August 17, 2025 • 33 mins
Have you ever noticed how certain negative emotions and experiences can grow from momentary distractions into life-consuming forces? This powerful exploration of what I call the "parasitic twos" reveals how excess anger, fear, isolation, and other emotional reactions can cannibalize our futures when left unchecked.
The distinction between a distractor and a distraction might seem subtle, but understanding it could save your destiny. A distractor is something that temporarily requires our attention – perhaps a betrayal, failure, or loss. These events demand processing. However, when we allow these incidents to permanently alter our emotional landscape, they transform into distractions that derail us completely. Like a lobster slowly cooking in gradually heated water, we often don't recognize how these parasitic influences are destroying us until substantial damage has occurred.
Through the biblical story of Rahab and my own raw testimony of surviving divorce, betrayal and assault, I share how focusing on the wrong things nearly destroyed me – and how discovering the one "too" that's never too much changed everything. While excessive negative emotions destroy, you can never have too much God, too much faith, too much divine love. When life's distractors threatened to consume me entirely, it was this recognition that pulled me back from the brink.
Whether you're wrestling with past trauma, fighting through current hardship, or simply feeling adrift, this message offers a roadmap back to wholeness. The healing doesn't always come quickly, but it does come surely when we redirect our focus from what hurt us to what can heal us. Join me in discovering how to prevent temporary setbacks from becoming permanent detours, and how to transform your deepest pain into your greatest testimony.
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THE DRIP LINE
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Dina LaFargue Augusti (00:00):
Greetings and welcome to a new episode of
the Drip Line, where love andhealing will drip into your soul
.
Tune in and come along thisjourney, allowing love and truth
to permeate your entire being.
Hopefully, the message sharedtoday will touch your heart,
(00:22):
bringing you closer to yourhealing and empowering you for
your daily life, helping youmove through the process
successfully.
Take a listen.
The past couple of weeks I'vebeen speaking about the
parasitic TOOs, those excessesthat eat at our soul and destroy
our destinies.
(00:43):
The power of those terribleTOOs is that they become
influencers, idols.
They can become hugedistractions that take us off
course.
They are the result ofdistractors, the events, things,
and or people in our lives thatrequire or steal our attention
(01:06):
and ultimately corrupt our sightand blind our vision and path
for a better future.
Some distractors we causeourselves and others just happen
because we know life happens.
However, they are nevercoincidences and there are never
(01:29):
accidents.
Remember that, whatever therhyme or reason for these
incidents, etc.
all of them can steer us astrayif we let them.
Both create a need for a reset,a redirection, a recalibration.
(01:51):
These distractors can beextremely dangerous.
No, they are not tests, butusually they are setups designed
to actually decimate ourdestinies.
And although these distractorscan be very shocking and
traumatizing, and hurtful, tosay the least, we know they do
(02:12):
require a lot of attention, but,if not managed carefully, if
not managed with wisdom and asense of self-control and
discipline, they can ultimatelybecome total distractions.
When we allow them to becomedistractions, they then become
(02:34):
the ultimate focus, moving ouremotions, causing us to forget
our ultimate goals, by which welose direction.
Hence, a distractor issomething that takes our
attention away from our goals,leading us to be distracted by
(02:54):
what happened, leading us toform habits that actually become
destructive distractions for abetter future, for a healthy
future, for healthyrelationships.
You might say, "Okay, I was hurtand I'm angry, so now I'm going
to answer to anger and findreasons to be angry and live
(03:17):
with an anger in me, an attitude.
" It becomes you.
You might have been robbed,robbed of something valuable,
not just robbed on the street,but now you live in fear,
holding everything too close andtoo dear, nurturing your fear
and isolating yourself.
Okay, you might say, "I wasbetrayed, so I'm going to
(03:41):
forfeit having meaningfulrelationships to prevent from
being betrayed and abandoned orrejected again.
You might say I failed and soI'm never going to try this
again.
" and hence you don't live up toyour potential because you stop
trying.
I will clarify (04:01):
a distractor is something that might look right
- it might be a person thatmight seem right.
It is something that mightsound right - a person that
might sound right or feel right- and we tend to that something,
but it's not.
A distractor can be an event, aperson or thing that grabs our
(04:26):
attention, grabs our affectionor hurts us, takes up too much
energy, too much time and toomuch attention.
It is when our energy, time andattention should be elsewhere.
It takes up too much.
It took a spot that itshouldn't have taken.
It sets up residence in ourlives when it's not supposed to.
(04:50):
The distractor becomes adistraction when it alters our
drive, our focus, our emotions,our mentality, our plans, our
personality, to the point of noreturn.
And maybe I should say almostno return, because there's
always an answer and you'll findout at the end.
(05:13):
Yes, we have to addresssituations, events, people and
circumstances.
Yes, we have to address things- we can't ignore things.
However, the distractor shouldnot be but for a short season
and not a lifetime.
There are things that come intoour lives, people that come
(05:33):
into our lives, situations thatpop up that are only for seasons
and times and not for forever.
When these situations/ eventsare resolved, or when these
people are dealt withappropriately or handled
(05:54):
appropriately.
They need to be just thatresolved and dealt with.
