I have been trying to write about something for almost a week. I’ve started and stopped, deleted and started over, walked away and came back…but all to no avail. So this morning, with God’s help, I’m just going to lay it all out the best I can and hope that my readers grasp what the Lord has shown me over the course of the last few days.
I rear-ended a red Dodge Journey leaving work last Tuesday. I wasn’t paying attention at a stop sign, took my eyes off of the SUV in front of me, and hit the gas when I saw her brake lights go off. Big mistake. She never moved.
Fast-forward to a day or two later. I was taking pictures of the damage to my own car to send to my insurance company and took oodles of photos of the OUTSIDE damage, never once lifting the hood to see the extent of the destruction underneath. Ugh, sometimes I surprise myself at how clueless I can be.
While the cosmetic damage may be very subtle, I noticed that my drivers side headlight was ‘off’ when I drove to work Thursday morning. I couldn’t see as far to the left of my car as I could to the right.

“For once you were in full darkness, but now you have the light from the Lord. So live as people of light! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true. Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead expose them. It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret. But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them, for the light makes everything visible. Ephesians 5:8-14a NLT
I finally had the bright idea to look under the hood to see why my headlight wasn’t illuminating in the darkness like before and realized that there were broken pieces that housed it in what should be it’s correct position.
Over the course of the next day God revealed a couple of things to me.
#1. I took my eyes off of the car in front of me and proceeded to move forward with my focus on the cars that might be coming from my left.
What happens when I take my eyes off of Jesus to focus my attention on the world around me? I become over-confident and think, Hey, I know what I’m doing. And every. Single. Time…I face disaster in sin. I’m going through this very thing in my spiritual life as we speak. I took my eyes off of Jesus for a moment, y’all, and I have found myself face to face with the temptation to sin like never before. It never fails, yet I seem to love traveling this same mountain over and over again.
#2. I focused my attention on the outside, cosmetic damage to my car when photographing it for my insurance, never once thinking to open the hood to get a full picture of the injuries that may be lurking underneath.
Why did I take my eyes off of Jesus? Why is my focus so easily pulled from Him when the world is calling from either side? Because there are broken pieces underneath that I have not paid attention to…broken pieces that I have not allowed Him access to heal.
My headlight is not illuminating in its full capacity because of broken parts under the hood that need attention. I cannot see the full extent of my surroundings as I drive because of this and will not be able to until those damaged parts are corrected by a professional.
What the Holy Spirit is showing me through this whole ordeal is that it doesn’t matter what things look like on the outside when their are broken pieces on the inside. If I don’t keep my eyes focused on Jesus, and I don’t allow Him access to my heart in order to heal the broken parts of me that the world can’t see, my vision will be off. The capacity of my spiritual eyes to illuminate the temptations I face so I can properly avoid them will continue to stay severely compromised.

“Yet it was our weaknesses He carried; it was our sorrows that weighed Him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for His own sins! But He was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. All of us like sheep have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on Him the sins of us all.” Isaiah 53:4-6 NLT
Oh Lord, thank you for teaching me a lesson like this in the midst of my stupidity. I admit that there are parts of my heart I have attempted to keep hidden from You because the thought of You getting in there to heal what is broken seems like it might be painful. Reveal to me where I need Your healing touch so that I can allow it to do it’s perfecting work in my life. Help me keep my eyes focused on You and not look to my left or my right…help me to keep my eyes off of the world. I love you, Lord, and I choose You today. Amen
I love yooouu!! ❤️
I love you my sweet cousin. Can’t wait to see what God has for you next!
This sounds amazing!! What a line up. Blessings and prayers ahead of this needed conference!
Thank you for sharing ♥️
Poetic and beautiful. Thanks for sharing