Don’t allow the enemy to use past wounds for future gains

I’m sharing this previous post again today just in case someone else, besides just me, needs it….❤️

What should have been a day of relaxing and laughing with friends while tubing on the Little River in the Smoky Mountains turned into a terrifying moment for me.

I had floated that river for years. The sun was hot, the water refreshingly cool. My husband and I were with another couple. No kids to worry about… just relax and laugh… I thought.

A short run of small rapids came up as the four of us were bunched up in our bright yellow floats talking. Deron and the other couple floated quickly on ahead in the rapids, but I was caught in an eddy of swirling mountain water between two large rocks. I tried my normal shuffle maneuver but couldn’t break free. I looked ahead to see Deron way down the river floating lazily in a calm area on the opposite side of the river.

Attempting to free my tube again, I tried kicking against one of the rocks, but nothing was working. Soon, a group of strangers passed quickly by reaching out trying to help me, but they couldn’t quite reach me.

Again, I looked downstream to see Deron yelling something to me that I couldn’t hear.

I tried several more times to free myself by shifting my weight in the tube, only to have the water wedge me in tighter.

I knew I shouldn’t stand up.

I looked again to see if my husband was coming to help only to catch a glimpse of him laying in his tube down river. I felt hot tears fill my eyes. I was hurting and shaking and scared. I have always been clumsy, and I began to seriously doubt my ability to free myself. I began to wonder if I might die. Surely, that was a silly thought.

I decided to try to stand and push myself just around the one big rock, hoping the current would help set me free. I stumbled on the slippery rocks below, feeling pain in my knees as I fell against a sharp rock below. I struggled to hold onto the tube as the water pushed me down once more as I felt my strap on my shoe give way making standing even harder.

I looked behind me just in time to see another large group of tubers heading straight for me. I tried to avoid them but was quickly knocked down again hitting my toes on the rocks below. As I tried to regain my balance, I was caught between two tubers who were tethered together – their strap pushing against the back of my neck. The cold, rushing water was also pushing me forward into one of the large rocks with incredible force. I grabbed the strap with one hand while holding my tube with the other. I bent down freeing myself from the strap on the two tubes but hitting my arm on a limb in the water.

I began to shake thinking I might actually die that day and I wondered again, “Where was my husband?”

As I looked up, I saw our friend walking down the side of the stream coming to my aid. He grabbed my tube and helped me stand. He held on to my shaking hand as I got around the big rocks and back on my tube.

Back on my tube and floating down the river again, a large knot was forming below one knee but I didn’t want to spoil the day. My husband, nor my friends knew how scared I had been. I began to tease Deron for not coming to my rescue and tried to ignore the pain I was feeling in my toes, both knees, and my neck.

That night I went to bed with ice and ibuprofen and the next morning I woke up very upset at my husband. “Why hadn’t he come to help me?”

I sat with my Bible and prayed. “God, why am I so upset? I know I am being silly.”

As the day went on, I fought back tears–the pain continually reminding me of the day before. “God, why am I so upset with Deron? He had been on the other side of the river. He couldn’t really see the trouble I was in.”

Yet, I couldn’t shake the hurt I was feeling.

And then as it often does, out of the blue, (thank you Holy Spirit) SCRIPTURE came to my mind, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” (Jer 17:9)

“God, are you telling me, once again, that I can’t trust my own heart? Could my emotions be misdirected?”
Truth began to flood my mind. I realized I was allowing the enemy to use old wounds to make a situation much bigger and much more upsetting than it should be.

The enemy was at it again. Years ago, my first husband had committed suicide leaving me feeling abandoned…a wound the enemy clearly knows about.
And the enemy never fights fair.

In his attempts to hurt us and cause division among us, the enemy often hits us where we have been hurt before. This was exactly what he had been doing in this situation… my heart was ALMOST deceived.

But it was just ALMOST deceived. Because of God. He reminded me through His Word, that I should question my heart, my feelings, my emotions, and not allow the enemy to use past wounds for future gain.

And so, as I sit here bruised and battered, I share this truth with you….DON’T ALLOW THE ENEMY TO USE PAST WOUNDS FOR FUTURE GAIN IN YOUR LIFE EITHER! Let’s don’t let him mess with us like that. Oh, he will try again in my life as he will try in yours.

Instead, take a moment and breathe and test your emotion. Take your thoughts captive and watch God protect you. God will protect you with His Word.

The Holy Spirit will use what you spend time reading! It is so worth it!

Friends, we are in a battle. This life is not a game. We have an enemy of our souls…. and he is much more dangerous than a rushing, rocky, mountain stream. Let’s be on guard for his schemes and let’s walk in victory!

And we can walk in victory because of our Savior and His POWERFUL Word that squashes the schemes of the evil one!

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