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My heart broke hold My spirit weak But deep inside me I heard you speak, you are the one who leads me home No

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longer

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lost, I'm not alone

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Greetings and welcome to another episode of The Drip Line where love and healing will flow into your soul. Tune in and take a listen. Come along this journey, allowing love and truth to permeate your entire being. Hopefully, the message shared today will touch your heart, bringing you closer to your healing, empowering you for your daily life, and helping you move through this process successfully. Today's message is about not being buried alive. We cannot afford to be buried in our sorrows. We cannot afford to be buried in our traumatic past. We cannot keep digging up the bones or make trophies of our pain. I truly believe when we circle back over the past or try to rewrite or constantly consider our past, the shouldos and the kudos, we do more damage than good to our own well-being. What I'm asking is that are we trying to accomplish anything good when we do that? Do we really expect something positive when we keep sifting over the past? Are we trying to accomplish or rewrite something new? So what are we really trying to accomplish by reliving the hurts, by reliving the bad memories, by celebrating certain days as anniversaries that have nothing good for us? What are we doing when we're reliving the mess-ups, regretting the mess-ups and persecuting ourselves over our failures? I want us to seriously consider that. I want us to seriously consider Look at how we spend our time in our thought life. Can you truly say that anything good comes out of looking at our failures? What's beneficial? The only benefit I see is that when we remember what God has brought us out of, that we can say with confidence we tried our best. or that we can just be thankful that we're so far away from it, that we've actually survived, that we see it as a positive, that we see our strength in overcoming, that we see a victory, that we put our heart into something or just got trampled upon, but we didn't give in, we didn't give in. We can look back with confidence on the lessons learned Whether it was your fault or not, that's the only good I see in looking at the past. That we realize our mistakes and we commit to ourselves that we're not going to commit them again. But life is to be lived in the now. I truly believe that. Life is to be lived in the now with hope and a prosperous future. So I want each person listening to ask yourself, what are you doing now? What are you aspiring to? What are you thinking now? What can you do now that you aren't doing now? Where is your heart and your mind right now? What emotions are you fighting right now or experiencing and how are you expressing them? Are you living them out negatively? Are they manifesting and being displaced on someone else? Are you judging others or yourself because of all the bad stuff? I want you to say, I want you to think differently if that's what you're doing. I want you to say, I have overcome. I want you to say, I am victorious. Even if you don't feel it, I want you to practice the art of disciplining yourself in the positives and the optimistic. in the God, in his word. Yes, I have overcome. I am victorious. I am worthy. I am prosperous. We should not be saying, I'm a loser. I can't make it. Nothing will come of it. Nothing good will come out of it. I'm done with it all. I can't handle it. Those are words of defeat. And even if you feel like that, I'm not saying again that we can't have emotions, but what I am saying is that we've got to fight the negativity, the negative narrative that we play in our minds, even when we're not aware. We have to be more self-aware of how we think about ourselves and how we're going to travel through the situations and the circumstances that hit us head on and that shock us. So if you're feeling lost, turn it around. Say, I have a direction and that direction is to overcome all of it. The direction is forward. Otherwise, there's no point. And I want you to feel that all is lost and that there is no point. What I'm saying today is that we should always be believing for the better. We should always rest our minds in hope and the promises of God. We should always be reminding ourselves that God is ever-present and forever faithful. When the voice is contrary to him, when the voice is contrary to his promises, when the voice is contrary to his love, we must shut all those voices down. It is essential. I can go on and on about the negative things we say to ourselves day in and day out, or the things that we say amongst friends and family about how we feel in our situations. We can speak the truth about them without condemning ourselves and speaking negatively about the outcome. We have to catch them before we speak them. We have to stop them before they become part of our soul. We can't live in the hopeless. And we can't say to ourselves, I just can't. We can't say it's hopeless. We can't say I refuse to. We can't say I can't make it or I won't make it. We have to change our thought life. We have to discipline our thought life. Are those things that you're saying contrary to what God would say about you or about your situation? Are they contrary to what God wants you to say about your situation and contrary to how God wants you to feel about yourself and your life? The battles that we fight are most critical. The battles... that we fight that are most critical, believe