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A Great Challenge

Deuteronomy 9:6
“Therefore understand that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people.” 
There is nothing I could do to ever earn or deserve the time that I have had here in Uganda. In fact, I am still unsure as to why exactly the Lord has chosen me for this mission. Me, a lousy Christian who should never have received a second, third, fourth, or fifth chance at redemption. However, in the time that I have been here, the Lord has once again proven His divine grace as many of the demons I struggle with have surfaced, from lust to jealousy and perhaps, just maybe, it is the Lord giving me the sixth chance I do not deserve to heal me from these things with which I have so deeply struggled with throughout my life. To withdraw from the routine of the normal and propel into the routine of the abnormal is to face the struggles that chain me to the enemy. It is to battle my demons forcefully, being completely aware that I am bound to feel the loneliness and rejection which I am so fearful of. However, withdrawal not only comes with being confined to the enemy but having the opportunity to choose the Lord instead. Choosing the Lord means choosing life and choosing life means sacrificing the desires of my heart for the desires of the Lord. Matthew 7:14 confirms this by stating, “Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” The way of Christ will never be the road most traveled for it is a life deemed a great challenge. However, it will always be the life of greater joy and victory for our battle has already been won on the cross at Calvary. What better life to live than for the One who is always for me, and not against me?

Application
This week, I will withdraw from my team one hour a day and give praise to the One who gave His all, for me. 

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