I realize... quite fully, that there is no real reason for me to blog.... I live in the same town I've grown up in my whole life... I don't have loads of cray cray stories... and I definitely don't think that very many people will read this. I'm just your usual, kind of emotional, pretty much psycho, teenage girl. but... I do love Jesus... and sometimes, Jesus gives us things. Really really good things. Things that should be shared and told, to testify of HIS glory. so this, that I am about to share... is something He gave me. Something that changed me, and changed the way I live forever.
A few months ago.... January of 2012 I think... my Bible teacher assigned the class a project.. he called it the freedom project, and it could be anything. It simply had to define what freedom meant to us. and in that specific time in my life... I was walking in complete and utter bondage. Granted, tragedy and bondage in one person looks different than tragedy and bondage in another. I fully realize that tragedy in my life probably looks pathetic to someone else who has endured unimaginable pain. But I think that is one of the things that I adore most about Jesus. He meets us, where we are at. He doesn't tell us we are pathetic. He tells us he loves us. and then fixes us, when we let him. So the following, was my freedom project.
The Freedom Project
What is freedom?
Is freedom a feeling?
No.
Freedom is a lifestyle.
Freedom means no longer bound.
By ANYTHING.
no longer bound by fear.
no longer bound by hurt.
no longer bound by self-pity.
no longer bound by anger.
and no longer bound by jealousy.
but if that’s what freedom is….
Then I am not free.
Because every day I struggle against
fear, hurt, self-pity, anger, and jealousy.
Every day I struggle against the bonds
of my own decrepit heart.
EVERY DAY.
Betcha didn’t know.
You see as girls, we’re so often told that we are “too much”
too emotional.
too dramatic.
too sensitive.
we cry too much.
we get hurt too much.
But… you know what I realized?
We are not too much.
I am not too much.
Because Jesus made me.
Jesus knows me.
And those complex feelings and emotions that run all the way through me and are imbedded in me….
Well he made those too.
And Jesus doesn’t make “too much”
Jesus makes perfect.
And though corrupted by the fall so that those emotions once thought beautiful are now considered ugly, a thing of shame, and to be hidden, they are intended to be filled with the Spirit of the Holy Living God.
Made perfect in His fire
For He is the core of me.
I feel things in the very core of me.
Ergo,
I am not too much.
And what I have thought my whole life is a lie.
A LIE.
from hell.
from Satan.
and knowing the truth.
well that’s freedom.
Knowing that Jesus alone can fill my heart.
THAT is freedom.
Here’s the reality.
Every girl comes into this world broken.
Inside is a need to be loved, cherished, and protected.
A NEED.
A NECESSITY.
Do you get that?
and how badly we hurt if we don’t have that?
……
Girls look to boys to fill that hole.
I look to boys to fill that hole.
or I used to.
Jesus is healing my heart.
The only way a woman will every become complete is if Jesus becomes King of her heart.
There is no man on earth that can fill that hole.
Just Jesus.
Just the God of the Universe.
He fills the deepest longings of my heart and soul.
He gives me life abundant.
He tells me He loves me
and offers to fight my battles for me.
He gives me laughter when I want to mourn.
He sets beauty before my eyes
when this world is so ugly to me.
He lets me be a vulnerable little girl
who just wants to sit with her Daddy.
Because sometimes, all I can say, is
“God, I hurt.”
So right now,
in my life,
walking in this truth.
That is freedom.
And I’m going to chase it.
Please keep writting these. I love them.
ReplyDeleteWow... My son, your friend, Jordan Beard recommended I read this. And he told me I had to start here. Wow. You are a beautiful writer with a beautiful heart. Thank you for sharing such a glorious, Spirit-filled message, that women of all ages (even us older moms) need to be reminded of. Simply beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThat was so moving! That and your black hole - I so get these places we allow ourselves to go! THANK GOD for friends (and amazing young bloggers listening to HIM) sent to tell us to stop listening to the lies. Wonderfully written!
ReplyDelete