This question really hits home for me.  When reading through a list of  consequences, it was overwhelming for me to think that I had experienced almost all on the list, and other’s unnamed, which tore my life apart prior to my walk with Christ AND I was trying to handle it all, by myself!

I relate to how being a mother is such an important role.  Perhaps one of the most important that we have as a woman, and if we can’t trust God with our children’s lives, how can we begin to think we can trust Him with our own and the purposes He has set forth for us.

I have experienced so many painful consequences while living outside of God’s truth that I literally became ill.  I lost relationships that were very important to me, I lost my family, I lost jobs, I lost friendships, possessions, my home, had zero money for a future, no job and all of what seemed to make sense to me as important and happy. Some of these things were lost because of sin that I lived in and some of my consequences were the result of others around me that were living in sin, but whatever it all was, and why it was, ended up being so severe to me that I became an agoraphobic, an introvert, and a person that was tossed into the darkness of the pits of hell. I was led to my earthly family for care and love.  I was nursed and loved, sought medical attention, turned to God and His love and through all this was able to have a more intimate relationship with God than I ever imagined.  God reached His hand out to me and for the first time in my entire life, I was still enough to listen and I heard him coach me to take His hand.  When I did, I received the most wonderful blessings in my life. I am not saying that it was all over.  I am saying that I had a Lord and Savior who was willing to love me no matter what journey I had taken in life, and because I later chose to walk the journey with Him, He began to heal me of all the sick and ugly pain that filled my life. I still lost my marriage, I lost my home, I lost what I thought made me happy, but like Zechariah, even though the consequences were severe, I definitely learned my lesson and ended up gaining so much more.  When I finally stood still to listen and turned to God, He sent His Holy Spirit to live within me, to guide me and convict me.  I have never known such a peace in my life, and although I still live with the consequences of my sin, I have been on the most incredible journey of my life since that moment.   I know without any doubt, I was forgiven, I was redeemed, I was created anew and I live with a freedom that is unexplainable and my greatest desire is to share with others my story, of hardship without God and victory with God!

The most important step for me in this transformation was completely surrendering my sin, my guilt, my worries, relationships, and my illnesses to God by laying it all at the foot of the cross. I had to completely trust God with the outcome of every aspect of my life and it was only then that I began to heal and understood the truth of what it is to be a follower of Christ.

Isaiah 59:2

But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.

I rejoice in my trials, because without them, I may have never turned toward Him and had this amazing relationship with Him that I now have!  The trust and intimacy of my relationship with Him is now the driving force of all my relationships! What about you?  Have you thought about laying it all down at the foot of the cross?  I am living proof that God will forgive, extend his mercy and grace and redeem you when we choose to turn our face to Him and invite Him to live with us!