release

Abusive relationships, depression, sin are just a few things that can cause bondage in our lives. But we are set free through Jesus’ death and resurrection!

Set Free

The young girl ran towards the water with reckless abandon. She loved this time of year when she could swim in the ocean and pretend to be a mermaid. But, today would be different. A short while later while splashing around she was hit by a large wave. The undertow was strong. She was tossed in circles and hit her head on the ocean floor time and again. She was seized with fear and felt as though she would drown. After what seemed like an eternity the sea spit her body onto the shore. She was trembling and coughing up water, but she was alive. She was free from the grip of the ocean’s power.

Thirty years later the young girl was now a woman. She respected the sea and its power. Today she found herself floating on the still ocean waters. Her body gently moved with the ocean’s movements; the water rolling over her like a caress. Her face titled toward the sun; drinking in its warmth. She relished times like these when she could talk to God amidst the beauty of His creation. It was in that still moment, God reminded her of how she had been set free.

Abuse

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and save those who are crushed in spirit.
Psalm 34:18, NIV

What I have to share is deeply personal and a sensitive subject for many men and women. Many of us have faced brokenness so deep that it leaves us crushed. There are all kinds of repressions we face in our lives.

Some know very little how it feels to constantly be knocked down with words or actions. But, far too many men and women know the real horrors of being physically, mentally, and/ or emotionally and verbally abused. The physical is unimaginably difficult to get over. I admire more than one of my friends who have had the courage to break free from the cycle of abuse and find strength in Christ to heal and move forward.

I took me a lot of years to recognize what verbal and emotional abuse look like. It does not mean I was not in a loving relationship. In fact, I still love this person very deeply. However, words and actions can still hurt us deeply. They can beat us down and make use believe lies about ourselves and even give us a distorted identity.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
Galatians 5:1, NIV

Recognizing What Binds

The effects of abuse are often debilitating. Depression, confusion, overwhelming feelings of worthlessness, hopelessness, and poor physical health are all effects. Cling to God’s words in I Corinthians 13 because God paints a very clear picture of what love truly is and is not. But, the first step to solving any problem is recognizing what the problem is. So, I ask all of you reading this, what binds you?

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it doesn not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
I Corinthians 13:4-8, CSB

Realizing Your Role

I am a people pleaser and I know this about myself. But, it is not always a good thing. In fact, until I reached my mid-thirties, I used to allow others to run over me because keeping the peace was so important to me. So, I played a major role in allowing others to hurt me.

Now, of course, this did not make it right. However, sometimes we allow things to happen to us because we are seized with fear, anxiety, want to keep the peace, overwhelmed, or just think we are powerless to stop them from happening. If we are saved, then the Holy Spirit is within us. God’s power is within us! Claim it! Realize the power of Christ within you!

Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us…
Ephesians 3:20, KJV

Releasing it to God

If you love someone let them go. If it was meant to be, then they will come back to you.

As a teenage girl with a lot of crushes, I used to cling to this phrase. As a mature woman, I now realize the value in these words. After decades, I finally had to let go of the one whom my heart loved. The one whom I shared a life and children with. But, letting go does not mean giving up. It means releasing it to God. As humans, we try to control and fix so many situations in our lives. But, it is important to realize there are many things beyond our power.

Reckless Abandon

When you think of a person who has reckless abandon you often think of one who is wild and careless and does not think about the consequences of their actions. However, I want you to think of living the Christian life with reckless abandon in a slightly different way.

The term “reckless” comes from the root word “reckon” which means to account for or to think of every thought. Is it our job to reckon with God and think through every little detail of our lives? No. We are not God. He is there to lead and guide us. If we try to reckon or reason with Him, then we are trying to take control away from God.

The verb for abandon means to leave. The noun for abandon means to lack inhibition or restraint. So, let’s put these two words together. Reckless abandon in the Christian life means to leave your life, without restraining or trying to control any part of it, and rely completely on God to control and direct every part of it. How freeing it is to allow the Lord to rule your heart. To allow Him to free us from things that bind our lives. He has a purpose and a plan we need only to follow Him with reckless abandon.

Until we meet again…Gracie

How freeing it is to allow the Lord to rule your heart. To allow Him to free us from things that bind our lives. He has a purpose and a plan we need only to follow Him with reckless abandon. Click To Tweet

Dieter Kühl

When we release our worry and control to the Lord and cling to His promises, we can experience genuine freedom in our lives.

