“Standing In The Light Of Christ”

Devotional for April 29, 2011

The following article was written by my dear friend, Patty Rose. It was published in the March 2011 edition of “Daughters Journal Quarterly Newspaper for Incarcerated Women” and is being shared here with Patty’s consent by Beverley A. Napier.



“Standing In The Light Of Christ”

“But if we walk in the light as He is in the light,

we have fellowship with one another,

and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

1John 1:7

In the light of Christ we are restored, healed and made whole. It is there that we see who we are and where Jesus mends and repairs us for His glory. God promises to restore our souls as He says in Psalm 23:3 and it is in Christ where shattered lives are restored. It is the place of being unshackled and set free.

So many of us stay outside the light due to past shame, abuse, and brokenness and stay in bondage. We are afraid of the light, believing the lie that if we step into it we will be exposed and shamed even more. The truth is that it is just the opposite as it is only in the light that we can be set free and made new and whole. Do you know that God an actually turn it around in such a way that what was once so very painful can now just be a fact that you can talk about to help others? Oh yes, that is what He does and He does it for all who come to Him.

So, what stops us? For me it was trust as it may be for you too. Will He really do it for me? Can He? Am I just too messed up and beyond help? Maybe nobody will believe me if I tell them. Maybe it is hopeless. These are the questions I asked myself and more. Maybe I was too damaged and beyond repair and could only settle for the crumbs. Maybe this is as good as it gets. Maybe the best stuff is for the “perfect” Christians. I can tell you today those thoughts were all lies but at one time they were really the reality of what I believed.

As a victim of rape at a very young age I understand the lies of the enemy well. For many years I was afraid of the light because of the shame inside. The enemy of my soul had me in bondage and although I believed in Jesus I was not free in Jesus. I would go to Church and worship Him and go to bible study but at home alone in my bed I knew something was terribly wrong. I knew I was not free and I was angry and afraid inside. I felt different from others and yet I so desired to be made whole. I wanted what I saw other Christians had but I though it would never happen for me. I spent years believing in Jesus but still in darkness in the most painful places of my heart.

Maybe that is you today and maybe you are wondering if you will ever be free. My hope in writing this is that you will see that you don’t have to wonder any longer. Jesus will and does set people free every day. He really is who He says He is and in Him is everything we need to live new and whole lives. He knows everything about you just like He did me. He was just waiting for me to listen to Him and stop listening to the lies of my past. Oh, how He is faithful. We only need to step in and He will begin the healing process. It is in the light of Christ that the lies are exposed, the sins of our past cleansed and where Jesus begins the restoration process.

Does this mean it will be easy? No! In fact it is very painful. But in the bigger picture of things it is easier than continuing year in and year out with the condemning thoughts of the enemy. Plus it is the way to our freedom. It is painful to look inside at the pain and shame that lurk there. You many be like I was, wanting Jesus to take it all away like He did the drugs, the smoking and the lying and stealing and all of that outward stuff. But He doesn’t work that way. He wants to heal and restore our fractured souls and that takes time. He wants to replace all of the junk with more of Himself and develop His character in us and that takes work. He has done it for me. Will you let Him do it for you, too? He is gentle and kind and compassionate and will work on you tenderly. He is Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life. He is the Light of the world and His ways are not man’s ways. He does things for good and not for harm. I have found Him to be the most trustworthy Person I have ever met and I know you will discover that too.

If you don’t let God deal with the pain and shame of your past then the enemy will continue to control you through fear, insecurity, lies and shame. Satan’s ways never change and they are always condemning. God’s way may be painful but it is always done win the perfect love of His Son with mercy, conviction and healing at hand.

You will never know who you truly were created to be until you let the light of Christ shine into your life. It is then and there that you begin to see the woman God created you to be and it is nothing like the picture of shame that satan portrays to you. We may be products of our past but through Jesus we no longer need to be prisoners of our past.

Oh yeah, we serve a big God. He can take the most broken of hearts and abused souls and transform them for His purposes. As we stand in His light we can say along with Joseph from Genesis 50:20, “You intended to harm me but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” Without Jesus our lives would just be another tragedy but because of Him we not only are delivered, healed and restored but we live to save other people from the same bondage as we bring them into the light of Christ, too.

Will you take a leap of faith today and step into the light with me? You will learn to love the YOU God created you to be and the journey will be better than anything you could have imagined.

by Patty Rose