Mommy I'm Stuck.....

Have you ever tried to take off a shirt when the hole for your head seems to have shrunk from the time you put it on and are ready to change into something else??? When Macie was younger I remember trying to pull and pull some of her t-shirts off at night and her flipping out the whole time because she felt so confined and trapped. There are even a few shirts I remember Scott cutting slits in to make the head bigger so we didnt have to go through such fiasco at bedtime. I went through a situation recently where I was anticipating freedom from a burden that was going to be lifted. The crazy thing is that after it was I didnt feel anymore free than I had while carrying it. I realized through this situation after trying to sort through many thoughts and questions that it wasnt freedom I needed to gain, I had been given that through Christ a long time ago. Although my present circumstance had me feeling trapped it was because mentally I wasnt allowing myself to be free in Christ. It was like Macie getting stuck in her toddler t-shirts, she felt physically restrained and in bondage at the time but really it was more mental and the anxiety was based on emotions.

I don't know how many times I have been at the Dr.s for tests, surgeries, blood work, the dentists for fillings or other scary situations and to ease the anxiety I will sing certain praise and worship songs in my head to get through that period. Now physically I am still going through pain but there is a peace that comes when you allow yourself to emotionally go to a place of freedom. Pastor was talking about a woman who prepared for months and months because she knew that she was going to be captured and thrown into prison during World War II. Esther Kim went through such drastic motions to prepare herself for the bondage and prison that was to come. She ate food that was decaying and memorized many books of the Bible. After being thrown into prison Esther witnessed for Christ and was able to sustain the physical entrapment because she had mentally found freedom. She had learned to find freedom in her mind not based on her present circumstances but due to Gods faithfulness. Isaiah 26: 3 "You will guard him and keep him in perfect and constant peace whose mind [both its inclination and its character] is stayed on You, because he commits himself to You, leans on You, and hopes confidently in You."

You may have made choices that led you into bondage or have been thrown into it without fault but I believe that regardless you can find freedom. Whether you are physically shackled and thrown into a prison cell, drowning under a mound of financial debt, battling a life altering illness God is bigger than those circumstances. One of the very first Contemporary Christian Cd's I remember buying had lyrics that said this "On Christ the solid rock I stand all other ground is shifting sand." Beth Moore says this in her book "Get out of that Pit, God is unreasonably patient and mercifcul. He's there for every urgent need and any sudden spell. God can hold your weight-the full emotional, spiritual, mental, and physical poundage of you-sixty seconds a minute, sixty minutes an hour, twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year for the rest of your life." God is not just a firm place to stand. He's a firm place to stay."
Regardless of what you face this week rest assured that you can choose freedom in your mind and find a peace within the depths of your soul. You may feel that the world is closing in on you and Satan is trying to entangle you with vines of lies, destruction, and heartache but God can cut through the thickest strongholds and set you free. My chains are gone I've been set free, my God my Savior has ransomed me, and like a flood His mercy reigns, unending love, amazing grace.