New Year, New Me?

I have looked at previous blogs I wrote in 2011, 2012 and 2013 all pretty much had the same "resolutions", and all were epic fails.  Why do I consistently make goals or resolutions that by the middle of the year cause me to feel like a failure going into the next year?  Does this happen to anyone else.  Does anyone know anyone who has actually completed these ridiculous resolutions we set?  Last year I lost and gained the same 20 lbs at least 3 times.  If I would have just stayed the course, I would have been at my goal weight by the end of the year.  

Paul told the Philippians:   Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus (Phil 3:12-14).

I look at these voices as a resounding encouragement in my own life.  But I think I have become so accustomed to them that I am guilty using them as a crutch.  If I fall off the diet wagon, fail to make changes that I know will forever impact my health, or  just in the simple obedience of being a true follower of Christ, I tend to say things like this.

..I press on 

..though a righteous man falls

..my body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, etc. ,etc., etc.

We can all use scripture to fit our ever pressing need at that time.  

I'm not trying to start off 2014 as a kill joy, but I decided it might be worth studying some of the "life scriptures" and seeing them in context so that I might be able to figure out what makes me start strong and finish so poorly. And I made a discovery.  Its because I did not see view them in context in the first place. I just took the parts of those passages and made my failure okay in the eyes of God. Guess what, it's not okay!!  Yes, God still loves me, yes Jesus still roots for me, and yes I am responsible for the choices I make and when I choose wrong or just blatantly sin (I'm a commuter it happens), I fall on these passages to justify my failure.  It's time for permanent change!

I'm not making resolutions.  I'm going to focus my energy on living my life in obedience rather than justifying my failure because I know God loves me anyway.  I'm tired of falling on my face before God and crying out why.  I even catch myself saying things like "God why did you let me go there".  

There are things God has been dealing with me about for years .  So this year I will finish well, because if you read Phil 3:12-14 in context, the whole purpose of finishing well is to make Him known.

Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us. For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things.  For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself (Phil 3:17-21).

Follow me as I follow him (1 Cor. 11:1)

The journey continues....

~cv

P.S.  Unlike previous years, this year I will be keeping up with my blog.  

The List Maker

I used to think that when I could not sleep I just needed to get up and read, play a game, pray, etc.  Surely it would put me back to la-la land for a few more hours.  This morning that is not the case.  So I decided to look over some old blogs and realized how really bad I am at this blogging thing.  Even though what I blog, or what I feel I have to say to the world is not half bad.

It's almost time to turn the page on yet another year.  I don't do resolutions.  I do set goals, and looking back on 2013 I did complete some goals.

1.  I did lose 20 lbs, gained it back, lost it again, gained back 10 of what I had lost, lost 7......this could go on forever

2.  I did get to return to Trinidad and it was amazing, and I will return again.

3.  I developed a great friendship with a co-worker that challenges me, holds me accountable and makes me laugh (everyone should have one friend like this).  And even though she has somehow managed to live without Facebook, I love her still.

4.  If it was even possible, I fell more in love with Terry.

5.  I learned to accept people just the way they are.  And I learned that not everyone is in your life for a lifetime and sometimes you have to just let things go so you can be a better person.

6.  I started writing a book that has been 5 years in development.

I could look back on this list and feel totally accomplished.  I didn't accomplish everything I wish I could  have, but I seem to have managed to grow through-out this year.

I'm thankful for many things, but one thing I am truly thankful for is that God has kept me this  year so that I could really focus on the important things and not let the little things rattle me so much.  And I'm proud of that.  I have learned a few lessons the hard way, and one of those lessons is to not take myself so seriously that I feel like a failure when I don't manage to check off these huge list I create.  In the past, I would measure my self worth, my accomplishments, etc. by my ability to complete a list.

This past year has been one of transformation,  change and expectation.  I expect 2014 to be no more or no less than the same.  Each year is pretty much like this, with one exception, I seem to be transforming, changing and expecting the same things to happen that never happen.  Why is that?  If I'm honest with myself I will say its because while I expect everything and everyone around me to change, I'm not very good at it myself.  Maybe this year I will just throw caution to the wind and see where the Lord leads me. Life is too short to live it by a list.  I think I'm ready for the ride!



HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The Overwhelming Art of Blogging

The whole purpose of the blogging craze was that we would have an outlet to voice our opinions and force the world to read them.  However I have discovered in order to make this happen you must blog on a regular basis and get people to follow you.  I go through spurts where God is dealing with me profoundly, so as a result I think everyone else needs to read about it.  Or at times, I am just trying to write out of the truth in my heart, the trials of life, the burning in me to see the captive set free and  just living life.  I don't write every day mainly because I am sometimes way too busy, or because I tutor and edit college papers I grow weary in writing for myself.  However, in a few weeks, I will embark on two journeys that I am sure will mark me for the next 12 months and give me some interesting things to blog about. 

First I will travel to Trinidad with a small group. I feel like this trip is more of a fact finding trip, and so I'm really wondering what the Lord is going to show me during the course of the 10 days we are going .  So the first part of my post is "WHY MISSIONS?".   Well the easy answer is because God commands us to go into the world.  A dear soul in my life said to me recently that he could not understand our need to go to countries and try to make people believe the way we believe or to be something they are not.  I never looked at missions like that.  My response to that person was that "love compels us to do great things".  I do missions because I love people.  I do missions because I am compelled to go.  I do missions because the though of someone not given the opportunity to hear how Jesus changed my life and can change theirs too is too heartbreaking to me.  I do missions because I don't want to change a culture or make people westernized.  I want people to know that what great love God has for them.  I can't change anyone, but I can bring help, hope and LOVE.  So that is why I am going to Trinidad. 

The Seventh Year - a 52 week journey.  I am great reading fan of Alicia Britt Chole.  I read her book Anonymous and it totally wrecked my thinking.  I have been in a season of feeling "Anonymous".  I feel like I have so much to say but no-one will give me the opportunity to say it.  Or I think about being vulnerable and sharing my story and then rather than face judgment, I retreat out of fear.  So it does not surprise me that I am feeling led to not only commit myself to this journey offered by Alicia, but that I'm actually going to take this journey with my own daughter.  I suspect it to be be a freeing period in our individual lives as well as the relationship that has been way to long in rebuilding.

So follow my blog.  I will be blogging from Trinidad, since this trip seems to be allowing me plenty of time to update.  I'll post my blogs and pictures on Facebook.  Then follow us, as we take a 52-week journey through focused on prayer, journaling, waiting and watching God mold us into something better. 

Love compels....

Cindy

The Majesty of the Cross

It is 4:28 am on a Saturday morning and for the life of me, I have no idea why I am wide awake. This happened to me yesterday as well, but it was to my advantage because I was able to get to work ultra early and get off before the traffic started to build. at any rate, being up and fully alert without coffee on a Saturday morning does not make me happy but until my body realizes that it needs at least 4 more hours of sleep before I go and tutor all day long, I think I will blog for a bit.

I have been pondering on several things lately. I keep telling myself that I need to write more. I love putting the thoughts I have down on paper. It's almost therapeutic, but for some reason I just can't seem to find the time. Maybe this is why I am awake so early on a Saturday morning. So not knowing what to write about I went back to some old blogs to see what I had written about and found a list of things I said I would blog on last May (10 months ago) and have not. The list (seee May 2011 blog), was enought to keep me blogging for a full year. I realized none of those things have really burned into my soul as much as the topic I will blog on this morning. And that is the absolute beauty of the cross, the beauty of blood stained wood and the majesty and glory it represents. For those of you I tutor, that would have just made a really great thesis statement!

We have been singing a new song at church. We have been singing this song for quite some time. But for some reason the last time we sang it, I got to these words and I thought to myself "how can this be beautiful"?

As crimson covered
Over sinless hands
Your majesty
For all to see
In raging storms and quiet cloudless days....
...Beautiful Jesus

Have you ever seen the movie the Passion of the Christ, or truly looked upon a true rendition of that crucifixion? There is not much beauty there, to the inexperienced believer there is not much majesty there either. If you look close enough, you will see deep love, and if you gaze just a little longer you will understand the words of that centurion in Luke 23:47 - Now when the centurion saw what had happened, he began praising God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent.”