It might sound a little cruel,but some people are not meant to
be in our lives.
Lingering on the impacts of thedistractors makes them
distractions.
It's the lingering, it's thefocus, and I reiterate, because
(06:20):
these distractions ultimatelylead us down the path of
destruction and not abundance.
Distractions are the residualleftovers of negative situations
, relationships or events thatwere orchestrated to ultimately
destroy us.
Hear me! Evidence of ourfailure to move forward in a
healthy manner is when our mindsand our emotions are honed in
(06:41):
on the impact of those events orthose people or the
circumstances, whetherself-inflicted or not.
If we allow them to infest uswith the negative, with ongoing
anger or shock, or desire forvengeance, fear, lust, greed,
isolation, addictions ordepression, we lose - and that's
(07:06):
just to name a few.
They become dangerous - adanger to our destinies, a
danger to our well-being.
They are desecrators, parasiticdesecrators of our destinies.
These thoughts and emotionssubsequently shape our mindset,
(07:29):
influencing our interactions,influencing our plans,
influencing whether we makeplans, in short, influencing the
trajectory of our lives.
When we nurture these parasiticevents, these terrible TOOs,
(07:50):
we're giving them priority andthey do not deserve it.
=We is not where they'resupposed to be.
We cannot give them permissionto cannibalize us.
We cannot give them permissionto eat away at our substance, at
the true essence of ourbeingness.
(08:11):
We cannot let them nibble awayuntil there is nothing left of
us but ravaged flesh, ravageddreams, a ravaged life, an
unrecognizable remnant of whatGod initially and intentionally
(08:32):
created for us.
These terrible, parasitic TOOsbecome the focus.
Unknowingly and unwittingly, weare actually serving ourselves
on a silver platter for theenemy to have a feast.
We become a sacrifice - a feastfor evil - like a lobster
that's slow cooked in tepidwater, whose temperature is
(08:54):
slowly increased until the pointof a boil, and the lobster is
dead before even knowing whathappened.
When we nurture thesedistractions we allow them to
fester, becoming deep wounds andscars of everything that has
happened.
We might seethe in anger overfoes and betrayers.
(09:19):
We might even lament over whatwas, forgetting to look ahead at
what can be.
But, we cannot afford to existin it.
We cannot thrive if we do.
When we forget our ultimategoals, when we forget who we
were before that, who we werebefore that person, who we were
(09:40):
before the event, we can destroyourselves and our lives.
We cannot forget who we wereand what we're to be.
You must fight to thrive andnot be overcome by it.
We must keep that flame ofdesire in our lives for a better
future.
We essentially give permissionto a spirit of self-destruction
(10:07):
if we do not.
If we lose the desire, if welive in those TOOs, in the too
much anger and the hopelessnessand the too much fear, then we
give permission to the spirit ofself-destruction to
self-destruct us.
Events are never supposed totake us out, never.
(10:31):
Life may change course, however.
Yes, life can change course,but we are still supposed to be
in control of the quality ofthat course, of the trajectory
of that course.
We're not supposed to behaphazard about it.
We are not supposed to allowthe event to dictate how we move
(10:54):
forward.
We are not to allow thedisappointments to direct us or
to provoke us to throw in thetowel.
Remember the saying, "henthings get tough, the tough get
going.
In life, stuff always happens,but if we don't take control, we
will always be targeted, wewill always be a setup and
(11:16):
reeled in like a fish on a linefor the devourer of our soul.
Now the great thing is thatthere is a too much or there is
a TOO, that is never too muchand never terrible or
destructive.
What is it?
What is this TOO, this T-O-0that we can never get enough of?
(11:43):
What is this TOO t hat willcounteract every negative, nasty
, parasitic, terrible TOO?
What is it?
Too much God! You can neverhave too much God.
God is love.
You can never have too much God.
God is love.
You can never have too much ofhis love.
Correct, one can never getenough of God.
(12:05):
One can never be too close toGod.
One can never have too muchfaith in God.
One can never rely too much onGod.
One can never inquire of Godtoo much.
One can never have too muchlove of God, for God, from God.
One can never submit too muchto God.
(12:27):
One can never honor God toomuch, worship God too much or
give to God too much.
And I know some of my listeners, or some that have come for the
first time, may not believe,but I challenge you to try,
because when you're toooverwhelmed by life, when you're
(12:47):
too overwhelmed by theseparasitic TOOs, there is one
remedy and that's the love ofGod.
In Hebrews, chapter 12, thegreat book of faith in the Bible
, the Bible's hall of fame, weare reminded to look unto Jesus,
the author and finisher of ourfaith.
(13:08):
And it say, "who, for the joythat was set before Him, endured
the cross, despising the shame,and is set down at the right
hand of the throne of God.
" So I'm giving an example.
Here is Jesus, the Son of God,Son of man, that was set to
(13:30):
bring people to God, to makethem right again, to remind them
of who their creator is and whosaves them.
And He had a lot of mockers.
And despite these mockers-despite the critics, the
religious critics and thetheologians, despite the
(13:51):
attempted murder on His life,the multiple attempts, the
attempts of being stoned-despite those who said He came
from nothing, despite even Hisown followers often not
understanding him, denying Himor betraying Him, Jesus moved
forward.