it or not, are not the battles in the natural. The most critical battles are the ones that we fight in our minds, in our thoughts, in our feelings. The vault of our mind is a place that can be filled with gold or filled with coal. We've heard many times that the battlefield is in the mind, and it is. The real tough battles, the battles that can bring life or death are fought right there as we respond to the traumatic events, as we respond to the negative experiences, as we live through them, as we fight through them, as we fight to overcome. So what's in the vault of your mind? Is it gold? Is it positivity and optimism, or is it death, coal, and darkness? We can't afford to crumble or rely on temporary fixes either. We can't put Band-Aids on things that need surgery. When put to the test, those Band-Aids we know get soggy and fall off underwater when we're submerged in whatever is trying to drown us. But with the tension of the moving and the extension of our limbs, they fall off. They don't protect. Think about it. We may get trampled. We may get beat physically or literally, emotionally or mentally. We may lose friends. Our finances may be destroyed. We may get drugged through the mud. Humiliated and shamed, tragedies may sneak up like tornadoes and do utter destruction. But I say, God, but God, yes, but God, as long as he lives, we're good. And he is eternally forever. So no matter what it looks like, no matter what it feels like, our truth should be God's truth. Our truth and hope should be in him. His word is truth. His word is faithful. And he tells us so. He says that he is not a man that he should lie nor the son of man that he should change his mind. His word is forever. And he tells us in Isaiah 54 verse 17 that no weapon formed against us shall prosper. Remember that. Feed on it. Eat it, receive it, believe it, and speak it. Yes, the attacks will come and sometimes back to back like a whirlwind, like a perfect storm, but they can only do so much. It is up to us. It is up to us how we're going to handle it, if we're going to make it. God says choose life. It is our soul and our sanity that the enemy is really after. We must remember that. It's not necessarily the things that we lose, the people that we lose, though it may be extremely and utterly gut-wrenching and painful. But remember, the enemy is after our soul, after our minds, after our sanity. He lusts for our thoughts. He lusts for our lives. He only exists to destroy. It is our soul that keeps our relationship with God. It's our spirit man's strength and knowledge of God that feeds our soul. It is our right-mindedness that the enemy is after. It is our trust in God and our faith that the enemy so treacherously and so tediously seeks to destroy. It's his only goal. The only goal the enemy has is to steal, kill, and destroy. His goal is to take from us, whether it's material, mental, emotional, or spiritual, all those dimensions he's after. He wants to kill you literally and mentally and wreak havoc on your emotions and prevent you from developing emotions. In Christ or growing your relationship with God. But we must know and remember what the Lord God says. He's come to give us life and give us life more abundantly in him. So don't cave. Don't give in to the enemy. I think most of us hate evil, despise evil. When people are mean to us, we despise it. The source is the enemy. A will that has been overcome by the enemy, by evil. So don't cave. Don't give in to what you don't like. As long as we have God, we win. We are always, always, always victorious in Christ Jesus. It's a must remember. It's essential. Triumph comes in that breaking moment. Triumph comes when we continue to trust and believe. Triumph comes when we dream and seek God's face. Triumph comes when we dream of a future in him and with him. So we must seek to live in God's will and in his presence. Peace is there. Hope is there. Strength is all there in him. Perseverance will find you there. You see, even though Part of our lives gets destroyed. God rebuilds. God restructures. God rearranges. God restores. God reassures. God refreshes and renews. That's his business. He is our never-ending source of life. In him is life. Christ is life. In his word, we find life. We find truth. The secrets of prospering and living in health is in him. Meaning we can find our purpose, our peace, our joy, our future, our strength to continue. And to keep continuing on even when we don't want to is in him. When we look to him, even when we want to just quit life and check out. When we look to him to the hills where our hope comes from, we can make it. Yes, when we look to him, we want to just throw in the towel. We find we can make it. The word of God. Jesus tells us to choose life. In Deuteronomy chapter 30, verses 19 through 20, it states, I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you this day that I have set before you, says the Lord. Life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life that both you and your descendants may live. See, God is invested in us. What this means is to make a choice to trust God. Trust Him enough to truly believe in Him and follow Him. To let Him lead and guide you even when we don't understand. Let Him lead us through every hill, every valley, up every treacherous mountain to the summit. And through every dark place is being obedient to his faithfulness and to his love. That's the key. Being in him. Obedience to faith in him is key. It's a command. God tells us it's impossible to please him without faith. Therefore, if we want to move in our lives successfully, if we want to experience successes in our life, if we want