To understand the beauty of the moment you have to understand that crucifixion was usually only done to criminals. What crime did Jesus do? He loved, he healed, he forgave, he fed, he supplied, he caused Lazarus to be raised from the dead. What had he done that was so horrid that he deserved to be butchered, beaten, spit upon and then hung on a cross "for all to see"? He didn't do anything at all. He was just radical enough to be dangerous. He was fulfilling scripture. He was saving the world. But he was no criminal. So looking back at my thoughts on this song, I was just thinking about three basic truths that hang in the beautiful, majesty of that cross.

1. Love. It was for love and no other reason that Jesus did what he did. Terry and I were in Austin last weekend visiting the kids. We were traveling around Sunday morning before Terry and I had to leave to come back home and somehow we got on the topic of missions. John said, he didn't see the point in the going to another country and invoking your belief system on them. I looked at him and said "love compels us to do things we don't understand". It was for love that Jesus came, it was for love he died. Pure and simple. John 3:16 - for God so LOVED the world... He truly does love us! And once you get a glimpse of that love, you feel it deep down inside of you. You don't just sing it in a song, because it compels you to look at everything around you in a different light. Your never the same again once you get this simple truth down in side of you. The reason people lay their lives down everyday for others is based out of nothing short of love. You won't and probably can't save something you don't have passion for. Jesus had passion for all - that alone was his only motive - L-O-V-E.

2. Forgiveness. When Jesus said "it is finished", he meant it. Never again would we have rules and sacrifices that helped us to get to God. It was over - on that cross hung the forgiveness of the world, "for all to see". I drive throughout the City of Houston quite a bit. Depending on my route to and/or from I get to see two huge crosses within our city. One is the St. Jospeh Hospital downtown and the other is on Beltway 8 West. And while these are both beautiful, they just don't do it for me as much as when I look into my mind and see the beauty and majesty of that one cross that set me free. God is not mad at you, He is not waiting for you to mess up so his can put his thumb of judgment on your life (been there, done that) and He is not ever going to stop loving you. The Bible is really clear on this. Romans 10:9-10: that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. If we truly are forgiven, we live our lives like we are forgiven, we are easily led to forgive others and we understand that nothing we can do on our own can save us.

3. Hope. Love bears all things, believes all things, HOPES for all things, endures all things, love never fails (1 Cor. 13:7-8). My hope is in this one thing, that Jesus is my savior, he loves me beyond measure and his promises are true and for me. This has been a year of struggle health wise for me. I get well only to relapse and feel like I take two steps forward and one step back. It has been a journey that I have not enjoyed much. I wish I could say I have embraced this struggle, but at times the pain and exhaustion of dealing with it is just too much to bear on my own. My hope still is unwavering that God is faithful, even in my trial and circumstance. Even as I type this today, there is a song playing in the background which says "let hope arise". Hope is what pulls us through these tough times. Our hope is in Jesus, and all that he did when he gave his life. My favorite scripture this month is Psalm 118:17, I will not die, but live, And tell of the works of the LORD.

Three simple truths. Yet for most of us, the simplicity that brings majesty to the cross is just too much to understand. We always think there needs to be some formula to make something work. Or that God has a hidden agenda someplace. There is no hidden agenda. Love - the basic ingredient for the cross. Forgiveness, the need for man to have it, because we can not save ourselves. Hope, that what we believe and who we believe is rock solid and never wavering.

And with that, I have heavy eyelids and think I will grab another hour or two of sleep before my morning starts in full force. Peace be still my friends, embrace the majesty of the King of Kings today. --Peace be still....

Coming sooon

My thoughts on being beautifully broken. Watch for it!

Hardship and Blessings working together?

The radio is playing a song right now that is just ministering to me in so many ways. Because I have always been an advocate that our walk with the Lord is not about our comfort but about His glory, I am not always popular when some comes whining to me about where is God in the midst of the trial. I have just spent almost 2 years walking through trials, health issues, financial issues, and everything else the devil could throw. I literally read the book of Job at least 10 times to find encouragement and truth in our circumstances. Really - Cindy - Job?? I agree, Job is not the first place our "make me comfortable" faith wants to read but there are some great truths about walking things out in there that you will not find anyplace else.

