I owe a debt of gratitude to the village of spiritual veterans that surrounded my childhood and adolescence. I’m inspired everyday by their examples, but this isn’t to say that these individuals were perfect. I learned from the good and the bad. I saw rampant infidelity, and I witnessed with my very own eyes the women that were cheated on and lied to, but they kept pressing despite their pain. I often wondered how it was that they could smile and keep pouring into those in their families and faith communities, when at home they were being undermined and mistreated by the person that was supposed to love them most. They remained in those marriages, most of them until either they died, or their spouses did. I wondered if they felt boxed in and without options, and if they felt they had no other choice but to remain in a situation where their needs were continuously and deliberately at the bottom of the totem pole.

A person cannot rise above that in which they do not know or haven’t been taught. This is a piece of awareness that can be either rewarding or devastating. It’s rewarding because it tells us under no uncertain terms that there is a way that you and I can rise, and it is by having and acting upon the right knowledge. On the flip side, in Hosea 4:6, God tells us very plainly that His people are destroyed because they lack knowledge, they come to a place of destruction because they reject knowledge about God. What many of us have come to understand is that some of the most painful situations of our lives could have been avoided if we had only known better at the time. If we could have seen into the future, we would have known that he wasn’t the right one. We would have known that giving in the first time to that addictive substance would cause our lives to spiral out of control.

Many of the devoted women that surrounded my youth were in deep emotional pain and hid it because they didn’t believe they could trust God to be delivered from it. They were not taught to see Him that big. They believed that life holds a certain misery, and regardless of one’s faith and endurance, a woman would not know the depth and breadth of true liberation, the kind that our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ died on the cross to give us.

Galatians 5:1(NLT) tells us, “Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you.” A free life is one built on the reality and truth of Jesus Christ. But lest we overlook the call of action placed before each of us, the Lord commands that we take a stand! Many people have been in situations, or they are currently in one, and feel as though they don’t have options or choices. They can’t see how things could possibly get any better for them. The first thing we need to do is to surrender this way of thinking to the Lord. Jesus Christ said in John 15:10-11(NLT), “10 When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. 11 I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!” We must renew our minds to the Word of the Lord and continue to read and study it until we inhabit it. We must stake a claim on the Words God has spoken and stand on His promises continually. Through His empowerment, our troubling situations will change, and we must trust this.

God’s standard for our lives is that our joy is not just full but filled to overflowing. And if this isn’t our current reality, we must understand that God desires to give us a strategy to get there. He wants to give us the knowledge and information that will help us prepare for the blessing we’re soon to embrace. But make no mistake, there will absolutely need to be some changes. We cannot face a time like the present without understanding that something about the way we’ve done things in the past will need to change.

Typically, when you talk about change, especially if it’s a personal one, folks get really uncomfortable. One of the reasons for this is because most of us realize that change will ultimately mean that something has to be released in order for something more useful to be ushered in. Jesus Christ taught in Mark 11:23(NLT), “I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart.” If we’re being honest, doubt has been a company keeper for many of us for a long time. Either because we were not taught the truth or haven’t believed that God wants the best for us, doubt has kept us stuck in neutral. We have a choice, and it’s time to turn doubt loose.

In 2Timothy 3:16-17, God tells us “All Scripture is God-breathed, inspired of the Holy Spirit, and it is profitable for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the child of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” We need to know the Will of God for our lives so that His solution and promise can speak directly to what we’re going through. All scripture is God-breathed, and it is profitable for our lives. We have been ordained to be the mouthpiece of God, and this means we must know and understand His Word. As you begin to seek the scriptures, God will supernaturally release the very revelation for how you are to move in this season. He will give you the blueprint if you trust and do not doubt.

For far too long, the enemy has stolen the voices of God’s beloved daughters. We were hit with circumstances and situations we never saw coming. Many thought God was punishing them for their sins. Others thought they had no other choice but to live beneath their privilege and acquiesce to sadness and hopelessness. Not so. Far from it. Through the power of Christ, we are to stand boldly, armed with the spiritual weapons that God has given us. We must open our mouths to declare and decree the promises of God over our lives and claim them in the name of Jesus Christ. No longer sit in the posture of hopelessness. Don’t put God’s Word on the shelf. Respond to Him in faith. You have a choice. Refuse to be pushed out of your destiny by the enemy. Take the Sword of the Spirit in the name of Jesus Christ, which is God’s Word! Read His promises for yourself and begin to declare and speak God’s power into your life.■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

“No Other Choice” written by Reverend Fran Mack, edited by Kim Times for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2020. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! SMS is dedicated to inspiring and encouraging Christian Women through the Word of God.