I am so grateful that today I am free. I have been set free from my past, my addictions. The experience was real and the pain was real, but I not longer live under those chains. At times the enemy whispers lies in my ears. He wants me to believe that I"m defined by my mistakes. Sometimes I get stuck carrying the baggage and scars from the mistakes I've made that I have a difficult time seeing my worth my value.
Do my failures mean that I am worthless, or that I will always be rejected? No! I have realized that my opinion is a direct reflection of my opinion of the one that made me. If I see my self as incapable or not good enough, I fail to see Him as overcomer capable of carrying me through the most difficult storms.
After months of recovery I still found my self focusing on the fact I was a recovering alcoholic. I was consumed by the thought that I no longer drank. At first, it felt good to have the confidence to say that I was a non drinker. Then I discovered freedom is not about what you don’t do anymore or quitting a bad habit. It is quite possible to quit a bad habit and still be in bondage to it or the guilt associated with it.
My freedom didn't come when I tried to quit drinking, that never worked I was in bondage. I had tried to clean up my life, but the problem wasn't how hard I was trying. It was that I was trying too hard in my strength, not His. Rather than cleaning up my life , I was making a bigger mess. I didn't have the right cleaning supplies. True freedom came when I quit focusing on the problem and started seeking Him. He was able to do far more that I could ask or imagine. What I discovered is that freedom isn't the absence of something but the presence of someone. The Bible tells us: Where the spirit of the Lord is there is freedom
Freedom is the ability to respond to God completely as the person you were created and redeemed to be. He revives us, renews us, and gives us a new life in Him!