to overcome in our lives and not just survive, but to thrive and prosper, we have to trust him to walk us through it. His aim is to see us as part of him. In his image, faithfully, lovingly, believingly, moving through this life in him, that pleases him. We can only fulfill our destinies and live successfully when we wait on him. We're not to get ahead or lag behind. We have to stick with him. Have our hands in his. Say, Lord, hold my hand. Carry me when I can't walk. Open my mouth when I can't talk. Be my strength when I am weak. He says in our weakness is his strength. He can only please us or fulfill in us what we need when we wait on him. What I'm trying to say is when we get in the way, we block our blessings. When we get in the way, we don't Seek him as God. We don't allow him to answer our prayers in the most profitable way, in the most proper way, in the most healthy way, in the most perfect way. When we don't call on him, less is what we get. When we don't wait on him, less is the result. So I urge every listener to walk in him, to wait on him. to keep your ear inclined unto his words and to fill your heart and soul with his truth, with his faithfulness and love. Meaning we need to know what he says about our life. We need to read his word, even though it might not be the easiest to understand, but we have to take the time to dwell in it, to rest in it, to soak in it. And I always say, put his word to work. In Psalm 145, it states, In Isaiah 42, it says, I will take you by the hand and keep you. Oh my God, those words are so comforting. There are times when I've just had to wait or taste each word one by one and allow those words to minister to my soul in my most despairing moments. I will take you by the hand and keep you. God will keep you. See, God's word is continually about us. His love for us. His love is faithful, unending. He has unending desires for us. His love never fails and it is perfect. He shows us that even when we fall, he is there for us to pick us up. And he shows us how to stand and he helps us stand up. God's word is filled with his everlasting love, his faithfulness, his wisdom, his long suffering, and his encouragement, his how to's and his what not's. And it's all about us prospering in him. So my message today is that we learn to trust him even when it hurts, even when we're impatient. It's that we learn to trust him in every moment, even when we're too tired. We must learn from him and look to him. Isaiah 40 reads, he gives power to the faint and to him who has no might, he increases his strength. Even when young men shall faint and be weary, and young men stumble and fall, they wait upon the Lord, they shall renew their strength, and mount on wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary, they will walk and not faint. That is for us. That is for us. We may be faint and weary and be on exhaustion. But call upon the name of the Lord and be renewed. Be made over. Be refreshed. For God never sleeps nor slumbers. He is reminding us of who he is every day. Yes, we are going to be tired. Yes, we are going to believe that some things are seemingly impossible today. But with God, all things are possible. Yes, we may stumble and fall. It is inevitable. But yes, with God, we will be picked up. Yes, we might trip and trip over ourselves and get injured in it. But he says, look to him. Look to the hills where all your hope comes from. Renew your life. Renew your faith. Renew your belief. Renew your hope in his word. And in doing so, you will overcome. Period. It's inevitable. So remember in Isaiah, it says we will soar in the wings of eagles and there's no bird in the sky like the eagle. Nothing can overcome an eagle. The eagle flies the highest heights above all the clouds. The eagle knows how to deal with adversaries and soars above the storms. And it's God's word. It says we shall mount on wings like eagles. So choose God in your weakest moment and soar. Never be too tired to consider him. Never be too far from him to ask him to open your mouth in prayer and praise. Remember, he's always with us. Don't be the one to turn away. Open your heart and keep your mind stayed on him. It's one thing that I want to etch into your hearts and minds is to choose your words wisely. I've been talking about how the battlefield is in our mind, but we can also speak words that are life or death. It says so in Proverbs, that life and death are in the power of the tongue. We must choose our medicine. We must choose our words wisely. Talk about what's etched in our hearts and minds ends up spilling over into our life, into our words. And to our actions. So we have to choose wisely. We have to discipline our minds. Let God's word be your doctor and your saving grace. Let God's word run through your mind day and night. Remember Philippians, it says, pray without ceasing. Meditate on God's word. Speak his word. When we're speaking God's word, it is a form of prayer. So be very careful how you speak to her about your own situations or of anyone else's situation. If you want good, speak good. If you want an optimum outcome, believe it. Put God's word to it. So choose God's word. about your own life. Choose God's word. Choose wisely about your circumstances. Choose God's word over it. Correct and purify your thought life. Ask God to do that for you. He will. It's his will. He wants us to have the mind of Christ. He's given us all the weapons of warfare that we need, and most of it is in his word. We want to come into agreement with his word, with him, about our lives. So make that a goal. It is a necessary and essential discipline. When we choose to accept and apply his promises, it is then that we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. It is in that place that we can see all that he has created us to be, what he has created you to be. Remember, we are creating his image. You are created in this image. And though the world seems to be a dark place, we are in it, but not of it. In Romans 12, we are reminded that we're to renew our minds in Christ. It says, do not conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind in Christ. