Category Archives: Freedom

For Freedom You Set Me Free

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yoke

“For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”
Galatians 5:1

I write about freedom a lot, because I struggle in this area.  I go back and forth between feeling complete freedom, to allowing myself to be weighed down by rules that I give myself.

The thing is, Christ has died for all of our sins… not just some.  The price has been paid.  Victory and freedom are ours!  There’s nothing that we have to do to earn salvation.  It’s not about what we do or don’t do; it’s about knowing Him.  Period.  And through knowing Him, we desire to love others.  That’s what He has called us to!  Period.

Yes, there are things that are not beneficial to us… and His word tells us about those things.  We are to strive to become more like Christ, with His power.  But, we don’t do those things out of guilt, or the desire for perfection (pride).

Jesus has given us freedom.  Freedom to live and to love.  Freedom to share Him with others without the distractions that this world throws at us.

When I weigh myself down with expectations (that aren’t even necessarily from Him), I am unable to focus on anything else.  I am burdened daily because I constantly feel like I don’t live up.

Jesus loves me, this I know!  He wants me to have peace in this world, and to stop trying to be something that isn’t necessary.  He wants me to be able to love without distraction.

Living life is more than focusing on food.  Living life is more than focusing on what I could do better.  Living life means loving… loving Christ, loving others, and being willing to surrender it all so that I can be used by Him for His glory.  There’s so much freedom in His love!

You are loved more than you will ever know.  Think about what you feel guilty about this morning.  Take a step back.  Realize that Christ died for your sin!  Thank Him and ask Him to give you freedom from that guilt!  Walk in that freedom by loving Him and others without distraction!

tied chains

Stop trying to tie the chains together that Christ has broken!  You are free; let go.  Surrender.

“For the chains of sin that once entangled me
Have been broken, now I’m singing ’cause I’m free
There is liberty, there is liberty,
There is liberty

For freedom You set me free
And yes, I am free indeed
You rewrote my name
And shackled my shame
You opened my eyes to see
I am free”

Shane and Shane- Liberty

“For lent, I’m giving up again.” Louie Giglio

I agree.

Cease Striving

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“And I used to dream of a life so lovely
There’d be no room for tears
Now letting go, yeah
Letting go is the hardest part
It’s the hardest part
There is no fight left on the inside
But maybe that’s where I should be
I’ve given up trying
I’m giving it all to You“

I write this blog post for myself and as encouragement to other mommies out there!  Being a mom is the hardest job that anyone can do!

It’s so easy to look at all the areas that I struggle with or feel like I fail and find a new way to approach it.  I must have just not found the “right” way yet… It will get better if I do this, or that.  Other people seem to do well because they do “this.”  I sometimes exhaust myself by trying harder, working more.  Researching.  Reading about new methods.  Feeling guilty when I don’t get it right.

  • I should be exercising more… running more… taking the kids to the park more…
  • Which way should I eat??  Paleo?  Weston A Price?  Vegetarian?  Vegan?  Raw?  Clean?  Moderation?
  • I struggle with my kids’ behavior, and I shouldn’t.  What new method can I try?
  • I’m not very crafty… maybe Pinterest can help me ;-)
  • I should play more with the kids… I am so focused on getting things done, that I forget to play and have fun with them.
  • I should be more organized… how can I go about doing that?  A household notebook?  A new filing system?
  • I’m exhausted… what’s wrong with me??   Ha!  (oh, maybe the fact that I have 3 small children!)

One thing that I have found is that with working harder, doing more, trying new things constantly… I end up right where I started… and more exhausted ;-) .  I will NEVER have it all together, and in the mean time, I’m wasting precious time and energy.

One good thing… the more I try and fail, the more I realize that it doesn’t do any good to keep trying, and I also gain more of a sense of humor ;-) . I’m also realizing that more than any book, website, or blog, God’s wisdom is better than any.  I am finding myself praying more and trusting Him to give me what I need, and to fill in the gaps where I fail (because He knows where I’m weak!).

