Faith in Freedom

This weekend marked the 3 year anniversary for me of being a born again Christian. 3 years. It seems crazy to me. To think for the last three years I've given my life to Christ and trusted him with my life. Three years that I've had the thought of "is this real" in my head. This weekend also coincided with a popular American holiday, the Fourth of July, Independence Day. A holiday that marks the freedom for people that are in America, a day that marks independence for our nation. 

Three years ago I attended a church service that BLEW my mind. It was about FREEDOM. The freedom we have in our hearts, our minds, our souls and our decisions to love a God that will always love us in return. I never knew there was something out there like that. I knew God was there. I knew God was a part of the church. What I didn't know is how much and often and far and wide that he loves us. The meaning of an unconditional love. 

Mathew 7:11 reads this...
"If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!"

Having kids myself, I can relate to this. I love my children unconditionally, no matter how much they piss me off some days. I still love them. They have the freedom to choose whether they love me back though, whether they accept the love I give them. Just as we have the freedom to choose whether we love Christ back.

How do we reach that freedom though? It took me a long time to allow that love in my heart. To understand what that meant. As the first sermon I experienced explained, you can only allow God into your heart when you have let go of other things in life that you value over God. For instance, drinking. I certainly enjoyed my fair share of drinks in the past, and that's not to say I don't have one now and again today, but it does not control me. I don't live life based around my drinking schedule. Ever since that one part changed over from loving drinking to loving God instead, I saw changes in my life. Major changes. One being the amount of unconditional love I had for my children. My heart let go of that drinking, and had room for the love of my kids and my God. How incredible is that!?!

Once that started, I was able to apply it to other parts of my life. Swearing, smoking, hanging out with the wrong people, paying attention to what I put in my body. All of these holes were happening in my heart allowing God to come in and just completely take over. I had finally felt freedom. Letting go of things and just giving them to God was a challenge, but it was the best thing I have ever done for myself, for my family and of course, for God.