Damaged and Delivered

Have you ever thought about after all the things that you've been through, that you're still here?  Why?  The answer is quite simple.  Regardless of your past, you have been preserved for such a time as this.  Truth be told, we're all damaged goods.  I would liken this to taking a trip on an airplane.  Some people can whiz through the airport and not have to check their bags.  Some of us normally have so much baggage that we have to pay extra just to check it.  The baggage represents our issues of life.

We're on a journey, sometimes when we fly, our baggage may or may not arrive.  Sometimes when we get it, it may even be damaged upon claim or delivery.  At some point we have been repositories of damaging things in our lives but we made it.  Let's see, there was the failed marriage, the foreclosure, the idiot that left me, the strained relationship with my so-called friends, and maybe even family. 

One of my favorite stories of endurance comes from the Old Testament.  In the book of Job, we are told the story of a wealthy man from Ur, who had a wife, ten children, and a good relationship with God.  This man was Job.  Job was just living and he normally does, and then life happened.  He lost everything, possessions, children and livestock.  But he still had a circle of doubtful friends and a more than irritated wife.  Although Job lost everything tangible, he did not lose his faith.  On the outside, he may have been damaged, but in the midst of his test and storm, he trusted and believed that he would be delivered.  Job prayed for his friends and probably his wife too.  At the end of the story, Job was restored and had more than what he had at the beginning and he was blessed with more children.

You too, may have had a Job moment on your journey, but remember that you are damaged and delivered.  You are delivered from verbal and physical abuse.  You are delivered from infirmities of the body.  You are delivered from financial oppression.  You are delivered from the naysayers and your enemies.  If the enemy could have had his way, you would have been gone a long time ago.  You have been divinely preserved for such a time as this.  You are damaged and delivered.  Now walk in your deliverance.

Peace,
Karsten