(14:12):
He did not let the distractorsbecome distractions to get him
off course.
If He did, He wouldn't have theopportunity to be saved, we
wouldn't have His gift ofsalvation.
For he died for many - and Hewould have died for one of us -
(14:33):
that we would have everlastinglife with the Father.
He is the one that gives ushope for our future.
He is the salvation of oursouls.
He is the reason we can havehope for our future.
He gives us destiny.
He, Jesus, us\ remembered Hisgoal, and that was to die for us
(14:58):
- not because of thedistractions, not because he was
depressed, not because he gaveup - no, because he thrived,
because he pushed forward,because he understood what a
distraction was and who adistractor was, what a
(15:19):
distractor was and what it couldbe.
He stayed focused, hemaintained self-control, he kept
his eye on the Lord, heremembered who the author and
finisher of his life was and heknew that he had hope and a
future, and that was the, thedying to self - to die for us.
(15:39):
So, he kept purpose, he keptpushing forward and pressing in
on the will of God.
He had a destiny to fulfill.
He stayed the course eventhough events always proposed to
get him off track or set him upfor failure.
There are many examples in theBible of how the enemy tried to
(16:04):
destroy him before he had theopportunity to fulfill and live
his destiny.
Let me try to make this morerelatable.
I come back to my other herobesides Jesus, who was the
ultimate hero to me- but Rahab,Rahab the harlot, Rahab the
(16:24):
prostitute.
Rahab pressed in.
Now.
Now, do you think thisprostitute relished each day she
lived and each client that shehad to entertain and serve and
give herself over to?
Do you think she relished everytime her body was ravaged which
(16:44):
ultimately touched her soul?
Each encounter probably tooksome of Rahab's life with it,
but in order to survive, she hadto.
She had to expose herself.
She was visible visible, In inorder to have clients.
she had to be known.
She couldn't hide.
She was an object of publicdisgrace because a woman of that
(17:07):
time that was not a templeprostitute, serving a false god,
was a prostitute or a whoreliving just to feed herself and
her family.
She was not welcome at the wellwith the other women.
She was not.
She was considered to beunclean.
She was considered less thanaccording to cultural norms.
(17:30):
She had to sell what was mostprecious in order to survive.
What did she have left ofherself that was valued.
Again, consider this lifestyleand mindset.
Put yourself in the shoes ofsomeone that has no choice,
(17:50):
living with what she knew, onlywhat she knew at that time to
survive, only what she could doto survive.
The key is, though, that Rahabactually did not throw in the
towel, she didn't give up onherself, despite it all.
It is my conjecture that shewas always pondering a better
future, because, whenopportunity struck, when
(18:14):
opportunity arose, Rahab wasready, she was strategic and she
seized it.
Yes, when the men of God cameto Jericho to destroy it, she
helped them.
She recognized that they wereof God, from God, and that they
could lead her out.
She was willing to take therisk for her life's sake and for
(18:34):
her family's sake.
She put her hope in the onetrue God, and she made a
sacrifice.
In essence, Rahab risked futureincome, risked her family's
safety, risked her safety andher life to save the men of God,
to protect the men of God, tomeet the living God.
(18:55):
She recognized truth, and thetruth set her free from her
bondage.
She was set free fromprostitution.
She was set free from a cultureof false idols and lies.
She was set free from falsehope that comes with false gods
and idolatry.
(19:15):
She was saved from nothingness.
She was saved from being lessthan.
She was saved from beingostracized.
Think of i t, as she grew older,what would she become?
Who would want her?
She was free from ridicule,shame, self-loathing, free from
(19:37):
being used and abused, free frombeing ostracized and isolated.
You see, she looked to the onetrue God and in looking to Him
there is no shame.
Believing in Him there is noshame - no matter what happens,
no matter what it looks like, nomatter what it feels like.
There is no shame to those whocall upon the name of the Lord.
(20:08):
Psalm 34 in the Bible is one ofmy favorite, all-time favorite
psalms.
It is a beautiful prayer and itis one that helped me overcome
the shame and the divorce that Iexperienced a long time ago.
Yes, I faced shame.
I was married for barely a yearwhen my husband left me.
(20:31):
He left me for another woman.
I was embarrassed.
I had a big wedding.
I was settling into what Ithought would be a forever love
and as soon as I got comfortableit was gone.
It was over in the blink of aneye.
I had been betrayed openly.
(20:54):
He had even brought the womanto our own home and I knew her.
My schoolmates knew her, myco-workers knew what was
happening when I didn't, and Ihid my face under my hair in
shame.
My new job ultimately fell apart.
I lost my husband, I lostincome - all at the same time
(21:19):
we're paying for grad school anda wedding.
I was broken -financially andemotionally.
When I look back, I rememberthe days when even a second was
too painful for me and I couldonly look to God.
I dug into my faith.
And, yes, I was strong, but Iwas also broken and I could not
(21:47):
let those things kill me - eventhough I truly thought I would
die of a broken heart.
Broken hearts are real.
Dying of a broken heart is real.
I remember nights where I slepton the Bible and I cried.
