I want to start off by apologizing for my brief absence in writing. Life has thrown many curveballs my way in the last few weeks! After a brief bout with a respiratory illness that swept through my household, I was ready to get outside and get a fresh breath of air, literally. So about three weeks ago, I took a few minutes in the evening to go outside and try to pull some of the weeds that were already threatening to take over my flower gardens and yard. I was aware of the ominous presence of some poison ivy on the side of my house and took what I thought were appropriate measures to avoid the menacing plant. I wore gloves and tried not to touch any of the poison ivy plants. In the same area, we also have many vines that will climb on everything from the ground to the trees to the side of the house. The more I pulled on the vines, the more they kept coming and the longer they seemed to get. Before I knew it, I had armfulls of the pesky plant that I was carrying and emptying into the trash bin. When I had finished my job, I went inside and washed my hands and arms well with soap and made sure my clothes went straight into the hamper. 

About two days later, it started. The rash slowly made its appearance. First on my arms, then onto my stomach and sides, and finally it crept down onto my legs. The first rash on my arms turned into horrible, itchy, painful blisters. I won’t get down to the nitty gritty to spare your stomachs, but let’s just say I felt like one of the lepers from Jesus’ day who had to walk around everywhere calling out, “Unclean!” as they entered the room. Due to my stubborn German nature, I tried every over the counter and home remedy I could to relieve me of my misery, but I refused to go to the urgent care doctor. I even drove 17 miles out of my way at 8:00 at night to a certain pharmacy that had a product I wanted to try. Well, all of my attempts failed and the rash just kept spreading and getting worse. I finally grit my teeth and decided to use the telehealth I have through my insurance and call a doctor. Not only was the process easy (I didn’t even have to leave my house!), but I had a prescription called in and ready for me to pick up in a few hours. Now, just a few days later, I am finally starting to feel better and the rash is receding! Had I just called the doctor in the beginning stages, I would have saved myself several weeks of pain!

So, you might be wondering how in the world all of this ties into our faith in God. Well, I’ve really been wrestling with this one, but I think I’ve finally got it figured out. Let’s go back to the very beginning and how I got the poison ivy to start with. I left the comfort and security of my house to venture out into the world, much like we all do every day of our lives. I thought I was being careful and taking all the necessary precautions to protect myself. In reality, I did nothing of the sort. You see, the vines I was pulling from the house were actually called Virginia Creeper. They are also known to cause highly painful reactions when they come into contact with skin. Even though I put on gloves, I was wearing a short sleeved shirt leaving my arms totally exposed to all of the toxic poison in the plants. When I went inside, I washed my hands and arms, but I did not immediately wash my shoes, clothes or garden tools leaving them contaminated as well.

1 Peter 5:8-9 says, “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.”

Genesis 4:7 also reminds us, “…But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”

Sin and the devil are always crouching at your doorstep waiting for any opportunity to make their ways into your life. They wait for the tiniest crack, the smallest opening and then make their move. One moment of weakness is all it takes for sin to take hold. Just like the poison ivy vines grow and spread rapidly, quickly taking hold of everything around them, sin will do the same thing to you if you let it in. Now sin can take many forms. It can start off small and innocent enough, like the one tiny plant, but can quickly grow.  You might think, just one little slip won’t matter, but before you know it your whole life has taken a turn.

We all know that sin is unavoidable. That is why God gave us the wonderful gift of grace through faith in Jesus, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try to avoid it. One way that we can protect ourselves from the snare of sin and the devil is to surround ourselves with the right kind of people. Picture a garden, full of beautiful, vibrant flowers of every color. They grow and flourish and compliment each other. Now picture the outside of the garden. This is the place where the weeds and poison ivy grow. If we are not careful, the weeds will grow up and choke out all the beautiful flowers. The flowers are all of the good and faithful people in our lives; they are the ones who lead by example and are good influences on us. The weeds are the bad influences; they are the people who tend to lead us astray and tempt us to sin. The more we surround ourselves with the weeds, the more we lose sight of the flowers. We have to set ourselves up for success by surrounding ourselves with the flowers.

Now, even if we try to set ourselves up for success, we know that we will still have moments of weakness. There will be times when we let our guard down and slip into that patch of poison ivy. When we come out on the other side, it is already too late. We will be marked with the sign of sin, and it will linger with us much like the lingering effects of the poison ivy blisters. One very important thing we must remember is that we cannot ever heal ourselves of our sin, just the same way I could not heal myself from the poison ivy rash. We tend to be stubborn sometimes and think that we don’t need God, but in reality, we need Him more than we could ever imagine. God is like the doctor was to me. I may have been able to patch up my rash a little by myself, but without the help of the doctor, I was never going to fully heal. We may be able to change our ways and walk away from some of our sins, but our souls can never fully be cleansed without the love and grace of God.

God is our healer, our comforter, our refuge and our very present help in trouble. Without him we would have nothing. “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” Psalm 147:3. He sent His son Jesus to forgive us of our sins and give us a way to heaven. Jesus says, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6. We have a way out, and that way is Jesus. Even though we will fall into the trap of sin, we must not be stubborn and push God away. If we remember to ask God into our lives, he will surely take care of us.

I leave you with this thought. In my daughter’s recent school lessons, we have been reading through a book containing Aesop’s fables. At the end of every fable is the moral of the story. I always have to chuckle, because all of these morals written so many years ago still can apply to life today. Well I am going to leave you today with a moral to my story. Do not be so proud as to think you can always avoid the weeds, and when you do get caught up in the mess, never be too proud to ask HIM for help. I pray that you can learn a little from my mess. My number one tip, try to avoid the poison ivy, but if you don’t, get the help!

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Can I pray for you? Send me a message at molly@savedbygrace.blog