Shawshank Redemption....

Ever seen this movie? One of the greatest in my book! It's a story of men facing injustice, consequence, abuse, wilderness times, day to day turmoil and redemption!
There is also so much to learn from it and the process if imprisonment....to freedom. I have never been in prison, as most people that will read this have not, but most of us has been through the process, if we are adults and ever suffered with things in our past.

Brooks, from the movie, spent 50 years in Shawshank and was released. You might think freedom from those 4 walls would be everything he could want. That was not the case....he was terrified enough to threaten another friends life just to stay there then take his own! Crazy right? Not really!.....................

We do the same thing when reliving our past! When we are young it seemed easy to recognize hurt feelings and unjust behavior because those were new feelings, but a years went on, things become less of a shock and less painful because our pain tolerance has built up because of those experiences!
So like those walls become home to long term prisoners, so does our pain! Psalm 69:33 “For the Lord hears the needy and does not despise his own people who are prisoners.”
When God calls you to become a believer....things change! It is God who changes us, but it is our decision to allow that changing to create action in our lives.  Get out of that prison you are in, no matter what put you there.  There are people who are there because of others, and people who have put themselves there.  God will always use your situation to glorify himself and show you how merciful and gracious His presence is!  IN HIS TIMING!

We have to start living, not according to our old behavior, but according to the word of God. When we accepted Him as the Lord over our lives, change must happen! 2 Corinthians 5:17 ¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:^[a] The old has gone, the new is here! If you stay on the wrong side of the believers life, the darkness causes guilt and unhappiness.  God's word says that no darkness can remain where there is light.  As a believer (accepting Christ in your heart and being led by the Holy Spirit) you are the light of the world now!  John 9:55 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world."  This is good news for you and all who you know, because you may be the only light that some people see.  If anyone on Earth has a reason to be joyfull, it is BELIEVERS!  We have been saved by grace (nothing we did) and given the gift of eternal life (through the death and resurection of Jesus).........ETERNITY IN GODS PRESENCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 Ever been shaken, desparate for God's prescence, and love when listening to the Mercy Me song like I do every time....."I can only Imagine"? I can not even begin to imagine what heaven will be like in the prescence of the LORD! Experience your own redemption by giving Christ the power to tear down your walls of imprisonment from your past! Psalm 139:12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.