Dark places

PICKING PAIN TO GAIN BACK WHAT I LOSS; as most, you probably read that and wondered why pick pain. If your reading this I feel as if God has me speaking to you for a purpose which yet you cannot see. Let me share with you "Why I picked Pain". In my life before the age of Twenty I have faced three surgeries on the same ankle. The first two were without a doubt I had to get, based on the severity of which I suffered. I was recently hit with a road block; a decision to have surgery and remove a chip bone, or to not. A decision that became tougher the more time clicked clockwise. As I thought of solutions I came up with; to play through the pain or to go through the pain. With my obsession to find a way and make it happen, there was this adamant feeling clawing at me to get surgery, to feel down, to suffer, to grieve, to mourn. I took a minor moment to reflect and seek for an explanation. I asked God "why shall I go through that again?". For a long time I failed to see the answer God was giving me. God responded and told me "You Know The Answer", It shocked me. I suddenly thought........had I not been afflicted I would not had known the glory of God. "Known" not clinched or taken hold of, but I knew the glory because I saw it while I was able to focus and look at what I had in front of me. See a lot of times people get caught up in what's going on that they never take a moment to reflect and see the seed that God had planted. I failed to realized that while I was mourning, and lamenting God was pulling that "WHY" out he was giving me a reason to Growl. He said "Yea for what I am about to do in your life, I need to bring affliction in before you." God started to reveal himself to me, he knew that doubt and lonelyness would allow the lion to roar in my life. that's why he said Proverbs 3:5-6 "lean not on your own understanding." See it's not what I thought I knew about myself that was important it is what God knows about me. God doesn't keep us because we're good he keeps us because he's good. That's why in genesis he said that darkness filled the earth. Then he said "let there be light, he saw the light and saw that the light was good." The sun wasn't made til the 3rd day. That light he's talking about on the first day is Yahawashi as known as Jesus. In the Bible Yah proclaimed , "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." That is to say when God pulls you back into a dark place, it is so that you can see the light. Jeremiah 29:13 " You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." Affliction is a gate way because it humbles you. 2Chronicles 7:14 "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land." It takes crushing, pain and lamentation to see what God has for you. Matthew 4:16 States: "The people living in darkness have seen a great light." This is what I call the transforming stage the renewal of my mind, I can feel that hunger coming back, that chip on my shoulder getting bigger, and the bigger it get the hungrier I get. Psalms 23:5 King David the mighty warrior told God: "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies." I've came to the conclusion that the chip bone in my ankle, is the chip on my shoulder I've been missing. The reason to get on my knees meekly before my father and seek his face. I needed to let my faith grow to the level of which God glory is going to shine in my life. There is no other place to grow than in darkness because sometimes what we perceive as light is the light of the world. Take a moment to separate yourself, look deep inside seek the light of which God is trying to show you. To do that you must pray, and repent for your sins. Look at how far God has gotten you through all the trails and yet your here today and yet your still breathing, still eating, still resting we have nothing to complain about. We have to learn to be content with what we have, but also put the petal to the medal and seek for him. Don't seek for your goals, and your desires, those things come along as you keep your face on him. When his light shines upon you, allow it to over flow on others. Many hard times are ahead, but they come to pull you back. Be the point on the arrow, feel God pulling you back, feel the nagging get tighter, look ahead and know that when God releases you, you will appear far and come forth. James 1:12 "Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him."
All this pain is to gain, Unleash the beast, and feel the fire. -Dontrell Shuler