My tears just wet up the pagesand I cried out to God to save
me and to help me and to makehimself real.
(22:08):
The torment and the brokennesswas real.
It persisted and nightmarestormented my sleep.
And others came, feigningkindness, trying to help, but
they weren't.
They took advantage.
They were actually wolves insheep's clothing, pouring more
(22:37):
salt into my wounds.
I could list so many things thathappened during that time, that
complicated my situation, thathurt me even more, that
traumatized me even more.
I can't even list them becauseonce I list them, I'll be on
here for a couple of hourstrying to describe the depth of
my pain and shame and thefrantic actions that I had to
(23:01):
take to save myself.
Cars were stolen, I wasthreatened with eviction
notices, I was, by my ownex-in-laws, I was a victim of an
assault, a sexual assault.
It was horrific.
And I started to think that Iwas unworthy, and in my mind I'd
become an object of scorn -usedand abused and invisible as a
(23:25):
woman of worth.
I started to think of myself asan object.
At that time, I didn't know Godwell enough to avoid certain
pitfalls, but little by little,I truly began to feel him.
(23:46):
Even though I felt almost likenothing, like a shell of a
person, even though I stumbled,He still made things happen for
me.
Even though I still relied toomuch on myself to soothe my pain
(24:08):
and my shock, to soothe theanger, the shame and the fear
that I was feeling - in it all,God was there.
He kept showing up.
He kept holding me, he keptleading me and guiding me out of
(24:29):
the darkness and onto the paththat would lead me into
abundance.
He was in the details.
He read me his word.
He taught me to abide in Hispresence, and in His strength I
regained some of what was lost,and you might hear my voice
(24:56):
crackle because it's so awesomewhat He did for me when I
thought I would just never makeit, when I thought it was going
to break - it was his strengththat carried me.
I became a financial advisor, Igot a great job, I found a great
love and it was all in hisstrength.
I found myself again.
I found joy again.
I found my peace again.
(25:17):
I was able to stand again.
I was able to look up again.
It was in his strength, in hislove, in his direction that I
was able to gain a successfulcareer.
I relocated with his directionand in his faithfulness.
(25:38):
In his perfect love, I foundmyself.
I found my father, my friend,my heavenly father, my natural
father, was still alive andthere to help, but I found my
Savior.
I found that he was real, thathis peace was real, that he was
(26:04):
a true healer and that the HolySpirit was a real comforter.
I learned to trust again, tofeel and to celebrate.
He gave me hope for my future,which is what he told me he was
going to do all along, andthat's why Jeremiah, chapter 29,
(26:25):
verses 11 through 13, are oneof my favorite verses.
He says, "I will give you hopeand a future.
I'm not here to harm you" and Ilived it and I'm still living
it.
Now, back to Psalm 34, readverses four through ten.
It's say, "I sought the Lordand he heard me and delivered me
(26:50):
from all my fears" Yes, I usedto cry out to God to hear me, to
not forget me.
And it goes on to say "theylooked to him and were radiant
and their faces were not ashamed.
This poor man cried out and theLord heard him and saved him
(27:22):
out of all his troubles.
" Yes, I cried out and the Lordheard me.
It goes on to say, "the angelof the Lord encamps around all
those who fear him and deliversthem.
I can dance to this psalm allday long.
I can.
This psalm is ultimate.
(27:43):
It speaks of despairing andgreat hope and deliverance.
I love it.
I looked to the Lord and hesaved me.
He saved me fromself-destruction and from fear.
I looked to him and hedelivered me.
He ordered my steps, he liftedme up out of the pit of despair
(28:04):
and shame.
And now I can never, ever havetoo much of him.
I look to him every day, allday.
I can never thank him enoughfor carrying me from glory to
(28:26):
glory to glory, from carrying methrough one tough spot to
another.
Over and over again.
He has been faithful to hold mewith the right hand of his
righteousness, and whenever Istumble, he gently redirects.
He gently and faithfully picksme up, lifts me up.
When I'm about down, he pullsup my chin.
He is forever present, forevergentle and loving.
(28:46):
He is.
He is always there, waiting forus, wanting us.
He stirred up Rahab and he putRahab in a spacious place.
He stirred up her.
She stirred up her desire, hegave her hope.
He gave her a righteous husbandand a prosperous life.
(29:09):
Her life of prostitution anddespairing and shame ended when
she looked to him.
When she found him, when hefound her, together, they were
indestructible, undeniablyindestructible.
Again, she is in the lineage ofJesus Christ.
(29:31):
That's how much he thinks of us.
There is no one that is toolowly for God.
There is no situation that istoo hard for God.
There is nothing that isimpossible for God.
He set me up and he set me on astraight path despite every
(29:54):
calamity and every wound.
He introduced himself to me ina real way and he will do that
for anyone and everyone, if weallow him to do so.
Psalm 145, verse 18, says," thelord is near to those who call
on Him, who call on Him in truth.
He will fulfill the desire ofthose who fear Him.
(30:17):
He will hear their cry and hewill save them.
So if you want to know, youwill know Him.
If you are sincere in yourheart, you will know Him.
He will find you.
