Staying Free After Breaking FreeSample

STOP WRESTLING

When I struggled to break free from bulimia, I wrestled with God. I wanted to be free from disordered eating, but I wanted to accomplish it on my terms. I didn’t want to gain any weight, and I wanted to be healed instantly.

Sound familiar?

I reasoned that if God could do anything, why not heal me instantly.

Hindsight is 20/20. I couldn’t see it then, but I can look back now and see why God’s healing took place slowly. Exodus 23:30 says, “Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land.”

God didn’t remove my bondage all at once because He needed me to be strong enough to stand against any other form of bondage that might surface and take its place. If we break free from our stronghold too quickly (without developing the tools to stay free), Satan will tempt us into some other form of addiction or bondage.

Like me, you probably didn’t end up in bondage overnight. It was a slow progression that took place over the course of months, years, or perhaps even decades. Painful life experiences, cutting words from others, self-abusive acts have contributed to each brick built up around you. However, each protective wall you thought would shield you, turned into a cinder block that eventually imprisoned you.

We must stop wrestling with God and learn to trust His higher ways. God is not interested in a quick fix. His desire is for you to find complete and lasting freedom.

God will not only cleanse your soul, but He will also fill you with His truth and Spirit so completely that nothing else will be able to come in and take residence.

Staying free may seem an impossible dream right now, but I am here to tell you that ongoing freedom is yours for the taking. My life is living proof.

Continue to trust God, seek Him with all your heart, and with each faith-filled step, your self-entombing prison walls will drift further and further away.

PERSONAL REFLECTION

In what ways have you wrestled with God concerning your areas of struggle? Can you identify any walls you have built up that may be keeping you in bondage or causing you to backslide? If so, what are they?

PRAYER

Heavenly Father, I’m tired of wrestling with you and myself. I need you to help me little by little so that I can walk in freedom for the rest of my life. I am free because you have said so. Help me rejoice in each step forward I take and help me to never go back. Thank you for answered prayer. Amen.