Devotional:
Many of us are doing the enemy's job for him. Instead of allowing him to beat us up, we literally decide to wallow in defeat and shame. Mostly over the mistakes that we make or life's circumstances that are completely out of our control. All this does is rob us of the fullness of joy we can find in God's presence and the opportunity to just become better.
When I suffered severely with anxiety, I would often times spend days wallowing in my emotions. For some reason, I couldn't detach myself from thinking the worst of me. I'd cycle through the same list of questions/statements over and over again. "How could I hurt them?" " I should know better than to have done that!" "Leave it to me to always f^$% something up!!" The last one is kind of explicit, but hey, it's my truth.
One day, I had to recognize that this behavior wasn't helping me at all. It definitely didn't help the situation nor did it help me when I'd encounter a future scenario of the same type. What it did was make me feel worse and suffocated by condemnation as I replayed the events in my head. No matter how comforting it seemed, I had to wake up from this madness. The world and Satan were already beating me up, now here I am helping them do it.
Allow this devotional to be your wake up call. I hate to break it to you but you aren't perfect. You won't always get it right. There will be some friendships and opportunities you'll completely fumble. But know that focusing on what was done helps no one. Instead, learn from your mistakes and just try to be better in the future.
If you didn't learn anything today, take away this : God doesn't expect you to be perfect, He just expects you to be better than the previous day.
Scripture(s) Meditation:
“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”
I Peter 5:8 NKJV
“So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.”
Romans 8:1 NLT
Song(s) Meditation: Better by Jonathan McReynolds
To listen to today's song meditation, click here.
Reflection Question(s): We invite you to discuss below.
If you don't mind sharing, what is one situation/circumstance that you can't seem to stop replaying? Why does it leave you feeling shame or condemnation? What will you do to break out of that toxic cycle? How will you approach that situation/circumstance differently in the future?
Sun'Ray💕