Freedom: How Sweet It Is!

another encougaging article i found surfing. very encouraging and i'm totally feelin and identifying with some of what the author wrote, i hope to experience that freedom some day:


People who write books usually have a motive or they give up before the last page is edited. Well, I had motivation. I had hidden behind my self-hung curtains for years and watched everyone else "outside playing tag"--or shopping or planning a party or having lunch together. I didn't want to go outside and play or have lunch with anyone! I was "down," I was depressed, I didn't feel like they would want me to be a part of their fun, I didn't feel like they liked me and I certainly didn't like "me!"

But something amazing happened. I was brought from the depths of despair to peace, I came from hating myself so much that I wanted to do away with "me," to seeing myself as cherished and loved beyond my wildest dreams. It was a forty-year painful pilgrimage to freedom but I made it, and this freedom is what I write about and I know something now--unequivocally--there is freedom for you, too.

Rill Erosion

Do you know what rill erosion is? It begins with just a tiny trickle of water, but it trickles down the same hill in the same place month after month and year after year until finally you have a deep gully made by a little trickle. It's entirely possible that the route of a river might be changed by that same tiny trickle. That's exactly what happens with your behavior.

Let's say that you had a younger sister and the fur flew fiercely (say that ten times real fast!) when you were together. But you learned that you could get your way and control her if you got real angry and yelled at her, and if she didn't capitulate, you just might throw a thing or two. The first time you tried that technique it was a little scary (What if she goes and tells Mother?), but it worked. So the next time she irritated you the same behavior came out and it worked again. There's the trickle.

The years have come and gone. Your little sis isn't around any longer, but chances are you're using the same technique now on your spouse when you are irritated--yelling and throwing pots and pans and hateful words around. It began as a trickle, but through constant use, it has made a deep groove in your behavior. So when you're exasperated and your emotions zoom up to a ten, you open the vent and let out all of the steam. The little rill created a river. A simple pattern created a stronghold.

Your sis? Maybe she carries a bundle of hostility around inside all the time, never having a face-to-face confrontation, but kicking tables and chairs and slamming doors. Why? She could never best you and so she locked the hostile feelings inside and would knock over your bike when you weren't looking. And the rill created a river.

Emotional Archaeology

Your mind, your will, and your emotions have deep crevices where you never stopped the trickle, and those behavioral patterns that were formed are evident to those closest to us--especially our mates. These crevices are your strongholds.

Lillian cornered me and told me how it had happened with her. She was #2 in a bevy of children and #1 was Miss Wonderful. The first child received all of the glory--scholastic achievements and popularity prizes through junior high, high school, and college. Lillian said she didn't feel envy or hostility, but resigned herself to being a nobody and lived in her sister's giant shadow.

Then, Lillian went to college--and the giant shadow didn't go with her. Suddenly realized that she was a "somebody." She went wild with power and expressing her opinions and living her life the way she wanted to live it--aggressive, opinionated, domineering, controlling, and loving every minute of it! Another rill and another river!

The thing I want us to put our finger on--to understand--is that such behavior no longer needs to control us. And Lil would say instantly, "Oh, it doesn't, Anabel. I'm a big girl now." I'm not talking about maturity and learning to control yourself because you're a big girl now and have abandoned your little girl ways. I'm talking about a totally new you--a new identity!

God's Provision for Dysfunctional People

What you must understand is that you have a choice. You can explain your behavior, excuse your behavior, or blame your behavior on your dad and mom. Or you can opt for God's provision for dysfunctional people and dysfunctional homes and accept the truth that you are someone brand new and different because of who you are in Christ.

Does that mean...

* That you'll never be bothered by those negative thoughts again?
* That you can look in the mirror and not be repulsed at your image?
* That you'll be able to confront people when you need to instead of being a silent, mousy non-entity?
* That your temper tantrums are over?
* That your need to be in control will vanish?
* That those strongholds you built through the years will be gone tomorrow?

No. But when you recognize (to be aware of) and realize (to understand fully) that these negative conceptions are merely patterns and not who you really are, then you will be free to be a "new creature"--a "new creation"--and to act like who you are! Remember--your identity changed the moment you came to Jesus!

So we lay the foundation on truth: II Corinthians 5:17: " Therefore if any man/woman is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come."

Old things? These are the rills that formed the rivers of strongholds in our lives, fleshly patterning of thought, emotion, and behavior that we substitute for the sufficiency of our Heavenly Father. They are the behaviors evidenced in the way you think about yourself. The way you meet stress. The way you meet people. The way you feel toward the opposite sex. The mental habits of letting your mind dwell on thoughts of fear, loneliness, apprehension, and revulsion that have controlled you. Those are the old things--the old ways--the patterns that you developed through your formative years in your personal environment.

New things? Realizing (fully understanding) who you are in Christ. Letting Christ meet the stress-filled days for you. Seeing people as He sees them. Giving Him full control of you (this is the hardest one). Walking in the knowledge that (1) you are loved and (2) that you are a lovely new creation. New ways! And they become yours as you accept them and begin--cautiously at first--to walk in them. Yes, these are rivers too, but they are rivers of life!

You have been set free from the bondage of your strongholds. How? "You will know the truth and the truth will set you free!" You have just "read" truth, so live like the free person you are in Christ by faith, and give Him the glory for your freedom!

source - www.lifetime.org