Stripes and Strokes

Heart Prep

Take this time to pray and ask God to draw you to Him, no matter the cost.
Ask Him to soften your heart so you can hear Him and feel His presence.

Proverbs 20:30 “Stripes that wound scour away evil, and strokes reach the innermost parts.”  

Sometimes, it takes a painful situation to make us change our ways, and knowing this truth is the best way to find blessings in our battles. God knows our heart and knows how it works. Each heart works uniquely, and, of course, He knows that, because He created each heart. He knows if our hearts are soft and teachable, or hard and stubborn. I feel like a lot of people think that God doesn’t understand them, but in reality, He’s the only one who truly does understand. He knows exactly who and what we are.

In high school, I struggled with pride. I was very proud of my Christian life. I was arrogant. I felt I was so much better than everyone else; I was the only one who had it going. My junior year, I got really sick, and that sickness lasted for about a year. I went to numerous doctors, hoping they could figure out what my problem was. Finally, I was diagnosed with a disease that will make it hard for me to have children. That broke me more than anything else I had ever experienced. I was heart-broken and humbled. I began to seek God more after I got that diagnosis. I could not handle the weight of it on my own. That stripe wounded me deeply, but it also scoured away the evil that was inside of me. I needed that illness to happen to me in order for me to change my ways. The Lord is long-suffering. He had given me many chances before that, but I hadn’t listened to Him. Receiving that diagnosis and learning to cope with it was one of the darkest times of my life. But now, I wouldn’t trade it for the world, because that bad experience brought me straight into the arms of Jesus. And I’ve been there ever since.

Life Application

What is God saying to me today?

What is my relationship with the Lord like?

What steps can I take in order to improve my relationship with the Lord?