So what if your blessings do not come in masses and miraculous ways to let you know that God is there? Does it mean he is not? What if you have to cry, lose sleep, walk it out in faith and find confidence that God is able? Does it make God less sovereign? NO! He is always going to be sovereign, faithful, loving, merciful, gracious, victorious and a million other adjectives that make God. I don't have answers as to why some people get instanious miracles, deliverance or answers. I'm not God, but I know God and his character. I have experienced Him, I have felt His presence in my life even when I questioned where it was. I knew that there would be victory, freedom, healing, restoration and redemption. I didn't know when I would see it, but I knew it would come because God promised. He didn't give me a date, he gave me a word and a promise and once you have that Word -- nothing can penetrate or break it off you.

Our walks are different. For some faith is just a part of our fiber. I wish I was like that. I have a friends that do not seem to have any problem at all taking God at face value, I'm a little more analytical and sometimes am sorry to say I demand proof. I'm not proud of it, many times I just sit in my the middle of my small living room floor and find myself crying out and then apologizing for not trusting Him more. I get impatient in the waiting much of the time and have to flight my flesh every single day to sit back and wait for God to work in areas I have been praying over for years. I am amazed that sometimes God has moved, stirred or acted and somehow I missed it, but then again I missed the fact that through the impatience, tears, etc., something inside me is different.

I have been camping out on the topic of "avoidable pain" this week. I have had to ask myself how much easier would things have been if I had not put myself in circumstances to avoid the pain of consequences for my actions. I also believe that this type of pain pushes us to what my wonderful friend Diane Sample says is called"unavoidable prayer". And that my friends is the answer. Most people I know who have experienced great pressure and faith trials have learned the secret to praying without ceasing that we read about in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18. If you read it in context we are to rejoice always, and give thanks in everything, and PRAY WITHOUT CEASING. It does not say rejoice when things are good, and give thanks when God blesses you without merit. When things are hard, when times are tough, when your health fails, when your friends and family seem to abandon you, at all times and in all things, practice unavoidable prayer because that is what is going to get results. I'm not saying it's easy, the disciples could not do it, but it is possible to learn to pray and out of that prayer comes everything.

One of my key scriptures for 2011 is out of Psalm 91: 16-18: Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him;I will set him on high, because he has known My name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him, And show him My salvation.

Every time I read that I am reminded, how faithful he is. So in closing this blog this morning I decided to do a little back story on Laura Story. She is the writer of that song that I am loving so much these days. What causes someone to write such profound lyrics, unless of course they have experienced some pain that God has brought them through and out of that you can minister it through song? So the back story is that shortly after she married her high school sweetheart the lives of the newlyweds were shattered when they were told that her husband had a brain tumor. The result of that diagnosis would leave them trusting God to a point of utter dependence. She wrote Blessings because has experienced walking out two years of her young life with her husband and trusting God every step of the way - even unto death. She knows that He is in fact all that He says He is. God brought them through it and today she writes out of that victory in a way that can only minister to those of us who have walked through or are in those places where it does not seem like God is moving.

I thank God for the past two years. I have learned some things that have forever wrecked me. Primarily I have learned that I can confidently trust the Lord in all things, even when I don't see the outcome. He is the keeper of my life and the lifter of my head and I will rejoice always at that!

Blessings -- Laura Story

Because what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy
And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise

The Sound of Broken Chains

In the Frances J. Roberts Come Away My Beloved, I read the following quote this past week, "For thou shall be free of thyself, and thou shall be captive of my love. Mine arms shall gather thee, and I shall never let thee go."

I have recently camped out in the book of Hosea. It's a great place to study the faithfulness of God to his people and the redeeming love of God to anyone who will cry out of our captivity and to see freedom come. I don't think anywhere else in God's word do we see a more profound look at slavery of a people and God's only desire throughout the whole thing is to use love to free them.
____________________________________________


I think as women, we can also relate to being captive. No we may not be enslaved, well maybe we are. There are so many things vying for our affections, our love. We have husbands, children, extended families, jobs, careers, housework, and the list could go on forever. I know for me, I have to prioritize everything. I'm an "empty nester", which basically means I have no children at home, but that does not change the fact that I am very busy. Except for the past 93 days. These are the days that God perfected a word over my life, sat me in a down and caused me to watch Him work. It was not a period I planned or expected, looking back I can see His hand every step of the way. It was a hard way, certainly not something I would have chosen for myself, at many steps it was lonely, but I learned a lot about my own inner strength, but more importantly about how trustworthy God is.

