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rebuilding


Around this time last year, God was taking me through a painful process of tearing down old patterns of thinking and rebuilding the protective forces in my mind and heart. I had been walking past this wall everyday on my morning walks with Chloe(my German Shepherd) and knew that God wanted to speak to me through it. After weeks of trying to figure out what He was trying to say, one Sunday morning it came to me during a preaching. Ian(one of my pastors) was talking about how sometimes we allow enemies(thoughts/temptations) to come over the walls of our minds without any check. Immediately I knew God was saying to me that the mechanism for protecting my mind was faulty. I had seen this wall with those ornate holes where things can get in and out. Immediately when he said that I knew that God was showing me a picture of my mind by taking me past this wall. At first I thought, 'Ok, that's easy, we'll just fill in the holes'. About the time I thought that, a good friend said, 'You know, you can't just fill in the holes, you have to tear it down and rebuild it.' Dangit... that's going to hurt... is what I thought! I was already feeling like my skin had been taken off and everything vital was exposed... vulnerable. But that's what He had to do in order to build it right. He was showing me that those holes represented strongholds in my mind or patterns of thinking that needed to change. It is so encouraging to look back from today and see how much He has done in a year. Through obedience and patient endurance, the wall has been rebuilt and I actually hardly felt a thing. One foot in front of the other, one day at a time, following the lead of the Holy Spirit and suddenly it's a year later and I am stronger than I was before... girded up... fortified. "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled." 2Corinthians 10:4-6(NKJ)

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