“For in Him we live and move and have our being…” Acts 17:28
I remember feeling paralyzed by fear when I was younger. The fear came from a religious tradition I had accepted, a lie that kept a part of me bound. I was not free to be myself, but I was bound by religious control. Today I am happy to say that God has caused me to know and embrace truth, making the way for God to bring peace and wholeness into my heart. He has liberated me and empowered me to live life to the fullest.
I know what it is to be freed because I know what it was to be bound. I felt like I was locked inside of a box in a dark basement. I was desperate to be free. I had hoped someone from the outside would make a way for me to find freedom, but the people I looked to were the people that had locked me in. It seemed the more I struggled to find freedom, the tighter their grip became. We can feel trapped by the opinions, judgments, criticisms, or discrimination of others; however, other people can only box us in when we choose to believe what they have said. I was young and I trusted people who were older than me, people I had become disillusioned with, people who were controlling, arrogant, and self-serving. I had believed the lies of the enemy that came through religious thinking. It was difficult because I had, and still have, love for the ones who imprisoned me. God asked me to believe Him instead, but I couldn’t hear Him from this box. God had to remove me from the voices of my captors in order for me to hear His voice calling me. When I heard the truth, I began to see a light piercing into my darkness. The box that was imprisoning me had opened and I was released from the bondage I had once accepted. I was free to love others. I was free to serve others. I was free to lead others.
The lock was on the inside of me all along; I just didn’t know it. The key to my freedom came from turning away from people who didn’t value me and turning to the God who knew my worth. I had been naive when I allowed myself to be put in that prison. I was God’s daughter, and I experienced the passion of a Father who came to rescue me from the domineering people I had become captured by. Never underestimate the power of religious control. Don’t believe the criticisms of others, even if your critics are in authority over you. When you find out the truth of who you really are, the person you are inside can have the freedom to live and move and be who God has made you to be!
Application: If there is one part of you in darkness, that darkness can seem impossible to overcome. Learn truth and let light pierce darkness so you can see to leave the chains God has freed you from.