For my family, today is more than just a national holiday, it’s one of my nephew’s birthdays. So as we gathered together, we ate grilled burgers, hot dogs, sweet tea and homemade strawberry cake (my sister in law is an excellent cook though she doesn’t give herself nearly enough credit!!). I helped my oldest nephew decorate and got whacked in the head with balloons. It was a good day.
And as millions of Americans across the nation are celebrating our freedoms with family and friends, I sit here and reflect on an even deeper freedom I’ve been given. Not by man, but by God.
Three years ago I fasted and prayed before all of heaven for deliverance from certain things, things I had struggled with my entire life and wondered if I would ever be truly free of it this side of heaven. But still I cried out hoping I would experience freedom in this life.
Last year while I spent my year on the World Race, God answered those prayers. He taught me I was worth fighting for and that He was going to set me free – but more than that – He was going to teach me how to stay free. He gave me the tools I needed, and convinced me of the truth that freedom was mine – I just had to walk in it.
Galatians 5:1 says, “it is FOR freedom that Christ has set us free. STAND FIRM then and do not let yourselves be burdened again by the yoke of slavery.”
We are already free, we just need to stand firm in that truth.
What I didn’t realize all those years ago when I was praying for deliverance was that I was already free. I just didn’t know it yet. Now I do.
Recently while I was on tour with the Adventures marketing team at a christian music festival in Pennsylvania, I met a girl – a complete stranger – who had stopped by our booth who reminded me exactly of myself and the place I was in before my race. God used my story to relate to hers, in order to show her just how much He cares for her and wants her to walk in her freedom as well. I got to share my own experiences, and got to pray over her. I knew at the moment this was the reason God had me go on this recruiting trip. Two weeks on the road and it was all for this one girl. That’s how much she means to Him. That’s how much we all mean to Him. He is constantly going out of His way to reach us.
I was completely humbled and blown away by this situation. Here I was ministering to a fellow sister in Christ. For years I was in a pit struggling to get out and always feeling burdened that I had nothing to give, nothing to offer anyone because I was in such a mess.
You know that saying, you can’t give what you don’t have? Well I finally have something to give. Now that I’ve experienced freedom in my own life, I now have the authority to give it out. And it’s an incredible feeling.
Is there anything in your life that you are currently struggling with and wondering if you will ever be free of? Let me encourage you by telling you, freedom is coming and is already yours. You just have to walk in it.
