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marbella3 70F
2483 posts
1/12/2021 5:41 am

Last Read:
1/12/2021 12:36 pm

Breaking the Cycle

Bible in a Year:
Genesis 29–30

Matthew 9:1–17
If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

2 Corinthians 5:17

Today's Scripture & Insight:

2 Corinthians 5:14–21
David’s first beating came at the hands of his father on his seventh birthday, after he accidentally broke a window. “He kicked me and punched me,” David said. “Afterward, he apologized. He was an abusive alcoholic, and it’s a cycle I’m doing my best to end now.”

But it took a long time for David to get to this point. Most of his years and twenties were spent in jail or on probation, and in and out of addiction treatment centers. When it felt like his dreams were entirely dashed, he found hope in a Christ-centered treatment center through a relationship with Jesus.

“I used to be filled with nothing but despair,” David says. “Now I’m pushing myself in the other direction. When I get up in the morning, the first thing I tell God is that I’m surrendering my will over to Him.”

When we come to God with lives shattered, whether by others’ wrongdoing or by our own, God takes our broken hearts and makes us new: “If anyone is in Christ, . . . the old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Christ’s love and life breaks into the cycles of our past, giving us a new future (vv. 14–15). And it doesn’t end there! Throughout our lives, we can find hope and strength in what God has done and continues to do in us—each and every moment.

Reflect & Pray
Where were you headed when you received Jesus as your Savior? How does it help to know that God continues to shape your life to increasingly resemble His?

Dear God, thank You for interrupting the downward trajectory of my life and making me a new creation! Make me ever more like You.


MrsJoe 76F
17409 posts
1/12/2021 7:49 am

.I was in an abusive home when I got saved. My step dad was an alcoholic wife beater who molested me. My mother was terrified of him, and I often wondered how she didn't know what he was doing to me. I guess I was too ashamed and terrified of the consequences too, so I never told anyone, not even my best friend.
I was allowed to attend Sunday school, so I had heard the salvation message, but it was at a three day church camp that I was actually touched by it and received Jesus as my savior. When I told my mother about it, she sarcastically said, "Well I hope you don't think that changes anything here."
But it did. It changed me. Not all at once, but slowly, and looking back, I can recognize the changes in me and my attitude. Eventually, after I was out of that environment, hate dissipated and turned to pity and prayer for my abuser.


Be a prism, spreading God's light and love, not a mirror reflecting the world's hatred.


marbella3 70F
64 posts
1/12/2021 12:36 pm

MrsJoe. what a beautiful testimony!!
God Bless and please take care yourself.
Hugs with love.