Hey, guess what?  My kids have moments of horrible behavior.  It can be quite embarrassing.  I’m not always sure what to do about it.  I get angry and lose my patience.  My house isn’t always clean (though some may think it is).  Some nights we are just too tired/lazy to do our night time routine (and the kids go to bed just fine anyway).  I don’t read as often with Karis as I should (I KNOW, I’m even a teacher!!).  I don’t care anymore if I follow a specific plan of eating… I do my best to eat foods that God created (aka “real foods”), but I am HUMAN and life is crazy.  It just doesn’t always happen.  I struggle with sticking to a budget… I make one every pay period, but it doesn’t work out most of the time.

I am imperfect and always will be.  That’s why God says we can do NOTHING without Him.  That’s why I have to trust Him and His wisdom.  That’s why reading books/blogs/websites about how other people do things doesn’t really do me any good… because I have to ask HIM what He wants me to do.

Funny thing that I’ve realized… just when I think I’ve got something “figured out,” another wrench is thrown in.  Life is life.  I cannot possibly anticipate how things are going to turn out… even tomorrow.  Again, another reason why we have to spend time in prayer and trusting God with every moment.

I feel like I’ve written a similar post so many times… but it takes a LOT of going through the same things over and over for me to learn (and I’m sure I’m not alone).

“Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”  Psalm 46:10

God wants us to cease striving so that HE will receive glory!  When we finally give up control, He can work in our hearts and lives and receive glory and honor!

OH!  And the most important thing of all is that no matter what you do or don’t do Jesus loves YOU.  He loves you when you’ve lost your temper.  He loves you even when you eat that doughnut (or 2, or 3).  He loves you when your house is a mess.  He loves you when your laundry is piled high.  He loves you when you let your kids watch too much TV (am I the only one??).  He loves you when you struggle with sticking to a budget.  He loves you when you are too tired to read with the kids.  He loves you when you say something you shouldn’t have said.  He loves you… He love you… He loves me.  And for that, I am thankful.

Take a deep breath, step back and look at all that you have been blessed and trusted with.  Thank God for those blessings.  Ask Him to give you what you need to do what HE has called you to.  And trust that He will give you the wisdom to do so.  Enjoy each day.  Don’t focus on what you’ve done right or wrong.  Don’t look for a new way to do better.  Just live.

New Creation

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“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” 1 Corinthians 5:17

I’ve written about this recently… but I just had to write about it again.  My life has been changed; the least I can do is bring praise, glory, and honor to my Creator!

“My heart just started beating and Your breath filled up my lungs.  My eyes are finally seeing what You’ve done, and I who I am!
To You, I’m a dead man raised, a liberated slave!  I’m running!  To You, my hands are raised!  I’m giving everything!  I’m running!”  Shane and Shane

Healed, redeemed, delivered, freed from bondage, given power over weakness.  These are just a few words to explain what God has done in me.

I thought that I was destined to struggle with anxiety and depression for life.

It’s hereditary.  It’s a cycle that I will just have to get used to.  It’s just a flaw that I have.

These were the lies that I was told and believed.  I had no idea that God could and would free me!

I am a sinner, but I have been saved by His grace.  I have been given the power that raised Christ from the dead!

“…and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His great might that He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places.”  Ephesians 1:19-20

His power is amazing.  I feel that a miracle has happened in me.

It’s not emotion or feeling.  Some days I feel stressed, frustrated, tired.  It’s not the same.  Even in the midst of the feelings of stress, etc, I have an overpowering joy, peace, and contentment that I have never had before.

Instead of waking up every morning already feeling defeated, I wake up feeling overwhelmed with peace and joy.  I don’t feel that I’m having to use my energy to overcome all day every day.  He has given me the power to overcome.

And the biggest thing of all is that even this isn’t about me.  It’s all for His glory!  Join me in praising Him for the miracle of His power!

It has taken years…

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…to learn who it is that I am… who God created me to be.

I am coming up on my 30th birthday next month, and I feel that this is the year that I am finally going to be living my life… in my own skin… knowing exactly who I am… and loving it!

Something huge that I realized these past few weeks is that I have spent years trying to live the way others did, the way I thought I needed to, and the way that seemed best, because I wasn’t sure who God made me to be and I was insecure in my own skin.  I also lived under this idea that I was some how flawed because of my anxiety, and I allowed that to take over my life.

