I have spent way too many years trying to understand what or who the thief was in my life. I saw the thief steal time, money, relationships, emotional energy, and space in my head. I thought the thief was some person or some place. Then I went through an incredibly challenging situation this summer, not knowing God was going to use it to catch the thief and evict it from me once and for all. 

The thief was not a person, nor was it a place; the thief was not a politician or a system; the thief was a root of abandonment that was planted in my heart long long ago. It was not planted by people, a person, or a place, this was the work of the enemy. Matthew 13:26 says, “He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’” 

The enemy used this root to steal from me for 55 years, but with one scripture in one of the most challenging summers of my life, God Himself uprooted the root; removed the thief; and set this prisoner of plunder free. I can literally feel the difference, see the change and am walking as though I have been given a brand new life. 

Fear of man, gone. Need for approval, gone. Attention seeking, gone. Emotional energy wasting, done. Needing to explain myself, done. Beating myself up, done. All of it and so much more, gone, done. 

I have been watching, listening, walking through some things and the change is so obvious to me and others around me, I don’t even recognize myself. When you live with a root for that many years, not realizing it is coloring everything you see, hear and do, when it is gone, it is like being given a brand new life. The root of abandonment was the thief and the thief has been caught, uprooted, and who I was created to be is finally here. 

Friends, I don’t know what root is plundering you, what thief is stealing from you, what the enemy has planted in you, but I can tell you honestly, it is not a flesh and blood battle, it is a root planted by the enemy that God wants to uproot. Once it is gone you will see clearly, love deeply, give generously and walk humbly. After 55 years, I finally know what abundant life feels like, sounds like, and looks like. The root is gone and everything looks different now. Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org