. And now I see this is what God was always doing with me:

“I love you, Yahweh, and I’m bonded to you, my strength! Yahweh, you’re the bedrock beneath my feet, my faith-fortress, my wonderful deliverer, my God, my rock of rescue where none can reach me. You’re the shield around me, the mighty power that saves me, and my high place. God, you have wrapped me in power and made my way perfect. Through you I ascend to the highest peaks to stand strong and secure in you. You’ve set me free, and now I’m standing complete, ready to fight some more!”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭18‬:‭1‬-‭2‬, ‭32‬-‭33‬, ‭36‬ ‭TPT‬‬

Because, you see, this is how God chooses to reveal His glory: through YOU and ME!

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭18‬-‭19‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

That unveiling is happening all the time through every human being that walks through the death and the suffering to the other side of things and begins to know and BELIEVE who they are actually: Resurrected Beings carrying the King of Kings. It is these God calls His Family and through these that His Kingdom is being released. So I invite you today to come and die with me so you can LIVE actually!