My husband and I have this great relationship. He says profound, small sound bites that pack a punch and I write them down and later turn them into a blog post. The other day, he said something at the office he knew I would have taken notes on. When he got home he relayed it to me before he forgot. Here’s what he said –

“Satan wants to play in the puddles of our past and then blame us when we get wet.”

Isn’t that the truth?!

It’s like he runs beside us and spies a perfect puddle just ahead that would smear mud all over our face. He poises for the jump and does a cannon ball right in the middle of the puddle. Water and mud splash all over our face, and we remember the time, way back when, when that happened. That horrible, awful event that rocked us to the core. And just like that we’re back there.

We remember what it smelled like, what flavor ice cream we used to eat, the song that played on the radio, the feel of the leather seats in the car we drove. Just like that Satan splashes in the puddles of our past and we think we’re that person again.

But in all reality, for those who have trusted Christ as Savior, we’re not that person anymore.

If this life were a war of puddle stomping, then Jesus Christ has given us a raincoat, boots, hat and an umbrella to ensure we don’t keep getting wet by Satan’s splashes. When we dress in what He provides, every splash of water rolls right off!

I too have experienced this guilt and shame over puddles in my past. In fact, I’ve written a book about it called No More Secrets: Set Free from Fear, Shame and Control by Discovering True Grace. It releases today in e-book form on Amazon!

Satan’s favorite puddles to jump in are what the book is about. Here’s a few more details-

At times I wish I had a Wile E Coyote kind of salvation story. The kind where I continuously ran off the cliff until one day I met Jesus. He caught me, returned me to solid ground and I never ran off the cliff anymore. Even the desire to head that direction dissipated.

I don’t have that story.

I asked Jesus into my heart when I was three and I never really had a period in my life when I walked away from my faith. I grew up attending church where I heard real, sound Grace and I entered adulthood knowing and believing it was not by my works that I was saved.

The problem is, even though I never walked away from God, I still make poor, sinful choices. And those stupid, shameful things I did, I did knowing Jesus, not before Jesus.

I had to realize that even though I was saved at three years old, have an old self. I have sinful tendencies that wage war in my mind and want to pull me away from God’s plan for my life.

I am still a sinner saved by Grace! For so long I thought I should have it all figured out and put together because I’ve known Jesus my whole life. Doesn’t that mean I shouldn’t struggle against sin anymore?

No. In fact, that could make the war even stronger. I had to learn my only hope is Jesus, not Julie’s strong will-power.

A few years ago it seemed affairs saturated my prayer request list. They happened all over, even in the church. It was shocking news and rocked me to the core. How and why did this happen? Instead of pointing fingers, I quickly realized that if they could fall…so could I.

I feared the same would happen to me. I took a close, honest look into my heart and prayed God would show me any area in me that needed to be addressed so I wouldn’t fall into the same trap.

Let me tell you, God answers those kinds of prayers!

That’s when I had a dream about this old, rusty locked trunk beneath a beautiful garden in my soul. In it held all the shameful secrets, pent up fears and unsuccessful formulas in life I’ve tried. Basically all the stuff I wanted to forget about. The puddles Satan loved to jump in. Let me tell you, he knew just where they were. On top of that trunk was the plastic mask that everything’s OK up here.

The Lord knocked on my heart with a trash can, a broom and a mop to clean out this trunk. The story of that process is edited, but open, raw, transparent, even shocking at times.

In the end though, I discover freedom and victory in Christ alone. I hope you’ll check it out.

It’s available HERE at Amazon. A paperback version will be available soon.