You will be found by Him andyou will find Him because He was
right there, amen! So, when youare too tired and too weary,
(30:42):
too angry and too fearful tofight for yourself, let him
fight for you.
He will pick you up.
Let him be your strength andthe hope for your future.
Never be too much of anything tonot call on the Lord Jesus
Christ, who died for everyaffliction.
He took it all on the cross.
He was wounded and He borestripes for us.
(31:03):
He bore the chastisement of ourpeace upon Himself.
He is all of that.
He is the TOO that should bebeheld and possessed, for His
love is never too much.
His love died for you, for yourpain, for your sin.
(31:26):
His love redeems.
His love heals.
His love beholds.
His love never wanes.
Make him yours.
He is your future.
Ponder that! Until next time,be blessed, be at peace, be in
(31:50):
Him and be in Love.
Truth drips!
Greetings and welcome to a new episode of
the Drip Line, where love andhealing will drip into your soul
.
Tune in and come along thisjourney, allowing love and truth
to permeate your entire being.
Hopefully, the message sharedtoday will touch your heart,
(00:22):
bringing you closer to yourhealing and empowering you for
your daily life, helping youmove through the process
successfully.
Take a listen.
The past couple of weeks I'vebeen speaking about the
parasitic TOOs, those excessesthat eat at our soul and destroy
our destinies.
(00:43):
The power of those terribleTOOs is that they become
influencers, idols.
They can become hugedistractions that take us off
course.
They are the result ofdistractors, the events, things,
and or people in our lives thatrequire or steal our attention
(01:06):
and ultimately corrupt our sightand blind our vision and path
for a better future.
Some distractors we causeourselves and others just happen
because we know life happens.
However, they are nevercoincidences and there are never
(01:29):
accidents.
Remember that, whatever therhyme or reason for these
incidents, etc.
all of them can steer us astrayif we let them.
Both create a need for a reset,a redirection, a recalibration.
(01:51):
These distractors can beextremely dangerous.
No, they are not tests, butusually they are setups designed
to actually decimate ourdestinies.
And although these distractorscan be very shocking and
traumatizing, and hurtful, tosay the least, we know they do
(02:12):
require a lot of attention, but,if not managed carefully, if
not managed with wisdom and asense of self-control and
discipline, they can ultimatelybecome total distractions.
When we allow them to becomedistractions, they then become
(02:34):
the ultimate focus, moving ouremotions, causing us to forget
our ultimate goals, by which welose direction.
Hence, a distractor issomething that takes our
attention away from our goals,leading us to be distracted by
(02:54):
what happened, leading us toform habits that actually become
destructive distractions for abetter future, for a healthy
future, for healthyrelationships.
You might say, "Okay, I was hurtand I'm angry, so now I'm going
to answer to anger and findreasons to be angry and live
(03:17):
with an anger in me, an attitude.
" It becomes you.
You might have been robbed,robbed of something valuable,
not just robbed on the street,but now you live in fear,
holding everything too close andtoo dear, nurturing your fear
and isolating yourself.
Okay, you might say, "I wasbetrayed, so I'm going to
(03:41):
forfeit having meaningfulrelationships to prevent from
being betrayed and abandoned orrejected again.
You might say I failed and soI'm never going to try this
again.
" and hence you don't live up toyour potential because you stop
trying.
I will clarify (04:01):
a distractor is something that might look right
- it might be a person thatmight seem right.
It is something that mightsound right - a person that
might sound right or feel right- and we tend to that something,
but it's not.
A distractor can be an event, aperson or thing that grabs our
(04:26):
attention, grabs our affectionor hurts us, takes up too much
energy, too much time and toomuch attention.
It is when our energy, time andattention should be elsewhere.
It takes up too much.
It took a spot that itshouldn't have taken.
It sets up residence in ourlives when it's not supposed to.
(04:50):
The distractor becomes adistraction when it alters our
drive, our focus, our emotions,our mentality, our plans, our
personality, to the point of noreturn.
And maybe I should say almostno return, because there's
always an answer and you'll findout at the end.
(05:13):
Yes, we have to addresssituations, events, people and
circumstances.
Yes, we have to address things- we can't ignore things.
However, the distractor shouldnot be but for a short season
and not a lifetime.
There are things that come intoour lives, people that come
(05:33):
into our lives, situations thatpop up that are only for seasons
and times and not for forever.
When these situations/ eventsare resolved, or when these
people are dealt withappropriately or handled
(05:54):
appropriately.
They need to be just thatresolved and dealt with.
It might sound a little cruel,but some people are not meant to
be in our lives.
Lingering on the impacts of thedistractors makes them
distractions.
It's the lingering, it's thefocus, and I reiterate, because
(06:20):
these distractions ultimatelylead us down the path of
destruction and not abundance.
Distractions are the residualleftovers of negative situations
, relationships or events thatwere orchestrated to ultimately
destroy us.
Hear me! Evidence of ourfailure to move forward in a
healthy manner is when our mindsand our emotions are honed in
(06:41):
on the impact of those events orthose people or the
circumstances, whetherself-inflicted or not.
If we allow them to infest uswith the negative, with ongoing
anger or shock, or desire forvengeance, fear, lust, greed,
isolation, addictions ordepression, we lose - and that's
(07:06):
just to name a few.
