Looking Up

April 6, looking up. Have you ever seen pictures of Earth from space? It's

breath-takingly beautiful. But the view from that far away cannot capture the

grandeur we are able to appreciate as inhabitants of this planet. Colorful

rainforests, towering mountains, vibrant sunset skies. I guess it's true there

are some things we can only appreciate from a lower point of view. Today we'll

hear from Dave Williams, a man who knows this lesson all too well. He's here to

share with us his true story on this unshackled daily devotional. My name is

Dave Williams and I want to tell you about the way to keep going no matter what.

I was a football star in high school and won a scholarship to college. My

grandmother tried to tell me I needed the Lord but pointed she know I was a

football star. I had everything in college, special treatment lots of girls and

game-winning touchdowns but I wasn't happy. I would sit in my dorm at night and cry.

I quit and transferred to another college but that didn't make me happy. My

grades fell and again I quit the dean. I went back home hoping to get my life

together took a job and fell in love but I was dissatisfied and restless so I

went back to college and the football team I had quit. This time I wasn't

special. I was just another player. Where's yet I was out of shape. When I quit

a third time all my teammates shunned me. Then my cousin invited me to church

where I heard the gospel with new ears. That night I knelt beside my bed and

cried out to God to forgive me and save me. It was amazing. Joy and purpose filled

my heart but my new faith alienated my best friend and girlfriend. My

grandmother encouraged me to pray for them so I did. The coach took me back on the

team and I worked hard. Senior year the team elected me captain. Best of all my

best friend and girlfriend gave their lives to Christ and we all had a double

wedding. God is so faithful. The Apostle James says in James chapter four verse

10, humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he shall lift you up.

Friend, maybe you have hit a low point in your life. Maybe you feel like you're

looking up at what used to be and grieving the things you've lost. If this is

where you find yourself today there is hope. God is the God of the outcast. The

nobody, the one who's lost at all. Sometimes when we're sitting high we miss

the most important things he wants to show us. But there is a blessing in being

brought low because it is then that we can see him in a new way with the

humility and dependence that draws us ever closer to him. We receive this truth

today. Unshackled the longest running audio drama in history airs on over

3,000 radio stations worldwide. Real people, real life stories, stirring dramatic

accounts of hopelessness and the hope that changes everything. This award-winning

program grips the heart with compelling and relevant stories of transformed

lives. Without Jesus Christ we are all shackled by sin by our wrong choices,

disobedience and selfish motives. But God is at work and the power of Christ

sets us free of our bondage. Unshackled daily devotionals are built on true

life accounts and help us ponder the application of Scripture to our lives. Each

devotional tells a dramatic testimony of transformation of a real person while

addressing a relatable issue of the human condition. Listen to a new devotional

every day and don't forget to tell your friends about unshackled daily devotionals.