I’m done with anxiety.  I’m done with depression.  I am choosing to live in the reality that God made me in His image, and there is nothing wrong with me.  I am ME.  I am a flawed human being, living in the power of Christ Himself.  I don’t have to live under the chains of sin and struggle because I have victory in Jesus.  I refuse to walk around thinking that I’m defeated because of my sin and struggle because I’m not.  I refuse to allow a bad day or bad choices to define me, because I am a beloved Child of God and my sins have been forgiven.  I’m free from the chains of sin!

The Lord is the Spirit
Where the Spirit of the Lord is, now
There is liberty
And the Spirit lives inside of me
Where the Spirit of the Lord is, now
There is liberty, there is liberty,
There is liberty

For freedom You set me free
And yes, I am free indeed
You rewrote my name
And shackled my shame
You opened my eyes to see
I am free

When the spirit of the world
Comes to kill me and enslave me I will say
There is liberty
For the chains of sin that once entangled me
Have been broken, now I’m singing ’cause I’m free
There is liberty, there is liberty,
There is liberty

For freedom You set me free
And yes, I am free indeed
You rewrote my name
And shackled my shame
You opened my eyes to see
I am free

The storm rolled in
It was dark in the land
As the Son of Man
Was crucified
You don’t take his life
He laid it down
He paid the price
And shed His blood

It is done!
The veil is torn
He has won
And I am free
And I am free
And I am free
I am free

For freedom You set me free
And yes, I am free indeed
You rewrote my name
And shackled my shame
You opened my eyes to see

For freedom You set me free
And yes, I am free indeed
You rewrote my name
And shackled my shame
You opened my eyes to see
I am free

Shane and Shane, Liberty

One thing that I have been learning and understanding is that freedom doesn’t mean that I am free to do whatever I want… freedom and liberty give me the ability to not allow my sin to rule my life!

Control, Letting Go, Discipling

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I have noticed something.  There are moments in my day when I feel like I can let go.  Let go of control.  Let go of anxiety.  Let go of perfection… and when I do, I feel so weightless.  The moments don’t last long right now, but I feel hope that they will continue to happen more often, and for longer periods of time.

One example is allowing my kids to be loud.  Loud makes me feel like life is chaotic… so I feel the need to control their loudness.  But I can’t.  Obviously.  I mean, they are young kids.  They are loud.  That’s just what they do.

Another thing is running in the house… Levi likes to run.  It’s probably one of his favorite things to do.  There are moments in the day when it’s just easier to allow him to do that… even if it’s inside.  It makes him happy, he’s not being unsafe, it’s physical exercise, and he’s not fighting with Ethan while he’s doing that.

Also, Ethan is very passionate and intense… in everything that he does.  This includes throwing tantrums.  I have always understood that I needed to control him.  But, as I grow, I realize that I am unable to control him… Instead, I have had to learn to teach him to control himself… make “smarter choices”… think about what he’s doing and why he’s doing it… have natural consequences for his actions.  This is probably the area of my life in which I feel the most hope for the first time in a long time.  It’s kind of the “love and logic” way of thinking.  I have such a long way to go because my natural tendency is to try to control him, but I am learning and that’s all I can ask for.  Each day, I have to wake up and decide to make the conscious effort to train and disciple him, not just react… and to choose my battles ;-) .

Again, I have a long way to go, but I am thankful that I have come this far.

I know that God has some amazing things planned.

Spirit-Led Parenting

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I was unsure at first if I wanted to read this book for two reasons: 1) It says that it’s for baby’s first year, 2) I thought that maybe since I didn’t co-sleep or breastfeed (very long) that I would just walk away feeling guilty.

After reading a review of the book from a friend on Facebook, I decided to give it a try.  I ordered it right away.

I have a lot more of the book to go, but I feel like the book was written just for me.

So many of the decisions that I have made since I became a mom have been out of fear and out of what everyone else said/thought/did for their family.  I have gotten better about it, but there are some things that I still struggle with.

As I was laying in bed last night, I “took a step back” and looked at my past, present, and future decisions for my kids.  I quickly realized that there are so many things that I did or felt guilty about because it wasn’t widely accepted among the people that I so often discussed things with.