A few mornings ago, I awoke at dawn to the familiar sound of birds chirping outside my bedroom window. A refreshing stretch of beautiful spring weather has called for sleeping with the windows open. And each morning, I’m treated to a choir of birdsongs. There are the high pitched, staccato offerings of the finch. The cardinal’s piercing siren-like call. Soft, plaintive cooing from the mourning dove. The warbler’s high lonesome vibrato. And all this is punctuated by loud, boisterous squawking solos from the blue jays, blackbirds, and hawks!

The Woods

Over the nearly four years we’ve lived in this home, I’ve grown accustomed to this morning avian greeting. You see, although our neighborhood sits in the heart of town, we’ve been blessed to live right beside nearly 15 acres of undeveloped woods. Our family has taken daily walks with our dog in those woods. The woods have provided a natural buffer against impinging traffic noise and light pollution. And the woods have enveloped our property, creating a peaceful oasis for gathering around the fire pit with family and friends.

But within the past year, a real estate developer–that builds high-end apartment complexes–purchased the land. And soon, this wooded sanctuary will be leveled to the ground. Given all the development in this area, my husband and I used to joke that the name of our town, Wake Forest, should be changed to Wake “Used to Be” Forest. But now that the woods right next to us are on the chopping block, this moniker is no laughing matter!

The Developers

So, what has been a quiet, sleepy dead-end road in front of our house will soon become a thoroughfare. The place where our kids and their friends from the neighborhood have learned to ride their bikes and play will no longer be safe for children. And to add insult to injury, a row of large garbage receptacles for the entire apartment complex will sit a mere 20 yards from our bedroom window! So goodbye to my morning chorus of birds, and hello to the daily dumping of stinky trash and clanking recyclables!

A while back, the developers held a public hearing where they presented their site plan to the city planning department. They explained how they will maximize the property’s potential by removing all the trees, grading the land, and constructing apartment buildings with sprawling parking lots on every side. It’s like I’m seeing firsthand what Joni Mitchell’s Big Yellow Taxi lyrics lamented: “Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone? They paved paradise and put up a parking lot! Ooo bop bop bop bop!”

My initial reaction was to “bop” those developers over the head, mount a neighborhood insurrection, and send them packing! But, I’ve come to the realization that this is not the battle I need to fight. In fact, the whole situation has caused me to examine my own internal battle–of learning how to release those things over which I have no control.

Needless to say, I’ve had some difficulty wrapping my head and heart around this impending change. Because I’m having trouble letting go. Letting go of the wonderful memories that we’ve formed in this house. Of this peaceful place that we’ve been blessed to call home. Releasing fear and worry about what the future will hold for our family’s living situation.

But isn’t our walk of faith so often about letting go? In this case, I need to release something that’s ultimately pretty minor in the grand scheme of things. But in the past, I’ve tried to cling to things that the Lord, in His grace and mercy, was trying to take out of my hands. Things like childhood traumas, unhealthy relationships, a career that was not life-giving, a drug addiction, and a home that was too small and breaking down around me.

Casting Our Cares

Although all of those things were destructive, I was holding tightly to them because they felt so familiar to me. In many ways, I had solidified my whole identity with them. So the thought of allowing the Lord to remove them from my life felt extremely unsettling and downright frightening. But the thing was, none of them was serving me. And some of them were actually pulling me further away from the Lord.

So, in His grace and mercy, He allowed my life to crumble to the point where I eventually cried out to Him for help. I finally let go. And when I relinquished control over my life, I experienced the freedom that comes when we cast our cares on Him.

Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.
Psalms 55:22

A Continual Process

And this is a continual process, isn’t it? So often, when the Lord has helped us through one challenge, there’s another difficult situation awaiting on the horizon. But when we let go and allow God to carry us through, He proves Himself faithful. Beloved, if we’ll cling to Him, we’ll see that He is good, that we can trust Him, and that He is leading and guiding us perfectly. And no matter the trial, He will be with us, shepherding us through. Because our Abba is not in the business of harming His children, but of loving and helping us.

For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. Plans not to harm you but to give you a hope and a future.
Jeremiah 29:11

When we allow God to carry us through, He proves Himself faithful. If we'll cling to Him, we'll see that He is good, we can trust Him, and He is leading us perfectly. Click To Tweet

Clinging to Him

So, in the case of the development going up right next to my home, I am letting go. No longer sulking over the loss of my family’s carefree lifestyle in this home, I’m thanking the Lord for the good times that we’ve shared here. I’m releasing my worry about where we’ll end up next and whether we’ll have a soft landing. And I’m holding fast to His promises to take care of me and my family. I’m clinging to Him who says He will never leave nor forsake me.

And the LORD, he is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.
Deuteronomy 31:8

Are there things in your life that the Lord is inviting you to release? Are you clinging tightly to Him?

All scripture verses are from The King James Version of The Holy Bible.

Nick West