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SOUL MATTERS
The Path Makes The Difference
Regardless of when it started, at some point in my life, I took the path of Self. Why does a person stay on this path of destruction? Why not change directions? When a person is absorbed with self, they are not looking for another path. Self is the captain of their life. They wouldn’t have it any other way.
This path called Self took me through grammar school and on through high school, all the while developing me into a young woman with low self-esteem and tremendous feelings of inferiority. These are two poor ingredients to take into marriage, but that is what I did.
Many years, two marriages and three sons later, I continued on my unhappy path. I taught Sunday School and presented myself as a person who had it all together. Only those closest to me knew I was unhappy. It took very little to upset me. I had been a Christian since I was 9 years old. That established where I would go when I died. But I never made Christ the Lord of my life here on earth. I cried a lot, asked forgiveness from my husband a lot, and then read my Bible a lot. How miserable I was! Somehow, through all my torment and confusion, a loving God heard my cry for help. I came to the end of "me."
Christ-centered wives and moms make a difference in the home. Our home changed for the better. I was given 5 wonderful years with my husband before he was taken from us by a sudden heart attack. We had learned to laugh and love together. I will always be thankful that God didn’t take him during my rebellious years.
Dr. M. R. Dehaan, in his book, Broken Things, writes of all the broken things we have to deal with in life. As infants, we have broken toys, as teens broken hearts, then as adults, broken homes or broken dreams. He says, “We cast the broken things aside and call them junk, but our God casts unbroken things aside.” Until we are willing to be broken, until we give up Self, we continue to search for the abundant life promised us as God’s children.
I have never regretted changing paths in my life. Once you’ve tasted joy and peace, Self looses its flavor. It is not an easy path and it takes daily yielding. But it amazes me how God's light can penetrate the darkness and suddenly other people become more important than pleasing self. Only a living God could make that happen. Another benefit: the *fruit along the way is delicious!
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"He is no fool who gives what he can not keep
to gain what he cannot loose."
Jim Elliot,missionary
* "But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness and self-control."
Galatians: 5-23-24
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