For Freedom We Have Been Set Free
I recently heard a woman share something very personal and difficult. Something she hadn’t shared with anyone before. Something from her past that grieves her. Something Satan uses to keep her locked in guilt and shame.
I was overwhelmed. Sitting in my chair, feeling every word she said. Understanding her pain and so badly wanting to give her a hug. God pressed on my heart the words she needed to hear. Words someone told me several years ago that set me free. Words that don’t make sense in any human way. But that’s often how God works. His words are not our words. His ways are not our ways.
What past mistake are you still holding onto? What moment from your past won’t let you go? What does Satan keep reminding you of to keep you from living in the freedom that Christ saved you for?
That thing that just jumped front and center in your mind? That you hear echoing from your past? That’s what I’m talking about. This is what she needed to hear. Maybe you need to hear it, too.
- It’s ok to feel how you do.
We are human and living this life is hard sometimes. Don’t be mad at yourself for not letting it go. I promise you God isn’t looking at you in anger, wondering why you are still being held by those thoughts. I also promise you that He doesn’t want to leave you there. He is looking at you with eyes full of love and compassion. Eyes that see you covered in Christ’s righteousness. Eyes that know your true worth and want you to know it, too. - Give your pain to God.
I know. It sounds completely crazy. Just stay with me for a minute. One evening, several years ago, the leader of a study I was in said that giving God our pain could be a sacrificial gift to Him. I scoffed at her words (which is unlike me, especially in a Bible study!). I want to give God my best. After all He has done for me, knowing His incredible grace and unending mercy, I don’t want to give Him my pain! I want to give Him everything good I can. I want to give Him my best self, my service, my love. Certainly not my pain. He deserves so much more than that.
I thought it was crazy, so I ignored it. It just didn’t make sense to me. But the thought kept coming. Over the next several weeks, over and over again, the message of “give God your pain” pressed into my heart. I was actually getting annoyed with it, because I simply couldn’t understand it.
Then one morning, during another pressing on my heart, I finally said (almost in exasperation), “Fine! If you want my pain, I’ll give it to you, but I don’t know how. I don’t know how to let it go or give it up to you, so you’re going to have to take it.” And in that moment, my heart was changed. I felt as if something had been pressing on my chest for so long, that I hadn’t noticed it anymore until it was lifted. I could breathe again. Fully, freely breathe.
I can’t tell you why and I can’t tell you how. But I can tell you that our God is so very good to us. I can tell you that if you want to let go of your pain or your past and live in the freedom He offers, all you have to do is ask.
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Galations 5:1
