We all have a prison.

My heart has never felt such hopelessness. Walking out the door this morning I thought, "What is the use, the purpose of continuing?" But as I walked out the door, I did not walk out alone. My God walks with me, every step of every day. Though there is chaos all around, broken hearts and dreams and boulders in the middle of my road, He has not left me to navigate alone. My journey with Him does not depend on the conditions around me. He is refining me minute by minute. I just can't see what He is trying to form in me. Why do I think I need to see and understand?

And yet, my heart is so heavy and my eyes are full of tears. I cry out silently for relief and I see none ahead. But, I walk on. Is this my prison? I know that Paul and John and all those who suffered for the faith were strong in Him in the midst of hopeless, endless prisons. And yet, they rejoiced. How do I get to that place that my place doesn't matter, that nothing matters but the love of Christ and that I, too, can rejoice with my WHOLE heart?

Purge me of all within me that cries out for deliverance and change. Help me to walk each minute knowing my life is not about me. Help me to have eyes that see only You - to know within my core that my wants and desires are not necessarily Yours.

Today, Lord, I seek Your face alone. Help me to understand that it matters not how my days go, how my relationships lack, but only that You love me and choose to use me as Your vessel. Refine me, oh Lord, and please understand that though my feet falter, I will EVER follow You.

Everything happening to me in this jail only serves to make Christ more accurately known, regardless of whether I live or die. They didn’t shut me up; they gave me a pulpit! Alive, I’m Christ’s messenger; dead, I’m his bounty. Life versus even more life! I can’t lose.
Philippians 1:21 The Message