A Foothold.

"Do not give the devil a foothold"  Ephesians 4:27

I was wrestling.  I mean wrestling.  Wrestling against myself, against my words, against my will, against my attitude, against my behavior.  Everything inside was a tangled mess of tight rubberbands waiting to snap.

It was Friday night.  I came back from helping set up for the Women's Kick Off Brunch at church.  What fun it was with the ladies!  And by the time I got home, I was angry and angst and fighting... myself.  The devil knew the Lord was going to use me, and so he grapsed for a foothold.

Bikes went in and out of the storage shed, Mark working away with me doubting and questioning and wanting to throw things.  I wanted to be mean, be angry, be what I felt inside.  But I didn't know why I felt the way I did, and I knew it wasn't him, so I tried my best to hide my turmoil, but I'm sure tension was still his intuition.

Saturday morning, much the same.  And all weekend was full of church emails and texts, and my (oh my shame!) grumbling...

The devil had a foothold.  He took one edge - turning me against myself, and then to my husband and my ministry, and coiled me in knots.

For the Lord was going to use my story to encourage and challenge others to pursue him.  And until sitting in the church pew Sunday morning, I didn't realize all my uncharted and unaimed against was only because of him.  Because he used his warfare weapons to gather footholds in my heart.

It was Saturday morning that a quick blurb video was shown of me talking about a sect of women's ministry, encouraging a flock.  It is this week that Bible Studies begin, and I facilitate/teach one at this church for the first time...  It's this week that the devil took a foothold to turn me against myself, and most of all, my (by meaning, His ministry with my physical presence) ministry.

"Do not give the devil a foothold" forces Ephesians 4:27.  So I clamor for armor, now that I can Label It Satan, and take my stand against the devil's schemes, without his foothold.