Set Free

I stand, hunched over and feeling the weight of the chains that keep my arms tied to the sides of my aching body.  The bondage of what I have done and what has been done to me keeps me tired and helpless. All I need to some attention. I have need of love and acceptance. I need someone to recognize that I am the victim and that I have been through Hell.  Yet all I get is this conditional embrace and occasional conversation. But mostly it is smiles filled with pity and sympathy.  My arms are getting heavier and my knees are starting to shake.

I remember sitting in my apartment that August, the windows were open and it was boiling hot. I was the only girl who had any idea what humidity was and this was bad! The cool breeze was coming in through all the windows and openings we could find.  As the sweat dripped down our backs, me and Danielle sat in the hallway enjoying the natural air conditioning. I remember saying how I will always struggle with this. It is the “thorn in my flesh” so to speak and this is will always be something I have to deal with. She looked at me, and said something I will never forget, that changed my life forever.

“But why? You have victory over all things through Christ.”

 My aha moment had happened.  I had been settling and allowing the enemy to keep me chained down.

We have to realize we are under no bondage of sin and the power that comes with Freedom. We are liberated from the chains that we think are there. We find ourselves searching for our identity in what has happened to us, or what we struggle with. The problem is, those issues are tangible and it truly comes down to gaining that all consuming pride that our flesh desires, “Look at poor poor pitiful me” Yes, things happen and a lot of times they are not in our power or control. However, the attitude and what we do with those situations is. Are we going to let what has happened to us in the past, or what we have done in the past, effect what our lives are now? That is not who we are- who we are needs be founded on the Salvation of Jesus Christ. Everyday, every moment, we must realize act the of surrender. 

“But having been freed from sin, you become slaves to righteousness” Romans 6:18