In the book of Hosea we see an "chained" Israel. All God wants is them, yet they continue on a path of being enslaved. In Hosea 2:14-15 we read, Therefore, behold, I will allure her, Bring her into the wilderness, And speak kindly to her. Then I will give her vineyards from there, And the valley of Achor as a door of hope, And she will sing there as in the days of her youth, As in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.

On December 12, 2010, I had a word spoken over me about freedom that "no man could take away". It was a word that was so profound at the moment it was spoken that I actually wrote it down. On January 21st I entered a period of captivity, but all the while I clung to that word from December, which by the way went exactly like this: It was for freedom that I have set you free. See this day I have begun to set you free from your captivity. Your shackles are broken, your freedom has been restored. I have unchained doors that no one could open but Me. OBEDIENTLY WALK THIS OUT.

On March 28th I saw freedom, but more importantly I heard freedom. Have you ever heard chains fall? Have you equated a spiritual principal to that sound? I heard chains fall (okay everyone told me it was pipes banging), but if you would have been there and you would have known what God said on December 12th, you would have understood the deep weeping, the rejoicing as I heard the sound of freedom in my own life. As I read through the book of Hosea time and time again, I often wonder if the people of Israel, had heard the sounds that I heard on March 28th. When they walked through the Red Sea on dry land, when he provided manna from stones, etc., did they hear the sound of their freedom just around the other side of the mountain?

I have tried for the past month to put this sound into words, but there really are no words to describe it. But the Word has very descriptive words about freedom all throughout. You know I used to think that being free in Christ was this whimsical fairy tale that only happened to other people who were much more "spiritual" than me and had the will power to be more obedient. But that is not what being free is at all. If you read about the Israelites, you will see that they were held captive all the time because of their disobedience and what is sad -- they did not have to be. Sounds very much like us, we become captive to our flesh and the whole while God is saying, "I will allure you". What God is saying here is, "I'm going to become so attractive to you that you can't help but want me". But instead we are like foreign lost lovers who have not seen our beloved in a very long time and think he/she is never coming back so we seek comfort in other lovers. We forsake that lover because we do not feel he will return to us, we become angry and bitter, we lose trust and then before we know it, we are enslaved. We are no different from God's chosen people. Thanks be to God! He does not leave us there, he keeps luring us, returning us to Him.

So below (in no particular order) is a list of my helpful hints of how to find freedom in the midst of enslavement. Trust me, you can be enslaved and not even know it. Remember your enemy is cunning - not too smart but cunning, you can get into slavery without ever even recognizing it until it is too late. Peter reminded us of this is 1 Peter 5:8. Slay the lion, cut off its head before you become trapped!

#1 - Rules without a relationship will always equal rebellion. If you have no consistent relationship with the Lord you are not going to find freedom. If you don't know God, it is going to be even harder to find it. See the Lord as the keeper of the keys that hold your life and very breath you breathe.

#2 - Physical freedom has everything to do with spiritual freedom. Do not take it for granted. You don't have to be captive to not be free, your spirit can be imprisoned and you not even know it. The only thing that keeps you free is daily going to the cross and dying to your flesh.

#3 - Get the image of the ABC sports commercial in your head. The thrill of victory or the agony of defeat". Choose victory! The lover of your soul wants this for you. It can happen.

#3 - Surrender control. Psalm 146:7 says: Who executes justice for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry? The Lord gives freedom to the prisoners. You have no control over any of this in the process of finding freedom. If you refuse to surrender control - you will not win the battle.

#4 - He is truly the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). We can trust Him with any detail of our life. Because he is faithful, true and loves us so much, He can not help but do what He says he will do. You can trust Him, and you do not have to know all the details first. It's a step-by-step process that you must yield to.

#5 - Once you hear the sounds of freedom, don't look back and question it. Just keep on moving forward knowing that He is not finished with you yet but yet he will "complete you". He will be faithful to complete it. Psalm 37:28 - For the Lord loves the just and will not forsake his faithful ones.

