Paying Back Evil with Good

 How did you take something evil and turn it around for your good, or the good of someone else?

Isn't that an odd question? I was watching "Elevation" church "live" today and the speaker said something very intriguing: "The devil fights dirty, so should we." 

He went on to elaborate: The devil will use every tactic he has against you. He works to discourage you, invalidate you, he uses fear, memories, fatalistic thinking "things were always like this....so things will always be like this." This is so true! What do we do?

We play nice! Let me explain. We "pray about it." I am not invalidating prayer, but how are you praying?

I suffer from depression, it's a battle. I fight it with all the weapons that I have and that's what I should do. However, which weapons am I not using?

Today I decided to pay back evil with good,  The words the devil is constantly throwing at me are meant to disturb and destroy me. The words used against you are probably different than mine. However I'm going to share the lies he uses against me and how I combat them  

"You'll never sing again. You're finished. You'll never work again. You don't have anything of value to offer anyone, so just close yourself off and hide." Guess what? I believed those words.. I don't blame myself,. physical and mental depression  brought my defense down. . My defenses were Zero!

In the past 5 months I have faced possible death more than 4 times. I was on oxygen for almost 2 years. I was tired. I wasn't sleeping, I couldn't eat. I lost over 40 pounds and some teeth. Yep! Fighting dirty is what the devil does, but that's all he does.

Then all you have to do is turn on the TV or catch a sound bite of news and "THE WORLD IS COMING TO AN END!" My response...of course it is! The Bible declares that the world (as we know it) will come to an end. 

Here's a little tangent... Hitler tried to end the world as we know it. The end of his story? He...died. He actually tried to end an entire nation of people, but he's the one who got ended. There will always be a battle on the face of this earth until Jesus comes to redeem it and us.

Okay, back to subject. There's a song called "This is how I fight my battles", I think Chris Tomlin wrote it (don't quote me). He talks about lifting up your praise to God. That's great advice, but how do I do it and win?

Today I had sweet revenge. It was sweet because I was obedient to the stronger voice in me that is the Word of God.

I live in a community where we all eat our meals together. It's not a permanent situation for me, but it is necessary for now.

I often go down and play the beautiful baby grand piano, just because, during meals. I play three songs and stop. I just surprise people and randomly play. I enjoy it.

Today I confronted the words "you'll never sing again!" I stood at the piano and asked for everyone's attention. I told them that I was going to sing today instead of just playing the piano.

I stood by the piano and sang, "His Eye is on the Sparrow" acapella. My voice was clear and the words were sung like a prayer. It was the first time I'd heard my voice with that kind of clarity in years. After I sang it was requested that I play the piano, so I played "amazing grace" jazz style. Yes, that's a thing! We are not all the same!

A woman came in just as I was finishing singing and asked me to sing that song again. I asked everyone if they minded and they loved it. I sang the first verse and the chorus. This was NOT for my glory. This song means a lot to me. It has all the questions I ask myself when things are hard. "Why should I feel discouraged?"

One woman stopped me on her way out. She said, "I can't get that song out of my head. It was a beautiful prayer." I didn't have to be religious and say "It's all God!" (a whole other subject). I said to myself "There, I got even! I will sing again!"

How are  you going to get even today? How will you confront the lies that keep you from fulfilling your destiny and bring you joy?