Freedom in Christ

Galatians 5 

Christ Has Set Us Free

¹For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

We have been a part of an amazing group of people that we have called "home" for the past 10 years-our church family.   This past year the Lord brought us to a "new" place as we transitioned from meeting in a warehouse to meeting in an actual house (thank you Denards). Our history is hard but what the Lord allowed to happen because of it is breathtaking.  We began to study what the church was and how that applies to us now. We began to see healing through relationships and not only with others but with our God. We began to see people finding and using their spiritual giftings. We began to wrestle with those "grey" areas in scripture and how that applied to us personally. We began to see the Gospel. We decided that our time together as a church was coming to an end. This has probably been one of the most difficult  decisions that we have ever had to make. We met with our church family and we shared our hearts. We cried. We cried hard.  We still cry but even in the smallest things  the Lord still confirms that He has different plans for all of us.

To my beautiful church family, thank you.Thank you first for loving our Lord! Thank you for serving Him! Thank you for all of the moments that we shared together as a body. Thank you for the smiles, the food, the tears. Thank you for loving our family and praying with us as we prayed for our two little miracles. Thank you for celebrating with us as God answered those prayers and brought Claire and Maggie into this world. Thank you for listening to God and supporting our family in so many ways. Our family will forever hold a place in our heart for all of you. To those in our past  who did not walk with us through this last year please know that we love you. Please know that the Lord loves you and He wants to set you free. Please know that we pray for you.

There is a song that Claire has on one of her cds. It is very simple. The words are-God has not forgot, God has not forgot. If He said that He would do it, it will come to pass. God has not forgot, God has not forgot.  There are so many moments over the past several months that I have had to sing this to myself. I know having freedom can be a scary. It can be overwhelming and you just want to go back. I know, I have those same feelings. He is with us. He hears our cries. He is our hope and our strength. Please forgive this very elementary picture but when we planted our garden this year I had all of these hopes that it would produce an abundance amount of food (even if they were all potted plants and we had never attempted this before :). Claire, Maggie, and I would go out and water them and the zucchini plants were doing great. The leaves grew so big and pretty. There were tiny yellow flowers and my heart jumped for joy because I knew we would have food really soon.... or would we.  Many of those buds closed up and never produced zucchini. I could not understand why. They seemed all really healthy. The next set of buds came and my heart got excited once again. That season we maybe had a total of 3 zucchini. As I was thinking about the season we are at in our lives I began to think back to those plants. Some of the buds were ready and produced what they were suppose to and some of those bud seemed ready and healthy but they did not produce. Does this mean that we throw those buds out or cut them off? Absolutely not!! There are moments when it seems dry and lonely and that nothing will ever pull us out of the slump we are in. It seems we have no "fruit" in our lives but we have to have faith and trust that the Lord is still preparing us for something great.  (As I am writing this I am telling myself this) I will tell you that those 3 zucchinis were pretty big. They were few but they were big.  The timing was not right for those buds to produce zucchinis but the timing was right for the others.  Humor me for a moment. When you plant a seed it takes a long time for the plant to grow and then it takes even longer for the flower to blossom or for the food to ripen. 

My sweet church family, the Lord is going to use you for His mighty plan. He has amazing things ahead for you and your family and at this moment you may not see one bud but its coming. I have held this verse in my heart for a long time.  Phil 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. As of the last several years I have held the verses before this close and prayed that I would be content in all circumstances just as Paul.  Phil 4:10-12 I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. ¹¹¹² I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 

 I want to end with this scripture. I think it is quite neat that this comes right before the scriptures above.      

 ⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. ⁵Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; ⁶ do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. ⁷And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
 ⁸Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. ⁹What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

We are free in Christ!