FREEDOM IN LETTING GO

When I look back to the four nights we spent as a church during Revive Us, two of the things that stood out to me the most were not allowing an ‘emotional high’ to occur, but rather allow the Holy Spirit to instill a deeper desire to walk in intimacy with God and to keep in check whether or not I am choosing between two gods. This led me to ask myself, “Am I seeking The Lord or choosing to live in idolatry?”

The morning after Revive Us, I opened up my bible to Colossians 3 where I was wrecked, realizing that in order to be made new in Christ I first needed to put away the old.  I could see the negative life I often choose to lead and understood that if I was going to move into a life that glorifies God then there was un-repented of sin that needed to be dealt with; including judgment, selfishness, and unrighteous anger. Romans 6 tells us, “Consider yourselves to be dead, indeed, unto sin.”

It just isn’t going to work if I don’t work at it daily. Reminders from Recovery began to fill my head and my heart. I was reminded that my God pulled me out of darkness and into His light.  And that, though we all get stuck sometimes, it’s just not ok to stay there.  Living in fellowship with the women I have met on Thursday nights keeps me from hiding under a rock and living in isolation.  

It is written in Ecclesiastes 4:9-10, “Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble.” The small groups give me comfort in knowing I am not alone.  

This is a crazy, broken, fallen world we live in and I can’t live each day without surrendering to my Savior.  There is freedom in letting go of our old ways and past experiences.  It enables us follow the teachings of Colossians 3 to “clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience and forgiveness.”

- Diana