Day 364

It's Day 364 of  The Red Shoe Project and the enemy has not backed off one bit.  FIRE!   FIRE!   FIRE!  He is relentless in His attack, but I'm standing firm in my RED shoes.  My shield of faith is lifted high and the Word of God is flowing from my lips.  

With that, I am determined to not only hold steady in my position, but to move forward in this battle -- to the glory of God!   

I refuse to let go of anything God 

has blessed me with this year and 

I am anticipating an abundant 

harvest in the days to come!

This morning I awoke rather abruptly.  It was as if a hand grenade went off.  One minute I was caught up in the most interesting of dreams.  The next minute, my eyes opened and it was over.  How in the world did that person from my past end up in my dreams?


So much of this year has been cutting away the stuff that doesn't belong in my life.  Yet here, in the midst of my subconscious, it was resurfacing as I slept.  What gives?  I thought I had taken care of all that.  Is the devil able to actually drop thoughts into the battlefield of my mind as I sleep?  Or even worse... am I still toying with the past in my dreams?  Ugg!  How am I supposed to overcome that?  I could feel the discouragement pouring into me.

Immediately, I propped up my pillows, sat up in bed, and opened my Bible to Ephesians,  Chapter 6.   Apparently, today was a work day.  I had better get dressed for the battle field!  I wasted no time clothing myself in the Armor of God.  



Suddenly, God brought an 
image to mind.  
Of all things, it was a picture 
of cotton candy.




When I was a child, I loved cotton candy.  What a magical treat!  The only drawback was that it was so darn messy.  No matter how I attempted to eat it, it always ended up all over the place -- my face, my fingers, my clothes.  It stuck to everything!

As I got older,  I thought for sure that I could avoid all that mess by handling the situation in a more adult-like fashion.  If I gently picked just a little bit off at a time -- using my thumb and forefinger -- and then licked my fingers clean after each bite, surely I'd be just fine.  NOT!  It still ended up all over the place.

The only solution was a simple one:  

Wash it off!  

All I had to do was put my hands under running water and within seconds,  Presto!  the stickiness was completely gone.  That only worked, however,
if I could resist picking at the cotton candy again.  "Well... maybe just one more taste!"  I'd say,  and the cycle would start all over again.  LOL!

As I sat there in my bed, God didn't hesitate to give me instruction.

"I'll wash it away!"  He said,

"but don't pick at it again.

Just walk away and you'll be all set."

Right then and there, I jumped out of bed, ran to the bathroom, turned on the faucet and washed my hands.  Just like washing the stickiness of the cotton candy away, I believed God was washing the stickiness of those old thoughts away!  Then do you know what I did?   I walked away.  I didn't ponder the dream or the details ever again.  I simply closed my mind to them.

Okay... so you know that's what we do, right?  That's where the problem really lies.  We keep thinking about the details.  We mull them over and over again in our mind, thinking that if we analyze it, we'll figure it all out and be done with it.  But it never really works out that way, does it?   We just end up giving opportunity to the devil to play with us.   We give him an inch and he takes a mile, every time!  Before you know it, He has you saturated and bound in sticky thoughts that you can seem to get away from, no matter what.
 

What was yesterday's message?

"Don't do it!" 

Today is a reminder of that 

--a reinforcement -- 

 a practical application.  

Is He speaking to you?  or just me?

Walking it out, in armor and RED shoes.
Gail