This post is really long overdue, so I apologize. Between the busyness of life the last couple weeks and the lack of words to effectively describe my thoughts about training camp, I kept finding myself pushing it off to another day.
Prior to training camp (just over a month ago), I was nervous. I was anxious. I was fearful. I was feeling very inadequate. I expected the week to challenge me, but I had little expectations for how it would truly begin a transformation in my life.
“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into His image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” 2 Corinthians 3:17-18
Sure … I became free in Christ when I accepted Him into my life as a child. But, what does this freedom really mean? What is it about my faith that defines my freedom in Christ? Am I truly experiencing all that it’s worth?
Freedom is not about having a reputation to defend, or an image to hide behind. It’s about being open, being yourself and not confined by barriers that limit you and your potential. Freedom is a personal liberty as opposed to being stuck due to bondage that holds a person back.
Training camp brought me to a point of recognition, that I had not really been experiencing freedom in Christ. I have been trying to be the person that I think everyone around me wants me to be, hiding behind lie after lie. I have let past shame, guilt, failures, resistance and comparison define who I am. I have been held hostage and it seemed almost impossible to break free.
It was at training camp that the Holy Spirit began a transforming process in my life. I experienced the healing hand of God and times of sweet, intimate communion with Him like never before. I began to encounter true freedom in Christ. I remember it so clearly … each tear that fell that Wednesday afternoon of training camp, felt like the weight of a barrier or another stronghold that had been used to define me, was being lifted. Praise the Lord!
I no longer have to be defined by sin or hide behind a mask. I don’t have to earn God’s favor. His acceptance and approval of me are gifts that He has already given to me. I will never fully comprehend God’s grace–it’s a freedom that I don’t deserve. BUT, I am so thankful for His unending grace and for making me new in Him.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has gone, the new has come.” 1 Corinthians 5:17
If this much transformation can happen in just one week, I can't even begin to imagine what will happen throughout the next 11 months!