They become dangerous - adanger to our destinies, a
danger to our well-being.
They are desecrators, parasiticdesecrators of our destinies.
These thoughts and emotionssubsequently shape our mindset,
(07:29):
influencing our interactions,influencing our plans,
influencing whether we makeplans, in short, influencing the
trajectory of our lives.
When we nurture these parasiticevents, these terrible TOOs,
(07:50):
we're giving them priority andthey do not deserve it.
=We is not where they'resupposed to be.
We cannot give them permissionto cannibalize us.
We cannot give them permissionto eat away at our substance, at
the true essence of ourbeingness.
(08:11):
We cannot let them nibble awayuntil there is nothing left of
us but ravaged flesh, ravageddreams, a ravaged life, an
unrecognizable remnant of whatGod initially and intentionally
(08:32):
created for us.
These terrible, parasitic TOOsbecome the focus.
Unknowingly and unwittingly, weare actually serving ourselves
on a silver platter for theenemy to have a feast.
We become a sacrifice - a feastfor evil - like a lobster
that's slow cooked in tepidwater, whose temperature is
(08:54):
slowly increased until the pointof a boil, and the lobster is
dead before even knowing whathappened.
When we nurture thesedistractions we allow them to
fester, becoming deep wounds andscars of everything that has
happened.
We might seethe in anger overfoes and betrayers.
(09:19):
We might even lament over whatwas, forgetting to look ahead at
what can be.
But, we cannot afford to existin it.
We cannot thrive if we do.
When we forget our ultimategoals, when we forget who we
were before that, who we werebefore that person, who we were
(09:40):
before the event, we can destroyourselves and our lives.
We cannot forget who we wereand what we're to be.
You must fight to thrive andnot be overcome by it.
We must keep that flame ofdesire in our lives for a better
future.
We essentially give permissionto a spirit of self-destruction
(10:07):
if we do not.
If we lose the desire, if welive in those TOOs, in the too
much anger and the hopelessnessand the too much fear, then we
give permission to the spirit ofself-destruction to
self-destruct us.
Events are never supposed totake us out, never.
(10:31):
Life may change course, however.
Yes, life can change course,but we are still supposed to be
in control of the quality ofthat course, of the trajectory
of that course.
We're not supposed to behaphazard about it.
We are not supposed to allowthe event to dictate how we move
(10:54):
forward.
We are not to allow thedisappointments to direct us or
to provoke us to throw in thetowel.
Remember the saying, "henthings get tough, the tough get
going.
In life, stuff always happens,but if we don't take control, we
will always be targeted, wewill always be a setup and
(11:16):
reeled in like a fish on a linefor the devourer of our soul.
Now the great thing is thatthere is a too much or there is
a TOO, that is never too muchand never terrible or
destructive.
What is it?
What is this TOO, this T-O-0that we can never get enough of?
(11:43):
What is this TOO t hat willcounteract every negative, nasty
, parasitic, terrible TOO?
What is it?
Too much God! You can neverhave too much God.
God is love.
You can never have too much God.
God is love.
You can never have too much ofhis love.
Correct, one can never getenough of God.
(12:05):
One can never be too close toGod.
One can never have too muchfaith in God.
One can never rely too much onGod.
One can never inquire of Godtoo much.
One can never have too muchlove of God, for God, from God.
One can never submit too muchto God.
(12:27):
One can never honor God toomuch, worship God too much or
give to God too much.
And I know some of my listeners, or some that have come for the
first time, may not believe,but I challenge you to try,
because when you're toooverwhelmed by life, when you're
(12:47):
too overwhelmed by theseparasitic TOOs, there is one
remedy and that's the love ofGod.
In Hebrews, chapter 12, thegreat book of faith in the Bible
, the Bible's hall of fame, weare reminded to look unto Jesus,
the author and finisher of ourfaith.
(13:08):
And it say, "who, for the joythat was set before Him, endured
the cross, despising the shame,and is set down at the right
hand of the throne of God.
" So I'm giving an example.
Here is Jesus, the Son of God,Son of man, that was set to
(13:30):
bring people to God, to makethem right again, to remind them
of who their creator is and whosaves them.
And He had a lot of mockers.
And despite these mockers-despite the critics, the
religious critics and thetheologians, despite the
(13:51):
attempted murder on His life,the multiple attempts, the
attempts of being stoned-despite those who said He came
from nothing, despite even Hisown followers often not
understanding him, denying Himor betraying Him, Jesus moved
forward.
(14:12):
He did not let the distractorsbecome distractions to get him
off course.
If He did, He wouldn't have theopportunity to be saved, we
wouldn't have His gift ofsalvation.
For he died for many - and Hewould have died for one of us -
(14:33):
that we would have everlastinglife with the Father.
He is the one that gives ushope for our future.
He is the salvation of oursouls.
He is the reason we can havehope for our future.
He gives us destiny.
He, Jesus, us\ remembered Hisgoal, and that was to die for us
(14:58):
- not because of thedistractions, not because he was
depressed, not because he gaveup - no, because he thrived,
because he pushed forward,because he understood what a
distraction was and who adistractor was, what a
(15:19):
distractor was and what it couldbe.
