Sparkling Gems by Rick Renner

Colossians 2:15 'and having spoiled principalities and powers he made shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

We need to get a hold of this truth: (all) demonic forces are legally stripped of their authority and are defeated! We are not puny struggling believers who are somehow trying to learn how to cope with the devil's attacks against us. we're not merely trying to learn how to scrape by or survive. Jesus' death and resurrection gave us the legal authority to keep Satan under our feet, so we must always make sure we approach spiritual warfare as VICTORS not victims.

In Greek: openly = boldly, confidently
triumph = returning home from a grand victory in enemy territory

so Colossians 2:15 conveys : 'He gallantly strode into Heaven to celebrate His victory and the defeat of Satan and his forces. As part of his triumphal process he flaunted the spoils ceased from the hand of the enemy. yet the greatest spectacle of all occurred when the enemy himself was openly put on display as bound, disgraced, disabled, defeated, humiliated, and stripped bare...'

Once again, Satan is not a force we are trying to defeat; HE IS ALREADY DEFEATED! But because very few believers know how to effectively use their God-given authority to resist Satan, he tries to continue illegally operating in doing damage to the souls of men and even to creation itself.

No matter what demonic strategy may come against you this day or how many demons are assembled together for your destruction, you never have to go down defeated. Jesus plundered the enemy when he rose from the dead. so when you look into the mirror, you need to learn to see yourself as one who already has the victory. you already posses the authority necessary to keep Satan under your feet where he belongs. remember, you are no longer a victim --- YOU ARE A VICTOR!

Excerpted from Feb 7th of Sparkling Gems by Rick Renner

Survival?

I have started watching "Touch" on Netflix. And it amazes me on how much we are all connected in this huge world. We like to think that we are all alone. And many times we feel like we are. Alone with our thoughts and feelings. It seems like we forget that someone is able to read the very thoughts that we think. That someone formed us and knows the path we will walk. And that path is not always easy. It takes some of us down roads that we could do without and lets us make choices that might not be the best thing for us. And for others, we struggle to find happiness and a sense of belonging even with making all what we think are the right choices.
Honestly, I thought I was making all the right choices. I believed in God. I got married, then waited until we had a house... Then we had a child. And yet now the path that all these right choices have brought is separation from my husband. And more questions than I have answers to. And a calling that I even question. Changing the world is not something I would dream of when my own world feels like a failure. And yet the more I watch this TV show... I see how small actions can changes lives. And then those lives change other lives. So it makes me wonder how little of an act it would really take to change the world. And yet it also makes me wonder how much it would actually cost to support myself and my daughter while I write this book. And would that book really bring the change that I have been told it would bring. I know I have faced much pain in my life, but how does explaining the pain that one has traveled help others? I have had dreams of getting the book written... And then speaking about the book... Dreams of being in different places than I have never seen. And yet I find that currently I can't find the courage to start writing again. The thoughts exist and yet the desire to write has been eaten by this driving need to survive day to day. I know we are to trust for our daily bread. But that doesn't mean that we wait to have it handed to us... So I have used my creativity to keep coming up with the funds so that we can continue to survive. And that does a good deal of eating away at the time I have in a day.... Which is where my time to write is going. And yet I know that I have to be the one to provide. No one is going to hand us what we need to pay bills... So somehow I will find the time. Between being my own lawyer... Being a mother... and still being a daughter...
How do you find the need to survive saps away your time each day? How is it keeping you from reaching the potential that God has for your life? How do you see it sapping away those around you for the sake of survival? And finally, How can your actions help someone to find a path to a better level of survival?

Our Tenth Anniversary

10 years.. Me and my child alone... Him living in State Prison... What more could be wrong about these facts...

A Day in court...

You know it is a good day... When you are dragged into court with no noticed, and you without a lawyer get his lawyer in trouble. And get both of the demands that they think they want thrown out of court. All because someone can't play well with others and get out of his current home.

