Feast or Famine

     I am going to begin a little different today.  As I sit here and write these words, I think of all that I have been through this week, spiritually speaking that is.  On the outside, my days have been filled with normal every day tasks of taking care of my boys, washing clothes and cooking meals. On the inside, it was a totally different scene. It was one of a battlefield where the smoke has just cleared.  Stop for a moment and imagine that scene.  It is a scene of desolation, pain and weariness.   I know there are those who read this today that are in the same boat, feeling wiped out from the battle that has been waged inside of them this week.  I can't promise a quick recover but there is hope for us as believers.  That hope of healing and a fresh start is found in God's Word and it speaks of His love.  It is by His love we are healed.  This is what I discovered when I read today's devotion. 

Return to the LORD, Say to Him, "Take away all inquity, and receive us graciously, that we may present the fruits of our lips..."I will heal their apostasy, I will love them freely, For My anger has turned away from them. --Hosea 14:2, 4
Our holy God is not obligated to forgive us.  Yet what hope would we have for change if God didn't wipe the slate of our past failures clean and provide us with the strength to start afresh?

     To gain new strength we must turn to God's Word.  Like it says in 2 Peter 2: 1-5: Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice, and all guile, insincerity, envy, and all slander.  Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation--if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.  Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God's sight, and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.  We must ask forgiveness for our sins so we can start afresh and then weary from battle we must feed on the Word of God in order to not only recover but to grow in strength and knowledge so that when the next battle comes we are prepared and strong enough to fight off the attacks of our ultimate enemy, Satan.
What will you choose to do today? Will you be overcome by the muck and mire of the battlefield or will you dig your way out and be cleansed by the power of the Lord, gaining strength from His Word and be refreshed as a new day dawns? The decision is yours.