A Divine Appointment

Live free with grace not shackled with shame.

God knew I needed to hear the truth.  I needed a divine appointment. Maybe you need one too.

A Divine Appointment is when God places you and another person in the same path for a specific reason. This is a special way God speaks to us, to speak truth into our lives. I do not believe in coincidences. Instead, I believe in God’s Providence. He is purposeful. Sometimes we are the ones that need to hear the encouragement and truth and sometimes He uses us to speak the encouragement and truth to others.

God orchestrated a divine appointment for me to hear Lisa Bevere speak at this women of faith event in September 2014.  I had no idea going to this conference that her words were going to change my life.

Watching the movie, “Terminator” with her son, Lisa realized some profound truth. For those of you who do not remember the storyline, let me give you a quick recap. There is a woman named Shannon Connor and a terminator from the future is coming to try to kill her.   A protector from the future also comes to protect her from the terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger). This protector explains to her that in the future, she is a legend and a hero. He shares with her that they use her strategies to fight and win.   She is super confused about why she is a target and why they want to kill her. At one point, says to her protector, “I didn’t do anything.”  And then her protector says, “But you will.”

Right then, Lisa realized that our enemy often knows who we are in Christ before we discover who we are.   She shared that Satan has made it his aim to distract us from becoming who we really are meant to be and to stop us from living out the purpose God has given us.  She believes the attacks on our life have much more to do with who we might be in the future than who we have been in the past.

This women of faith conference was a pivotal change in my walk with God. Up until this point, I felt like I had failed because my marriage failed. I believed Satan had won and God could not use me . But Lisa’s message made me look deeper. What if Satan knew that God had big plans for me, plans that I did not even know yet?  What if these spiritual attacks on me were not about who I was but about who I was going to become?  This idea started to give me immense hope.

What if Satan wanted me to stay stuck in a place of shame? He loved that I felt like a failure because my marriage failed.  He enjoyed watching my pain and brokenness make me feel useless in God’s eyes. He was distracting me from God’s plan. What if he is distracting you from God’s plan too?

Just like Satan tried to fool me, He does not want you to know that God could use your pain and your brokenness to help others. He wants you to stay stuck in thinking you are a failure and that God cannot use you.  But I have good news for you: God is the God of grace!  He has already died on the cross for your sin, and He can restore anything you place at the foot of His cross. A divorce. An addiction. A choice from your past. Whatever is making you feel that deep shame.

I have learned that God has an amazing purpose for each one of us and Satan does not want us to live out that purpose. He will use whatever he can to distract you or distort the truth in your life.   Knowing his tactics will help you defeat him.

Remember you have a choice whether to live shackled in shame or live free in grace. Don’t let Satan’s lies distract you and render you useless.   Instead let’s make him regret ever trying to derail us from our purpose. Together, let’s shout out to the devil: You have messed with the wrong women. Go back to hell where you belong because I choose to live free by God’s amazing grace!

Then everyday, make an intentional choice to walk the path of freedom knowing God can use your brokenness for a greater purpose.

I love that God spoke to me that day, through a speaker that I had never met, to remind me my story is not over yet. I am here to remind you the same truth, your story is not over yet either. You may have a broken heart but you are not a broken vessel. God can still use you.

 

3 Comments

  1. erinlynnie on July 11, 2018 at 3:10 pm

    Absolutely love these truths! And YES… Satan watch out you’ve messed with the wrong women!!



  2. Jill Wolf on July 11, 2018 at 4:39 pm

    Powerful Jodi. Thanks for sharing. I completely agree with you!!!



  3. rmdetluis on July 29, 2018 at 1:33 pm

    Encouraging and truthful post! What I needed to hear this morning! Thanks for sharing!



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