7.01.2012

Freedom

Give me liberty or Give me death....

We all want freedom...well because we want to be free. But freedom can be overwhelming and it can be confusing. There is so much open to us in this world, you can be anyone you want, you can do anything you want, you can pray to whomever you want...The question we rarely pose is "what do I want?"

For the majority of my life I didn't do what I wanted, but what others convinced me was "fun." I was drawn into the illusion of freedom being the key to happiness. Freedom was poisoning. The more I had the closer my soul came to death.

It took a few years for me to understand that the freedom I craved was created by an addiction I had to being selfish. Liberty didn't free me, it confined me. Liberty caused my death. But it is when I died that I really learned what was worth living for.

I'm an indebted servant these days. The connotations of the phrase don't allow many to see the true beauty in the words. When I lived for myself, I got myself in more trouble and life didn't seem to be worth living on most days. Before I really knew Christ, my liberty was causing my death. When I used the freedom of my choice to give up my life to myself and give it to Christ- that's when I felt truly free.

Dying to yourself isn't a one-time process. At every fork in the road I have to choose the path for Christ, and though some decisions are harder than others, and though I've chosen the wrong one many times, I won't let that stop me at the next fork. I won't allow myself to stray so far from the path of Christ anymore. That's what I do with my freedom now. I've given it to Christ.

Liberty- noun: freedom from external control, interference, obligation, restriction, hampering, conditions.

Every fork in the road is an opportunity to quit listening to those external forces that try to control you. Follow instead the path of God. I wasn't made for this world, my heart longs for something more, it seeks something more. So that makes everything here foreign to me and I refuse to follow foreign rule over my soul. I'll instead follow Christ, because he bought me with His blood. 

2.05.2012

Prince Charming

Fairy tales and Disney movies are "The Notebook" for young girls. We hear so much about finding a Prince Charming so that our lives will be complete. I'm not a feminist by any means, and that's not where this is headed....but, we learn to seek for love from a male from such an early age. If a man loves you that's when you feel beautiful, confident, and intelligent. Something is wrong with growing up this way.

We seek after love more than we do wisdom. A single gal is always told "the right one is out there," "don't give up," and other cliches. It doesn't matter what else she has in her life, without a man- everyone will still pity her. Why is it so important to a girl to have a man in her life? Someone to crush on? Someone to daydream about? Why are so many girls boy crazy? We are seeking for something that we don't have in our lives and believe the false testimony of the world when it tells us we can only get it from a boyfriend/husband. 

What do we seek for in a man? Someone who will love us at our weakest, who can make us smile, who would choose us over himself, who can provide for us, who will be there for us, who won't disappoint us, who will love our family and our friends, who will make us feel beautiful.... 

Well the good news is that Christ was sent to be all those things for us. The bad news is that the church doesn't present Him that way, and girls still go seeking for a man that can never live up to the love that Christ longs to envelope her in. 

Just because we can't physically see Him, doesn't mean we can't love Him. We can have a real intimacy with Christ, share with Him the deepest parts of thoughts and fears just like we do with a boyfriend. So why don't we? 

Everything we want from love: honesty, selflessness, strength, hope, patience, perseverance, passion, never ending ...that's exactly how Christ loves us. He gives of Himself completely...but we push that aside not realizing it's everything we want. 

A man loves you so much that he sacrificed Himself for you...if you saw the drama unfolding in a movie theatre you would long for that kind of love...it happened in real life..and it happened for you. The Prince Charming that you've been waiting for is waiting for you. 

1.15.2012

You won't let go...

As a follow up to my previous self- realization post, I heard a song in church on Monday that I have been using as a mantra for the past week.

I love it when lyrics aren't just pretty words set to a contagious beat, but powerful and motivating.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6_T29ZaxyE

Take my heart
Lord will you take my heart
As I surrender to Your will
I confess You are my righteousness
And until You move me I'll be still
And know that You are God.
You hold my world in Your hands

You hold my world in Your hands and
I am amazed at Your love

I am amazed that You love me
You hold my world in Your hands
You hold my world in Your hands and
I'm not afraid my world is safe

In Your Hands Oh
In Your hands



Take my life
Lord will You take my life
You are the reason that I live

I believe You have forgiven me
And by Your grace I will forgive
And know that You are God
And know that You are God


You won't let go of me

You won't let go of me
You won't let go of me
You Won't let go

 Never let go
You will take care of me

You will take care of me
You will take care of Me 

You will take care 
Always take care
You hold my world in Your hands
You hold my world
And you won't let go