A TV Day

I was watching TV today... And honestly I do not remember what show it was... but the guy said that Abuse is not just about the power... It is about the intimacy. I have spent enough time since I walked out the door learning about the power and control cycle... and the comment made me wonder... What is it about the intimacy in abuse that keeps men using abuse? As a women I find it to be something that made me want to vomit... run away... and when I couldn't run away I ran away to the world of books... and drove myself to attempt to make a normal life for my child. I still have no idea what normal is, but I do know that if people think that abuse leads to intimacy then they do not understand how much the abused person will put up walls inside of themselves to protect their mind from the reality of what is happening. I have lived that... I still live that... And struggle to learn to trust people in my world. And people who should be close to me are held out at arms length, as I try to make sure that they are not going to abuse me too. Which brings me to the question of what walls do we put up to protect ourselves from the reality that abuse is happening around us? How do we stick our head in the sand to think that it can't happen in our church, or even in our neighborhood? That is something that doesn't happen to smart people, or even to us... And yet it does...

"There will be One Day"

There are days that of late have felt so awful. I find myself searching for a purpose. And when I had a chance to go somewhere yesterday to get my cup refilled... I found that instead I was convicted of a lack of obedience. I don't want to be obedient and allow this divorce. I don't want to be obedient and go out to church. I don't want to be obedient to anyone. And yet I know that makes me sound like a selfish child. And yet the biggest I don't want to be obedient is that I don't want to put the words together to make a book about all that has happened. It is hard when you know you have a higher calling on a task. That you have been given a purpose that is greater than yourself. You still feel like... Why not someone else? Why does it have to be me? Why did I have to become an expert in things regarding pain? And yet I know the answer.... There is a force that is greater than any of us. And when asked by it... The only response is yes I will be obedient. I am not being asked to do things that will harm me. Yet after years of hurt it is still hard to do things that I know I must to help me heal. And there is a part of me that still feels like I don't belong anywhere. I miss what I use to have. And yet due to safety I know it can't be. And yet letting a new group of friends in is hard. I keep waiting to get hurt by them. And yet it is the person I am living with that causes the most pain. And emotional pain that she doesn't realize she is doing. And yet the only thing you can do is stand and take it. Never show the pain that is tearing you up inside. I know things are changing... But some days it feels like it has ground to a stop. And yet it kinda funny because right now I am listening to Cheri Keaggy and her song There will be One Day. And it is saying the very things that my heart is longing to say right now to the world. And I pray for the day when there will be no more abuse in this world. Because it is something that is hard to deal with. Even just the fact that it happened is so hard to face. And yet I wonder... What are people doing to make the day come when there will be no more tears?

Riding the Roller Coaster

Being a single parent has it's ups and downs. Honestly today was one of those down days. It started with me still working on finding affordable legal representation. Which is honestly much harder than I want to admit. Given the fact that today I was going to meet with an attorney, only to find out he was called into court. I really can not be upset. I just wish I knew for sure that I had the help that I was going to need to fight this battle. And then in my saga of down days... I have been facing them to the point where everything that I think I should be accomplishing, honestly is not touched and my day is spent in bed. And that isn't going to get me the funds that I need to accomplish all that needs done. I know a part of me should just sit down and finish writing the book. And yet it seems like that is the one thing that I have no focus for lately. And yet I know it will happen. And I pray that once it is written... It will be published and then see the solution to the funds that I need. And to be able to use those funds to help others who are struggling with the same issues that I have faced would be a blessing beyond words. So I will keep working... Keep doing what I need to do... And just be thankful that the worst part of my day... A trip to the ER with my child wasn't more than her having really bruised her fingers. It was an accident... Doors do occasionally get closed on fingers when kids play together. And yet now she knows she needs to be safer. And she is all right. And in the end that is the best blessing a mother could have.

Grown-up Pain

Tonight I feel like crying. Nothing is what it seems to be. And yet why allow the world to see your pain? They will have no compassion. They will only use it as a sign of weakness. That is what his family wants. And yet I won't let them have that from me. I am better than that. I have to be... all because I am a mother and I have a child to raise.