 Hey, y'all welcome back to conversations with Carrie. I hope you've been doing well I'm excited to be before you today. That sounded really churchy my bad I'm excited to talk to you about this blog that I've been writing and in my process of writing sometimes I Like you know Lord give me a good idea my prayer time And I believe you know the Holy Spirit is the best inspiration because he's the best creator And so as I'm you know getting stuff together and this is one that's kind of been constantly on my mind I was like, you know what? Let's talk about it. I've been reading about the story of Saul and on the road to Damascus and everything that went down now It's acts chapter 9 and I always want to encourage you You know no matter who your favorite teacher is and all your pastor everybody is your line up with the Word of God So you should know the Word of God for yourself. So please go read that I'm gonna give you a recap in the Carrie Lee style because this is how I read my Bible and this is how you know This is how I relate to this. So I'm like, I boom No, but really Paul is on the road to Damascus because he Paul wants to kill and actually sorry Let me back up a second. He's not Paul yet. He's still Saul. He's got his old name his own nature Mmm, that's a story right there. And you know that'll preach for anyway So Saul is on the road to Damascus and he is out to persecute Christians left and right because he believes that like, oh my gosh They are blasphemy. He just had Stephen killed they stoned him and they laid the people stoned He laid their cloaks at Saul's feet. So like he is like the Pharisee of Pharisees like he is like, oh my gosh You know of the tribe of I think Benjamin Like Saul is like a for real for real Jew and he felt like these people were believing in Jesus Oh, they must die. So he is on the road to Damascus to go kill more of them And that's when Jesus is like Saul Saul. Why are you persecuting me? And it's like this voice that comes down this bright light Saul falls to the ground squeezing inside shut and he's like, you know, Lord, who are you? And I think it's actually in Verse five, he said Lord me. Oh, who are you Lord? And he said meaning he Jesus responds I am Jesus whom you are persecuting but get up and into the city and it will be told to you what you must do And the men traveling with him they like what what is happening? Can you imagine that you're on the road to doing whatever you're doing? I'm gonna put it in real terms for you You are on the way to visit your boo's house and you and I both know you ain't got no business going Over this person's house and they have no business being your boo But here we are and imagine that why you sitting in your car like listening to some music listening to some Inappropriate sexy music as you know what you about to go do Jesus comes on the radio and he's like and I'm use me carry carry What are you doing? And you would be like what what is happening thinking somebody's cranky or something? So that I want to put it in context for you and then so, you know people around him like oh my gosh Who is this they just heard the voice, but they didn't see anything and then? Saul is when he gets up from the ground Though his eyes were open He could see nothing and leading him by the hand They brought him into Damascus and I just read verse eight and he was with three and he was three days Outside and neither ate or drank so that's where Saul is at at this point He is blind even when he opens his eyes He cannot see and so this is just really been in my spirit because I'm like, okay, Lord I feel like the Holy Spirit wasn't immediately brought to my mind about how many times I personally have been blinded But that's not the end of the story. So Ananias I think I'm pronouncing that name correctly Jesus also had another person already lined up Lord said to him in the vision Ananias and he said here I am Lord and even that Like Ananias knew his shepherd's voice Saul was somewhere like who are you and Ananias was like here I am I love the difference between those two because that again That will make the difference in how you live your life Like that's the Lord and do you know the Lord's voice when he speaks to you in the vision and dream or whatever it is Can you decipher what's what and can you answer here? I am Lord just in to me that's the place of here I am use me as you would have me to be used and The Lord told him I need you to go that one dude Saul You know the one that's been like trying to kill everybody just like you I need you to go to him lay hands on him so that he can receive the Holy Spirit and And Ananias is like, I'm sorry. You want me to do what you want me to go to the very enemy Who has been persecuting me and persecuting my friends just killed our homeboy You want me to go there and pray for him so that he can receive the Holy Spirit and be used by you Talk about difficulty, but I love the Ananias was like, okay bed, you know I mean he didn't say it like that But of course he was like, okay, I'm gonna go the Lord said to him go for he's a chosen instrument of mine to bear My name before the Gentiles and the kings and the sons of Israel for I will show him how much he must suffer for my name For my namesake and so in a nice goes to Saul now keep him on also within a nice He probably was like, what am I gonna tell my friends? What am I gonna tell my family? What am I gonna tell the other disciples that I'm over here? The very man that's been persecuting us God has called me to help deliver him Y'all I mean being in ministry is no joke and I just love this demonstration That's not what I want to talk about But I just love that Ananias was so willing and it was all about obedience for him And he removed his personal feelings and was like what I'm gonna do what the Lord called me to do and the Lord used him because He tells Paul me excuse me Saul. I'm gonna keep