Dehydrated by Karen Schatzline

Author:Karen Schatzline
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Charisma House
Published: 2015-07-10T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 5

THE POWER OF THE AFTERMATH

As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.

—GENESIS 8:22

IS IT POSSIBLE to be so transformed by Jesus that the person you used to be doesn’t even exist anymore? Is it possible for God to so completely invade your old life that the only remnant of it is a testimony?

What I am talking about is something we rarely discuss. It’s what I call the aftermath. We are great at sharing our testimonies, but we forget about the cleanup that begins when the old life is over. At every stage, our choices produce an aftermath. Scripture describes it this way: “The sins of some are obvious, reaching the place of judgment ahead of them: the sins of others trail behind them. In the same way, good deeds are obvious, and even those that are not obvious cannot be hidden forever” (1 Tim. 5:24–25).

We must survey what we leave in our wake. Every life leaves a wake behind it. That wake is like a tsunami that rushes the shoreline and sucks everything it can back into the sea. Only that which is grounded and stable remains standing after a wave like that.

What will be left in the wake of your life? Will it be a thirst? A longing for more? A desire to go deeper and press on to a higher calling? Will you pave the way for God’s presence to flood dry and weary souls? Or will your actions leave behind a wake of destruction and pain?

We are living in a dark world that has become perverse and distorted. People are looking for something that is real, true, and of worth. They seek answers to the questions that keep them up nights. They are looking for something to satisfy their deep longing and need for refreshing.

This is where the power of the aftermath comes in. Every generation including the current one lives in the aftermath! The word itself is so powerful. Maybe it’s because ours is a generation of pleasure-seekers who think little about the consequences of their actions. They are concerned only about what makes them feel good. They don’t worry about the ripple effects their choices produce. Whatever makes them feel good becomes their reality and their version of truth.

Your aftermath is important to them. Your life should be a light in our dark world, a wellspring of life that makes others thirsty for God! The Bible says: “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot” (Matt. 5:13).

We need to stay “salty.” How can we cause others to thirst after God’s life-giving waters if we are not thirsty and seeking them ourselves? As we travel, my husband and I meet so many people who simply do not want to hear the truth.

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