Edmund and the White Witch - An Analogy for Life

God often speaks to me in analogies and illustrations.  One vivid illustration God used in my life comes from the movie, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in The Chronicles of Narnia.  Within the movie one of the children, Edmund, accidentally finds himself in Narnia.  He is alone and looking for his sister, Lucy, when he comes in contact with the White Witch.   What he does not realize is that she is the evil Queen of Narnia.

Jadis, the White Witch invites Edmund into her sleigh to sit with her under her warm blankets as it is cold in Narnia and he accepts.  She asks him what he would like to eat and he asks for Turkish delight, his favorite treat.  As he is thoroughly enjoying it, she tells him that she could see him being Prince of Narnia or maybe even King one day.  However, he needs to come to her castle with his family.  She tempts him by saying that her castle has whole rooms full of Turkish delight. 

By tempting his pride and his stomach, she draws him to her castle.  But, he comes alone and consequently the witch imprisons him.  He ends up chained up and fed dry bread – with no Turkish delight anywhere to be seen.  He realizes that he was lied to by the White Witch and now his siblings are in danger because of him.

Our Own Temptation, Sin and Imprisonment

Just like Edmund, temptation often comes to us packaged by our enemy, Satan, as something good.  The first taste is so sweet and leaves us wanting more.  However, when we act on the temptation and give into sin, we find that we are left empty handed and imprisoned.  Our enemy also lies to us; in fact, the Bible says that Satan is the father of all lies. (John 8:44)

Have you ever been in a similar situation before?  I know I have.  Even as a Christian married woman, I was enticed by the enemy to look at soft porn.  Before long, it turned into much more and I found myself imprisoned by my sexual sin.  It was a cycle of temptation, giving into the sin and then feeling the intense shame.  And although I knew it was wrong and I should stop, I kept on doing it.  It left me empty and hopeless.

There is Hope and Freedom

There was hope for Edmund as he was eventually freed from the grips of the White Witch.  I encourage you to watch the movie to see how it ends.  In the movie, the character, Aslan, is a representation of Jesus.  Just as Edmund was rescued from his “sin”, I was also rescued from mine.  

I tried self-help and behavioral modification techniques and even though they helped temporarily, they never brought lasting freedom in my life.  Only when I truly surrendered to Christ did I find freedom.  It didn’t come immediately and was a process, but I am now free and have been now for a decade. 

Which “White Witch” Are You Facing Today?

You may not be struggling with a sexual addiction like I did.  Maybe your “white witch” is food, shopping, video games, relationships, workaholism, people-pleasing, alcohol, drugs, etc.   Anything can become an idol in our lives, even our family.  Whatever the temptation is for you, I want you to know that there is freedom in Christ.   No matter where you have been, no matter what you have done and no matter what has been done to you; there is forgiveness in Christ and there is hope.   Never give up!

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5:1

Shelley Hitz has been ministering alongside her husband, CJ, since 1998. They currently travel and speak to teens and adults around the country. Shelley's passion is to share God's truth and the freedom in Christ she has found with others. She does this through her books, websites and speaking engagements.  Shelley's openness and vulnerability, as she shares her own story of hope and healing, will inspire and encourage you.

Shelley has been writing and publishing books since 2008 including the book she co-authored with S'ambrosia Curtis, "A Christian Woman's Guide to Breaking Free From Pornography:  It's Not Just a Guy's Problem."  During their book launch on 9/26/12 - 9/27/12, you can download a free Kindle copy and also enter to win over $400 worth of resources.  Find out more at www.ChristianWomenandPorn.com

God Why am I Like This?

When you are stretched to the breaking point, when you have one nerve left and your darling is standing on it; when you are weary and tired and feel like you can't go on—that’s when you wonder what in the world God was thinking when He made you the way you are. 

What was God thinking?

At times it feels like your sensitivity is causing you difficulties and you may be tempted to hate the way you are. I admit that some of us have difficult or downright painful families. If your job in your family is to be the emotional pressure release (they pick on you and then they feel better), the scapegoat (you are blamed for everything) or the peacemaker, these jobs can create stress. As stress builds it can overload your body and your immune system…and down you go. Or, you might break out in acne or eczema, or hives or “fat!” Yet God places highly sensitive people in hurtful families! It happens all the time and we wonder why, but I can tell you that “it doesn’t have to make you sick.”

The root of the problem is not your sensitivity—that is a good thing! The problem is our lack of knowledge of high sensitivity, what it is, how it works and God’s purposes for it.

Highly sensitive ones are God’s “special forces,” one of His solutions. Sometimes He sends you into battlegrounds, behind the lines to begin moving people toward God so that He can begin restoring them. He knows what He built into you. God’s plan is to have sons and daughters—Jesus was the first and you and I are to use our life experiences like a pole-vaulter uses his pole to boost himself further up and over what could limit him. As individuals we work with Jesus to bring our experiences together to form a spiritual workout that changes us so that we end up looking, living and loving like Jesus. Our families are a “boot camp” of sorts, our spiritual fitness program! We don’t think of painful families and painful life experiences as being God’s grace to us…but we can choose to believe that God is good and He does not withhold any good thing. We can choose to work with God to change the family environment and in the process let Him build into us the nature and character of Jesus—is that not His grace?

The trick when your family is toxic is to do what Jesus sends you to do and not become sick or be taken out in the process! I like the way Arthur Burke put it. He said, “God, I never would have written the script this way, but since You have, I am choosing to believe You see something I don't see, and from Your point of view this is good and right and loving. Therefore I celebrate Your wisdom from my place of limited perspective." It takes a lot of faith to say that when life does not feel good or right or loving.

For a long time Christians lost the knowledge that some of us are highly sensitive and the understanding of why that’s important to know. Also lost were the guides who can show us how to be ourselves without it making us sick or killing us. Today there are some; they are coming back and speaking out. They are saying that we can join Jesus in His job of introducing people to God and themselves. We can be His “special forces” and we can live joy filled lives. Dr. Dalton-Smith’s book about the lies that make you sick, Set Free to Live Free http://www.ittybittyurl.com/eua is one of those voices. You can find more help in how to live a joy filled life as a highly sensitive person in the books The Mystery of Spiritual Sensitivity and Highly Sensitive which are available from Amazon.com. http://www.ittybittyurl.com/epr I hope these last few posts have given you hope that you can have the grace you need to run the race set before you—without it making you sick!

If you have been helped by this little series of posts and would you let us know? You can find me on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Carol-A-Brown/152630201492318 and at my blog http://connectwithcarolbrown.blogspot.com

Blessings,

By Carol Brown, B.A., MA (Guest Blogger)

Educator, administrator, foreign student advisor, mom, pastor’s wife and author of The Mystery of Spiritual Sensitivity and Highly Sensitive