#6 - Learn to say "NO". This was my biggest downfall. I would try to help even when I didn't need to and sometimes (many times) to my own demise. That being said, I have said it once and I will say it again for those who failed to hear it - I can't prove it in the Word, but I don't think that woman at the well got free at that single moment. I think when Jesus told her to go and sin no more, she obtained freedom the first moment shoe looked into the eyes of her oppressor and said "No"! Sometimes the sound of victory is just a resounding NO! NO I can't do that, NO I can't go with you, NO, I can't put myself in a situation that is going to cause me to look back. Nothing back there is worth it - it's what enslaved me in the first place!

#7 - Become the person "everyone else thinks you are". But do it in private and let the inner working of the Holy Spirit bring about the real you. Trust me, people who know you best know the real you are praying you do this as well.

#8 - Freedom is a process. Understand this. There are pivotal things in my 25+ years of walking this thing out that I remember without the least little bit of thought. But I have this period of my life from about 1989 until 2009 that I really don't have a great deal of memories or things that have rocked me. I wrote things down, but I did not follow through and allow God to bring me through the process of getting free. I spent 20 years walking around mountain going over the same things time and and time again. Did it mean God had left me, that I was not saved or that I did not love God? No it just meant that I was disobedient and until I gave myself over to the process of being free, I was never going to get there. I will also add, t hat it did not mean God stopped loving me either!

#9 - Start a journal. I am crazy about my journals. I write constantly, someday I hope to find the courage to take all the stuff from all the years of journalaing nd make something out of it. But I do journal and I blog. Sometimes my writing looks like this, but most of the time with pen and paper, a cup of coffee and my Bible. I will go back at times and pull the box down and read through them. If I see an area I have finally had victory, I will try to remember the date and mark it down. But most of the time I cry over the fact that I am still dealing with an issue I thought I left at the bottom of the cross years before. Yesterday I was reading in a devotional I use often. The Lord said "give glory to me by mouth and pen". It is not that God needs us to write it down for our sake, but we should write down things as a tell the story of His greatness. Because He never forgets and we always do, it's important to write things down, so we have a place of reference to go back to if need be.

#10 - Relax in the process. God's got this! Not only does He have it, He does not want you to have any control over the process. The more quickly you give in to the process the faster the freedom comes. See it did not take 93 days for me to get free, it took 20 years and 93 days! I just didn't realize it until recently. I was a pharisee, looking great on the outside, but inside I was dying, wilting away, and enslaved. Once I learned to relax and realized that God was already 2 giant steps in front of me, that I could trust Him and that He loved me, I was able to relax. It was not easy -- there were days in the process that I thought for sure I was going to have to take control again, but NO! He who has started this work in you will be faithful to complete it!

I close with this. In 2009 I went to a small village just south of Tijuana, Mexico with Global Expeditions. I saw many great things, and by the end of the 10 days I was a blubbering mess. I saw God move so many ways I could not even write them down fast enough. But when I saw little 9 year old Adrianna have her deaf ears opened, I was wrecked! I knew I would never be the same and I was not. But I also knew I was enslaved to my past and had not been free in a long time. And almost a year after that trip, that profound word was spoken over me. I had planned out my path to freedom under my own terms, my own control and my own guidelines from that very moment that the word was spoken. But God would not have it, He wanted to control my path to freedom. As Americans we recognize that freedom is not always free. Friends, can I tell you that as Christians, it's not free either. Your gift of salvation is free - you can't earn it you have to choose it and walk it out with fear and trembling. But your freedom cost you something and until you are willing to give up the stuff it costs - you will be held captive.

Hosea 14 gives us God's promise, not just to Israel but to us. In vs. 14 God says "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely". This kind of goes back to where I stared at the top of the blog "you shall be captive of my love". This is the only captivity I want in my life. Let me be captive of His love, let me be captive of His grace, mercy, and unrelentless redemption. Let me be captive of His presence. Let me be his beloved and come away with Him, let his captivity rule and reign in my life.

Be free friends, in every sense of the word you can be free. It's yours for the taking and today I pray that as you read this blog, you begin your own journey into freedom like you have never known before, freedom that breaks all the barriers in your life. That you will truly know that who the Son sets free is free indeed (John 8:36). Before you even realize what has happened you will hear a chain in a lock and the sound of metal hitting the floor. You will be free!

Selah--

Cindy