Trap

My husband has always been the one to do..I would ride and watch but his time...he was busy with other projects and he trusted me to free the raccoon.
We have been relocating the raccoons at our place in Austin for about five months now....This was number seven...we let them out deep in the woods across the lake and miles away but I, in my little tiny mind, think that since we let them out in the same location we are not splitting families up...The drill is we have a box which serves as a tray, load up the cage....go to the spot and release the coon. Mel's last words to me before I headed out...were...Cathy, this is not a friend or a pet....it is an animal that can be mean and can scratch you if you get within his reach.

I heeded his words and was careful but as I lifted the cage from the car and walked it to the woods....I looked at that little raccoon and thought he must be so scared to be caged up and imprisoned and all of the sudden in strange territory. They do have the cutest faces....and he was at my mercy. I carefully set down the cage, unhooked the lock and opened the door...it took him only a moment to dart out...but as I watched him run like mad through the trees....I thought he is once again free...and it was the most wonderful feeling. I had gotten to be the open who released him...to set him free.

You know we get caged up and imprisoned and caught by so many traps that the world sets. I started naming and writing down traps I could think of...but decided you and I each know and can identity those traps, I don't have to name them. We feel like the cage is shut and we can not seem to manage to get out no matter how hard we try. And the problem is that we do not have access to the lock...that opens the door to freedom. We have to ask for help and allow someone who is on the outside who sees what is going on on the inside to set us free. But just like this raccoon, we so often try to maniplulate the escape on our own. It just can't be done.

God wants us to be free of discontent and frustration and blame and shame and guilt ....We know how we were lured into the trap in the first place....and oh how many times I wish I could just go back and redo some of the steps I have taken...just like that raccoon...the minute that door snapped shut...he too wished he wouldn't have be so enticed by something that looked so good....but ended up locking him up. But the good news is....God is watching us...he knows when we get ourselves in a locked up spot...and he and only he knows how to reposition us and relocate our values, our behaviors, our emotions, and our thoughts. He is the key to set us free. Seems like sometimes it takes me getting locked up to once again realize the need for God to save me....and release me from the prison that I have found myself in. I can get trapped in frustration and insecurity when someone hurts my feelings....or in sadness when someone I have loved so deeply is no longer juts a phone call away..I get trapped in gutter thoughts when I am focusing on myself and not on Godly things...these are some of the little traps...many are much grander...but God is always the answer to my freedom. Freedom through His forgiveness, freedom through His love, freedom through seeking to His way and obeying His word..even when I don't want to...that is my way to freedom. and to peace!

Psalm 31:4
Free me from the trapthat is set for me, for you are my refuge.

For it is only when we submit our agenda to God and give up trying to escape the traps the are before us on our own....that the door can be opened and we can be released from the imprisonment that we are so caught up in. The deal is when we try to go abbout life on our own....we struggle and get tied up in all sorts of traps...when we are dependent on God....and truly come to grips with that dependency...and not only accept it but embrace it ..it is then that we find the doors to freedom are opened and we are free to make Godly choices....that will keep doors of peace and joy and contentment opened at all times.

I have tried it both ways...with God and without Him....I know that with Him is indeed the greatest choice and little by little my thoughts and behaviors and
attitudes have been adjusted....but I still wind up in traps and have to be freed. We all do.. But as I watched that racoon scamper into the woods...I thought that is the way I feel when I finally submit whatever trap I have found myself in to God. He is the way to freedom...has always been, is now and will forever be. We just have to trust Him to come along side of us when we call to Him....and be the helper that we need Him to be. But beware when we ask for help we also have to be willing to accept his help and do things His way....or we will end up right back in the trap that we were freed from.

Dear Lord, Thank you precious one for being available to free me from the traps that I constantly seem to get myself into. Help me to beware of the traps that are set and be able to have the courage and the mindset to sidestep them through your wisdom. Amen

Praise God wherever you are or whatever situation he has allowed you to be in...for His glory will shine through.

www.cathyjodeit.com
http://simplygod-cathy.blogspot.com/