INTRO: This movie was bad. Definitely one of the worst ones I’ve worked on. And by bad, I mean that if you want a scary. psychological, gut-wrenching journey about one’s family being in danger…here it is. That’s not why I watched it. I don’t watch movies for the movie as much as the thoughts I glean from them. And of course, if it’s a movie that tries to leave me scared and scarred, then I shut it off and find my thoughts elsewhere. With that being said, I will press forward in faith because there is something to learn here and to give us strength and hope, especially in these dark times and last days, when only our Savior can truly save us.
No matter what has been fractured in your life, the Atonement of Jesus Christ can help you heal all things.
Of all the covenants and promises you and your spouse make, I pray you will also commit to not argue or fight over silly things like driving the speed-limit, who let the milk expire, or the lights on too long, or forgot to wash the blankets. Yes, things will be forgotten, ruined, expire, get lost, but what needs to not be at the mercy of mistakes, is your love and respect for each other. You may not always laugh at frustrating things (like they say eventually we look back and laugh) but you will do all you can to stay together and not fight with each other, but for each other, no matter what.
What causes a broken family to think they can’t be fixed?
What causes a father or mother to stop fighting for each other? What causes them to feel so alone, even living in the same house and sleeping in the same bed? Is it because we get to busy to maintain, stop investing in each other? Are we worried more about charging our phones than our feelings? We worry more about the battery percentage left on our devices, more than worry if our hearts are running low on love.
If the devil can’t push us of the edge, or get someone else to push us of the edge, then he’ll do everything he can to depress, discourage us into jumping off the ledge ourselves into darkness.
People who go to roadside gas stations tell/warn each other, don’t touch anything if you don’t have to (especially in the bathroom).
Yet, we don’t apply the same caution to worldly things such as movies, music and magazines. Why? Because we think we’re in control over those things?
When we need God’s help, we think that His EMERGENCY room is full, but because He is fully staffed He can begin healing us immediately. It may take time for us to get and complete our spiritual surgery (repentance), as to be completely healed, but God can help anyone, anywhere, anytime.
We live in a world where people hurt each other when things don’t go their way, especially loved ones.
So, we believe that God treats us the same way when we mess up. That’s why we run, hide (Adam and Eve) because we’re afraid God will not only punish us, but won’t want to help us. And that He’ll just make fun of us, or abandon us because we failed Him and certainly not want to heal us for our foolishness.
We are deceived into thinking that because our sins cause no external damage, bruising, pain, that we’re just fine. If we can self-medicate with booze, band aids, social media, even sin, then we’re safe, secure and we don’t need a Doctor, and we certainly don’t need a Savior to help us.
Sooner or later, everyone falls, sometimes more than once.
The most important part is that when we do fall, we get back up. Even if we get hurt, need to get help and have to lay down (different than falling down, even though the position is the often the same, as long as the location is different) the difference is we’re staying down to heal, not because we’re afraid to get back up.
The devil not only makes us divinely dehydrated, because we’ve stopped drinking from the well of living waters, but he also provides his own carnal caffeine which makes us think we’re replenishing ourselves, but really, we’re becoming more dehydrated and weak and our walls begin to fall down.
What is your WHY? Why do you get up in the morning?
What/Who are you living for? Are you really living for them or just with them? How do you know? If you’re more worried and hurried than focusing on a real relationship with yourself and those around you, you’re not really living for, just living with.
Tracking dogs pick up someone’s scent from a recent article of clothing and track them down. The devil doesn’t seek his prey through scent, but through light. The more light (Christ) we are shining, the more worried he is and will attempt to slow, prevent our ascent, and wattage.
The devil knows that spiritual sedatives take time to work.
If they worked too soon, we may get suspicious, or others around us would, and possibly provide help to save us and ruin the devil plans. No, he has to be as patient as he is persistent, sometimes more patient, until you’re too weak to defend yourself. And only sedating us is not enough because he knows it will eventually wear off. That’s why he gets us to commit sin during our drowsiness, so that when it wears off, and we wake up (come out of it), we feel the regret and shame of doing bad things while we were sedated, which leads us back to more sedation and numbing because we cannot endure the pain and think there is no other way to move forward.
The devil can attempt to plant all kinds of evidence against you, to make you look guilty, crazy and that God hates you, but one thing he cannot take away, only make you blind towards, is your testimony of Jesus Christ, His light and Heavenly Father’s love for you (ROMANS 8:38-29).
Sometimes, no matter how hard we try, we still fail and our loved ones still fall.
We may not be able to prevent their fall, but we can help them get back up, still love them and help them get better balance.
The only organ the devil worries about you using is your heart. Through temptation he attempts to transplant your heart with his, or at least replace it’s normal, divine designs. Fear not, the Atonement of Jesus Christ not only heals hearts, it makes them new again!
There is nothing I will not do—within God’s will—to save my family and rescue them from evil.
I pray we will each have this same conviction, especially as the devil is becoming even more deceitful at distracting them and separating us from each other.