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is, his good, pleasing, and perfect will. So yeah, it's too easy to think negatively because we've been programmed by the enemy of our souls. But always go back to Romans 12 and say, do not conform. Myself, do not conform to the patterns of this world. Dina, I'm speaking to myself right now. But be transformed, Dina, by the renewing of your mind in Christ. Then I, Dina, will be able to test and approve what God's will is. His good, pleasing, and perfect will. You can put your name And make it applicable to your own life. Again, it's essential. So to everyone listening who comes across this page or this podcast, be vigilant for your own life. It is God's command. We go through ups and downs and some of the valleys are darker, more treacherous and scarier than others. But God says, do not fear for I am with you. I will keep you by the right hand of my righteousness. He says he loves us with an everlasting love. And he says if a natural father knows how to give gifts to his children, would not the God of all creation not know how to care for you? He will carry us when we are too weak. He will carry us when we can't walk on our own. When we feel like we're drowning, he will still the waters. He will see us through if we just put our hope and trust in him. As we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, he says, we shall fear no evil. God's rod and staff shall comfort us, and he will set a table before us in the presence of our enemies, in the presence of our circumstances, in the midst of any event that is out to destroy us. He says he will anoint our heads with oil and cause our cup to overflow. That's an excerpt from Psalm 23. I urge everyone listening to read Psalm 23 over and over until that peace that's beyond all understanding overcomes you. Read it word for word and line for line because in that Psalm is peace, in that Psalm is rest, and in that Psalm we're reminded that it is only the shadow of death because God's light shines through. God's light is always shining. His strength and his power never wane. They are always there for us to tap into. He will feed us. He will be there for us. He will be that for us. He says he is the great I am. I am your healer. I am your provider. I am your strength. I am your strong tower. I am your ever-present help in the time of trouble. I am your provider. Whatever you need, I shall provide. He will establish us in the presence of everything that is trying to take us out. His goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives. Remember that. In closing, I am going to read a poem. Of course, I always try to have a little poem or something that I've written or come across for a specific moment that applies to the message. The poems that I write were real. Things that I felt. Things that I contemplated. Moments of darkness and moments of joy. I call it to be or not to be. Life or death. I watched the water run down the drain. The shower is running fast. And so is my life. It's being poured out. It runs there. It runs through my soul. My body just lets it go. My body lets it pass. I'm at the point of checkout. I lay near the drain, a witness of it slipping away. Then I whisper, I hear. Satan, not today. My soul responds to the voice of the divine. Rest and be released from the chains. Move on and find your peace. Be free, my soul. It's overdue and linger no more in the dark despairing tower. You must find your happiness, your joy. There's a journey beyond death's door. It's in God's presence. In his presence is your power. No, don't wait. Don't linger with your ugly guest. Don't entertain him, his gift of death. His shell is of lust, and it will become your grave. So don't let the reaper become your ghost. Your saver died for your soul to save. So gently fly. The sun is always shining. Above the clouds lay the pain and your pining. So you may save in the flight. Faith and courage be food for the fight. It is the good fight of faith that wins each battle. It's despair and hopelessness you have to tackle. Your destiny cries. It's a life to resuscitate. Those demons and the devil's chains are too heavy a weight. Time is ticking and hell doesn't want to wait. It thirsts and it craves. There's no time to hesitate. So run, Johnny, run. It's the reaper's pleasure to devour as you lay waste in that shower. So run, Johnny, run into the arms of life. Don't give in. It's not death's hour. Run, so Johnny, run. Keep the word close and written on your chest. Yes, Johnny, run. Run, Johnny, run. Fulfill destiny's quest. Run to your Lord, your Savior, and strong tower. Yes, run, Johnny, run. He's your shield and your rear guard. So run, Johnny, run and tap into his power. Run, Johnny, pick up your sword and run to the fight, the good fight of faith, and tell the enemy on guard. Until next time, be at peace, be in love, and be filled with hope. Truth drips. Until next time, be blessed, be at peace, be in love. Truth drips.

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I've been running for so long Through the valleys where shadows stay I heard you speak. You are the one who leads me home. No longer lost I'm.