This summer, Wesley has been working with my Daddy again at the Vet clinic. He has been going with him on hauls, cleaning stalls, feeding the animals, digging ditches and whatever else needs to be done. He has LOVED it.
Last week, Daddy was called to haul a couple of cows from a "farm" in a nearby county that had over 150 animals that had not been taken care of as they should. Wesley was with Daddy on this haul and it made the local news. We found this photo of Wesley with another volunteer on the local news web page - Wesley said there were cameras everywhere. Many people volunteered to help rescue these neglected animals.
Wesley shared with us the story of the picture above.
There were two cows that he and Daddy were taking to a clinic to get medical attention. He said he couldn't believe how filthy the place was. In the above picture you can see the stall in which the cows were living. Wesley said it had so much waste in it that it was knee-high and that his feet would sink down in the mess. From what Wesley understood, these cows had been living in this stall for over a year and apparently had not gotten out of it.
He said they had the hardest time trying to get them to come out of the waste and stench. What struck me the most when Wesley was telling his story, was the fact that the cows did not want to leave that stall! That was all they had known and they were too scared to leave it!
As Wesley was telling me this story my mind began to think of how, spiritually, we are just like that cow in the above picture.
We are stuck in the miry waste of our...
past
wrong choices
sins
bad habits
...and we are running away instead of seeing God's grace saving us out of them all.
We become so stuck by Satan with his lies of....
"You are no good because of your past."
"That wrong choice you made is something you will make over and over again...you will never be free from it."
"You really think you can let go of this sin? It is too good!"
"Your habits are just your personality... you can't help how you were born!"
.... that we become STUCK and choose to stay in the wasted life spiritually instead of being freed to walk in newness of life.
I've been there. We all have been.
There are still things in my life in which I am STUCK and the Lord is there with His lead rope trying to guide me out of the waste but....
...I am scared to get out of my comfort zone.
...I am scared to let go of the past.
...I am scared to trust that "out there" is better.
How can we be free?
It takes faith.
It takes understanding God loves us and does not want us staying in the wasted days of our past, our choices, the sins that overcome us, or our bad habits.
Just as Wesley and the other gentleman in the picture were trying to free the cow, our loving Savior is desiring to free us from Satan's lies and the sins that so easily keep us STUCK.
John 10:10
The thief comes only to steal, and kill, and destroy; I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly.
So what are you "STUCK" in today?
In what part of your past, wrong choices, sins or bad habits is Satan keeping YOU stuck today?
Is the Lord there with His lead rope of His Word trying to get you out, but you are choosing to stay in the muck and the mire?
Let the lead rope of God's Word begin to help you realize that Jesus came and died on the cross to set us FREE - to get us UNSTUCK from this world.
What He has for us is SO much better. We just have to trust Him.
May Psalm 40:1-5; 16 encourage you today to allow the Lord to help you get UNSTUCK from the pit of Satan's lies:
(1) I waited patiently for the Lord;
And He inclined to me and heard my cry.
And He inclined to me and heard my cry.
(2) He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay,
And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm.
And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm.
(3) He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God;
Many will see and fear and will trust in the Lord.
Many will see and fear and will trust in the Lord.
(4) How blessed is the man who has made the Lord his trust,
And has not turned to the proud, nor to those who lapse into falsehood.
And has not turned to the proud, nor to those who lapse into falsehood.
(5) Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders which You have done,
And Your thoughts toward us; there is none to compare with You.
If I would declare and speak of them, they would be too numerous to count.
And Your thoughts toward us; there is none to compare with You.
If I would declare and speak of them, they would be too numerous to count.
(16) Let all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You;
Let those who love Your salvation say continually,
“The Lord be magnified!”
Let those who love Your salvation say continually,
“The Lord be magnified!”