doing I'm trying not to he tells Saul um The Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you were coming has sent me so that you may regain your sight And be filled with the Holy Spirit and immediately There fell from his eyes Saul's eyes Something like scales and he regained his sight and he got up and was baptized and he took food and was strengthening I love this because I as I was reading it. I was like lord I'm so blind sometimes what you're trying to do And a lot has been changing in my life and for the better I'm in a wonderful season that I believe the Lord is you know, there's some stretching There's definitely some stretching going on um, but what he's doing also is he is Taking the scales off of my eyes so that I can for one truly rely on him And really see what he wants me to do What would he have me to do and I can see it from his perspective Because I love that again Ananias we don't know anything about his background as far as like what he was dealing with Before he had was used by God by love for one that God trusted him enough Like I'm gonna have you go to someone that is not like you is basically believing something totally opposite And I want you to lay hands on him so that person can truly see me Truly see and have the scales released off of his eyes, you know, when they were I once was blind But now I see that's what we're uh, Saul was at and Ananias was used so mightily in that So if one I think about like gosh lord, can I be an Ananias? Can I be used for you? But then also I remember the times that I feel like Saul and as I've been Navigating different times, you know, whether I Had a new job and it comes with this own challenges and I'm like lord Don't let the scales be on my eyes. Let me see so clearly what you would have me to be Let me not be blinded by my desires. Let me not be blinded by my own ignorance Let me not be blinded by my pride But instead let me walk in humility and let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven And that that mindset that that place of surrender I do believe is that's where the scales can fall from our eyes So you may be facing a really difficult season right now Or you may just be facing a time of confusion And it might be that you have scales of disappointment on your eyes Because maybe something happened in your life before that you just don't know why the lord allowed it to happen And that you're struggling with that and you don't want to view everything else From the scales or the lens of disappointment instead you want to view it from a place of redemption So you might have to pray lord, let the scales of disappointment fall from my eyes So that I can see you and I can truly hear you and what you would have me to do Also, you might be like lord, I'm waiting on you to to you know show up in this particular area of my life I'm waiting on the new house. I'm waiting on the new job. I'm waiting on the husband. I'm waiting on the baby I pray that your eyes you're not your lens is not from a place of weariness And it's not from a place of comparison because of what you're seeing on social media It doesn't such just got pregnant or it doesn't such just got their six-figure job No, I pray that your eyes are from like the scales of Of weariness would fall from your eyes and instead that you would have the scales mean Excuse me, you would have a fresh eye so that you would be walking in contentment And that you can actually see like, okay Well, that's that's their story. I can pray over them and pray for them But I'm going to believe the lord has something great for me because again, we don't even realize sometimes that we have these Scales on our eyes. We are just going about our business But I love that paul actually could not see and he had had the time of concentration and fasting So he was like, okay, let me let me figure out what I'm going to do I imagine what he was doing on those three days and three nights when he didn't eat or drink and he couldn't see I prayed that he was seeking the lord. I prayed that he was just like in the in the place Of like lord, what is this? What's going on because he just had an amazing encounter That probably scared the mess out of him, but it was still an encounter with jesus And I wonder if there were times that we were facing something difficult if we could go into a place of fasting In surrender where we're not looking what social media says We're not looking at what the you know, our friends have to say But instead of we got into our words so that we can really see and have the scales of the lies the enemy has told us Have the scales of fear have the scales of doubt and disbelief Fall from our eyes so that we can walk in faith and we can walk in strength and we can walk in courage And actually do what the lord would have us to do What what would happen if that was our plan? So I pray today that you the scales from your eyes would fall that you would be able to look at your current Circumstance and even look at what the future the lord has for you his will But you would see it with his eyes with true eyes that are filtered through the holy spirit And not your own hurt or your issues or your lack of faith I pray lord would just cover you today and that you would he would give you a divine strategy on what to do So that like Saul you would be used for him in the great way that would change the trajectory of christians Going for but even if yours has just meant to change the trajectory of your family Even if you're just meant to change the trajectory of your uh your workplace Even if the scales falling from your eyes is meant for you to just change what happens in your workplace and in your home I'm gonna pray that you can see and see through the lens of the holy spirit I hope you are encouraged today. Please feel free to like and subscribe And if you love to read head over to carry lead calm and check out my blog. Take care