Sometimes life is like an itch. An itch can either be small like a mosquito bite or large like a rash that encompasses areas of the body. Everyone knows you should not scratch something that itches because it only intensifies the problem. Everyone also knows that it is a challenge not to scratch. The more you mess with it, the worse it becomes. Sometimes it bleeds, oozes or gets infected. Depending on the cause, it can often spread. The itchiness becomes your focus, even when you try to ignore it.

Our lives are often the same. The “itch” might be a person, an upcoming decision, a sin in our life, a poor choice, resentment, bitterness or unforgiveness. The possibilities are endless and just like a physical itch the spiritual itch can consume us. You might find yourself constantly rehashing what happened, mentally creating “worst case scenarios” or gossiping to justify your version. You might even complain in “great holiness” to the Lord about the unfairness. This merely intensifies the pain and itchiness.
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The Lord frequently speaks to me through prophetic pictures and many years ago He showed me that I was like a lifeless, desolate garden. His picture was not pretty.
thinking about it a lot.
He had been struggling with emotional pain and bondage, and said he hadn’t come earlier because he didn’t want to be a burden.
Today is our wedding anniversary.
I don’t think it was a coincidence that God spoke the universe into existence, chose to reveal Himself through His spoken Word of scripture, or came to dwell among us as the Word made flesh.
The Bible has been used as a club to beat us into conformity, so we reject its plenary authority.
Often, longstanding hurts, disappointments and emotional wounds are like old, familiar friends. We let them become so engrained into our sense of identity that they begin to define us.
For example, instead of being healthy, integrated people, they numb out or otherwise retreat exclusively into the realm of their minds – i.e., their analytical logic and reason – to the exclusion of their heart and their spirit.