He stayed focused, hemaintained self-control, he kept
his eye on the Lord, heremembered who the author and
finisher of his life was and heknew that he had hope and a
future, and that was the, thedying to self - to die for us.
(15:39):
So, he kept purpose, he keptpushing forward and pressing in
on the will of God.
He had a destiny to fulfill.
He stayed the course eventhough events always proposed to
get him off track or set him upfor failure.
There are many examples in theBible of how the enemy tried to
(16:04):
destroy him before he had theopportunity to fulfill and live
his destiny.
Let me try to make this morerelatable.
I come back to my other herobesides Jesus, who was the
ultimate hero to me- but Rahab,Rahab the harlot, Rahab the
(16:24):
prostitute.
Rahab pressed in.
Now.
Now, do you think thisprostitute relished each day she
lived and each client that shehad to entertain and serve and
give herself over to?
Do you think she relished everytime her body was ravaged which
(16:44):
ultimately touched her soul?
Each encounter probably tooksome of Rahab's life with it,
but in order to survive, she hadto.
She had to expose herself.
She was visible visible, In inorder to have clients.
she had to be known.
She couldn't hide.
She was an object of publicdisgrace because a woman of that
(17:07):
time that was not a templeprostitute, serving a false god,
was a prostitute or a whoreliving just to feed herself and
her family.
She was not welcome at the wellwith the other women.
She was not.
She was considered to beunclean.
She was considered less thanaccording to cultural norms.
(17:30):
She had to sell what was mostprecious in order to survive.
What did she have left ofherself that was valued.
Again, consider this lifestyleand mindset.
Put yourself in the shoes ofsomeone that has no choice,
(17:50):
living with what she knew, onlywhat she knew at that time to
survive, only what she could doto survive.
The key is, though, that Rahabactually did not throw in the
towel, she didn't give up onherself, despite it all.
It is my conjecture that shewas always pondering a better
future, because, whenopportunity struck, when
(18:14):
opportunity arose, Rahab wasready, she was strategic and she
seized it.
Yes, when the men of God cameto Jericho to destroy it, she
helped them.
She recognized that they wereof God, from God, and that they
could lead her out.
She was willing to take therisk for her life's sake and for
(18:34):
her family's sake.
She put her hope in the onetrue God, and she made a
sacrifice.
In essence, Rahab risked futureincome, risked her family's
safety, risked her safety andher life to save the men of God,
to protect the men of God, tomeet the living God.
(18:55):
She recognized truth, and thetruth set her free from her
bondage.
She was set free fromprostitution.
She was set free from a cultureof false idols and lies.
She was set free from falsehope that comes with false gods
and idolatry.
(19:15):
She was saved from nothingness.
She was saved from being lessthan.
She was saved from beingostracized.
Think of i t, as she grew older,what would she become?
Who would want her?
She was free from ridicule,shame, self-loathing, free from
(19:37):
being used and abused, free frombeing ostracized and isolated.
You see, she looked to the onetrue God and in looking to Him
there is no shame.
Believing in Him there is noshame - no matter what happens,
no matter what it looks like, nomatter what it feels like.
There is no shame to those whocall upon the name of the Lord.
(20:08):
Psalm 34 in the Bible is one ofmy favorite, all-time favorite
psalms.
It is a beautiful prayer and itis one that helped me overcome
the shame and the divorce that Iexperienced a long time ago.
Yes, I faced shame.
I was married for barely a yearwhen my husband left me.
(20:31):
He left me for another woman.
I was embarrassed.
I had a big wedding.
I was settling into what Ithought would be a forever love
and as soon as I got comfortableit was gone.
It was over in the blink of aneye.
I had been betrayed openly.
(20:54):
He had even brought the womanto our own home and I knew her.
My schoolmates knew her, myco-workers knew what was
happening when I didn't, and Ihid my face under my hair in
shame.
My new job ultimately fell apart.
I lost my husband, I lostincome - all at the same time
(21:19):
we're paying for grad school anda wedding.
I was broken -financially andemotionally.
When I look back, I rememberthe days when even a second was
too painful for me and I couldonly look to God.
I dug into my faith.
And, yes, I was strong, but Iwas also broken and I could not
(21:47):
let those things kill me - eventhough I truly thought I would
die of a broken heart.
Broken hearts are real.
Dying of a broken heart is real.
I remember nights where I slepton the Bible and I cried.
My tears just wet up the pagesand I cried out to God to save
me and to help me and to makehimself real.
(22:08):
The torment and the brokennesswas real.
It persisted and nightmarestormented my sleep.
And others came, feigningkindness, trying to help, but
they weren't.
They took advantage.
They were actually wolves insheep's clothing, pouring more
(22:37):
salt into my wounds.
I could list so many things thathappened during that time, that
complicated my situation, thathurt me even more, that
traumatized me even more.
I can't even list them becauseonce I list them, I'll be on
here for a couple of hourstrying to describe the depth of
my pain and shame and thefrantic actions that I had to
(23:01):
take to save myself.
Cars were stolen, I wasthreatened with eviction
notices, I was, by my ownex-in-laws, I was a victim of an
assault, a sexual assault.
