Today has been another life-changing day for me. God continually allows me to experience new levels of freedom in Him. Yesterday, by the grace of God, my husband and I reached the 5-year marriage mark. This evening, I watched the Cyntoia Brown documentary on Netflix with our oldest daughter and I’m humbled, yet hopeful at the same time.
God continues to show me that all that I am today is only a result of His grace. So often, we tend to attribute our successes to self and our failures to others. We are quick to say we are self-made, yet blame any and everyone else for our shortcomings.
What I know is that we all have a story.
We all have a journey to get through. We all have a life to live. The difficulty is in owning the cards you are dealt and still moving forward to be the best you can be- no excuses.
I get it. It’s not always easy. We sometimes don’t know who’s for us and who’s against us. We feel as though we can’t get past the genetics we’ve been dealt, the shame, the abuse, the neglect, the rejection, the trauma, the drama. Though we live in a world of creating images and perceptions on social media, life is not always pretty.
The human heart is beyond wicked.
This morning, I ‘liked’ a comment, rather I ‘loved’ a comment from a biological family member on Facebook. I haven’t interacted with anyone from my mother’s family in years. I don’t intend to indulge details or bash anyone, but my point is to share my new level of freedom.
For years, I’ve had an interesting relationship with Facebook. As a college student, I researched the impacts it has on the well-being and mental state of users. As a user, I experienced first-hand the effects that I studied. Then, I began to avoid it as a way of avoiding ‘friends’ that I was still connected to on it, but I wasn’t connected to in real life.
Why didn’t I just remove them?
Why don’t we ever just do that? We’re unable. We’re not free. We’re still holding on to the past. It’s not until God grants us new levels of freedom that we are able to fully move forward in life.
Well, I’m so grateful to write tonight that God, once again, by His grace has granted me a new level of freedom. Though I am not an active, constant user of Facebook, I do have the ability to remove those I’m no longer connected to.
God has set me free. He has blessed me and placed me in a family of faith, a spiritual family, a family of blessing and hope with a future in Christ. God has chosen to do a new thing with me, and this newness requires my full obedience. He has given me the freedom and ability to choose.
I choose God. I choose His way. I choose faith. I choose to allow God to reconcile with all sincerity as only He can.
The beautiful thing about freedom in Christ is that He is love. My ‘loving’ the comment was a victory for me in that I’m no longer bitter, angry, or even hurt.
I’m free.
Being free gives me the ability to choose. I’m not going back to my old life. I’m continuing to move forward in God, with God, in the newness of life that He saw fit to bestow upon me- all by His grace.
I’m free to choose. To God be the glory!
In love,
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2 Comments
Korsha Palmer
My sister always say, “I thank God that He has delivered me from people.” This article blessed me. Thank you for sharing.
Margo
That’s right! I love that. He has also delivered me from people-pleasing, and He continues to grant me even new levels of freedom from people! God is so good! Thank you for sharing that with me, Korsha. I appreciate you.