It was horrific.
And I started to think that Iwas unworthy, and in my mind I'd
become an object of scorn -usedand abused and invisible as a
(23:25):
woman of worth.
I started to think of myself asan object.
At that time, I didn't know Godwell enough to avoid certain
pitfalls, but little by little,I truly began to feel him.
(23:46):
Even though I felt almost likenothing, like a shell of a
person, even though I stumbled,He still made things happen for
me.
Even though I still relied toomuch on myself to soothe my pain
(24:08):
and my shock, to soothe theanger, the shame and the fear
that I was feeling - in it all,God was there.
He kept showing up.
He kept holding me, he keptleading me and guiding me out of
(24:29):
the darkness and onto the paththat would lead me into
abundance.
He was in the details.
He read me his word.
He taught me to abide in Hispresence, and in His strength I
regained some of what was lost,and you might hear my voice
(24:56):
crackle because it's so awesomewhat He did for me when I
thought I would just never makeit, when I thought it was going
to break - it was his strengththat carried me.
I became a financial advisor, Igot a great job, I found a great
love and it was all in hisstrength.
I found myself again.
I found joy again.
I found my peace again.
(25:17):
I was able to stand again.
I was able to look up again.
It was in his strength, in hislove, in his direction that I
was able to gain a successfulcareer.
I relocated with his directionand in his faithfulness.
(25:38):
In his perfect love, I foundmyself.
I found my father, my friend,my heavenly father, my natural
father, was still alive andthere to help, but I found my
Savior.
I found that he was real, thathis peace was real, that he was
(26:04):
a true healer and that the HolySpirit was a real comforter.
I learned to trust again, tofeel and to celebrate.
He gave me hope for my future,which is what he told me he was
going to do all along, andthat's why Jeremiah, chapter 29,
(26:25):
verses 11 through 13, are oneof my favorite verses.
He says, "I will give you hopeand a future.
I'm not here to harm you" and Ilived it and I'm still living
it.
Now, back to Psalm 34, readverses four through ten.
It's say, "I sought the Lordand he heard me and delivered me
(26:50):
from all my fears" Yes, I usedto cry out to God to hear me, to
not forget me.
And it goes on to say "theylooked to him and were radiant
and their faces were not ashamed.
This poor man cried out and theLord heard him and saved him
(27:22):
out of all his troubles.
" Yes, I cried out and the Lordheard me.
It goes on to say, "the angelof the Lord encamps around all
those who fear him and deliversthem.
I can dance to this psalm allday long.
I can.
This psalm is ultimate.
(27:43):
It speaks of despairing andgreat hope and deliverance.
I love it.
I looked to the Lord and hesaved me.
He saved me fromself-destruction and from fear.
I looked to him and hedelivered me.
He ordered my steps, he liftedme up out of the pit of despair
(28:04):
and shame.
And now I can never, ever havetoo much of him.
I look to him every day, allday.
I can never thank him enoughfor carrying me from glory to
(28:26):
glory to glory, from carrying methrough one tough spot to
another.
Over and over again.
He has been faithful to hold mewith the right hand of his
righteousness, and whenever Istumble, he gently redirects.
He gently and faithfully picksme up, lifts me up.
When I'm about down, he pullsup my chin.
He is forever present, forevergentle and loving.
(28:46):
He is.
He is always there, waiting forus, wanting us.
He stirred up Rahab and he putRahab in a spacious place.
He stirred up her.
She stirred up her desire, hegave her hope.
He gave her a righteous husbandand a prosperous life.
(29:09):
Her life of prostitution anddespairing and shame ended when
she looked to him.
When she found him, when hefound her, together, they were
indestructible, undeniablyindestructible.
Again, she is in the lineage ofJesus Christ.
(29:31):
That's how much he thinks of us.
There is no one that is toolowly for God.
There is no situation that istoo hard for God.
There is nothing that isimpossible for God.
He set me up and he set me on astraight path despite every
(29:54):
calamity and every wound.
He introduced himself to me ina real way and he will do that
for anyone and everyone, if weallow him to do so.
Psalm 145, verse 18, says," thelord is near to those who call
on Him, who call on Him in truth.
He will fulfill the desire ofthose who fear Him.
(30:17):
He will hear their cry and hewill save them.
So if you want to know, youwill know Him.
If you are sincere in yourheart, you will know Him.
He will find you.
You will be found by Him andyou will find Him because He was
right there, amen! So, when youare too tired and too weary,
(30:42):
too angry and too fearful tofight for yourself, let him
fight for you.
He will pick you up.
Let him be your strength andthe hope for your future.
Never be too much of anything tonot call on the Lord Jesus
Christ, who died for everyaffliction.
He took it all on the cross.
He was wounded and He borestripes for us.
(31:03):
He bore the chastisement of ourpeace upon Himself.
He is all of that.
He is the TOO that should bebeheld and possessed, for His
love is never too much.
His love died for you, for yourpain, for your sin.
(31:26):
His love redeems.
His love heals.
His love beholds.
His love never wanes.
Make him yours.
He is your future.
Ponder that! Until next time,be blessed, be at peace, be in
(31:50):
Him and be in Love.
Truth drips!
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