For example, being that I am a home-birthing mama, there are so many things that are the “norm” in this community, and if I didn’t follow those things exactly, I felt like I was messing up.  I tried co-sleeping with all 3 of my kids.  Why?  Because that’s what home-birthing mamas did (at least that was my impression).  With all 3, I ended up finding that we all slept better when our baby was in a crib, in another room.  Does that make me a bad mom?  No.  It just means that I made decisions based on what worked best for our family.

I also struggled terribly with breastfeeding.  I did just about everything I could to produce more milk without success.  I have insufficient glandular tissue, and there’s only so much that can be done about that.  I tried pumping, herbal tinctures, a supplemental nursing system, etc.  I walked around feeling guilty all of the time.  I felt guilty everytime I pulled a bottle out to feed in public, and I always felt the need to explain my situation (still do, actually).

Through all of the parenting decisions that I have had to make and will continue to have to make, one thing is for sure… there is no “one size fits all” answer.  So many of these things aren’t black and white in God’s word, so we have to seek His will specifically for our family.  Some decisions we just need to base on what works best for us and follow the intuition that God gave us to raise our families.

We have so many more huge decisions to make for our family, and I have decided to ignore the “noise” around me, pray, and discuss things with my husband.

Homeschool vs public school, whether or not to have more babies (birth control decisions), and fostering/adoption are just a few of the major decisions that we will be facing in our near future.  In fact, I think we’ve pretty much made these decisions already… I just keep wavering because of fear and guilt.

The homeschooling one is big for me.  I’m still trying to decide if my desire to homeschool is because I truly feel that it’s right, or if it’s out of fear and guilt.  It’s not a black and white issue, and this truly is a decision in which everyone has a strong opinion one way or the other.  I see both sides, and I see the pros and the cons of both.  But, all of that aside, what is God calling our family to?  What does He feel is best for our children?

I have to take some time to ignore everything around me, fear of man, fear of the unknown, and guilt, and discuss these decisions with Jesus and my husband.

I am hoping to move from fear to freedom as I do this.  I am tired of living in fear and guilt.  That is not the abundant life that Jesus talked about in His word.  I desire to live in peace and joy in this amazing life that God has blessed me with.

Having a Label by What we Eat

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The more I research food, read blogs, and get to know other people who are making better food choices, I find it interesting that most people feel the need to “label” who they are in their food choices.  I’ve done this myself, so I can speak from “experience.”

As I’ve backed off from focusing on it, I’ve found that the best way to live is to not make it about being labeled, making it a part of who I am, or making it a focus at all.  I’ve found that it’s actually easier to just live life, do the best I can, and just eat what I know is best.

I’ve written about this before, but I also get a bit frustrated that there are so many different ways of eating and it depends on who you ask as to what is “best.”  Paleo, Weston A. Price, Vegetarian, Vegan, low fat/no fat/low sugar, and other “fad diets” (Weight Watchers, South Beach, Adkins, etc).

My desire for myself in eating is that I would never be identified as anything.  My identity is not in what I do or don’t eat.  My identity is in Christ.

Because of this, I desire to just eat the best I can, closest to the way God created food for us.  Yes, I sometimes eat junk… but mostly we eat whole foods.  That’s it.  I have tried to follow things to a “T” only to get very frustrated and feeling like a failure all the time, so now I just live life.  Since I wrote the post a few weeks ago about ending my “raw foods fast,” I feel like I’ve finally gotten into a balance with this (for the first time since I started this journey).  Today, we eat what we can afford as we await the sell of our home (our budget is small because side jobs aren’t as plentiful as they once were).  Once our home sells, we can get back to buying more things like raw milk, grass fed beef, etc.  I refuse to spend more on food only to have a husband have to work extra to pay for it.  In the meantime, I do the best I can with what I have, and I don’t feel guilty anymore for not being able to feed my family “perfectly” or a specific way.  I’m enjoying this new found freedom!

The Love of Christ Compels Us

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Well, it is only the 9th, and I’m back on my blog.  Yes, it’s a bit early.  I have decided to end my fast a little early for many reasons, but the biggest is that I have learned that it has almost done the opposite of what I thought it would do.  How you ask?  Well, instead of having coffee, sugar, and soda as idols (like I had mentioned in my post introducing the fast), I have made nutritious eating an idol, yet again.  I have lived and breathed eating “perfectly” and I had a breakdown this morning.  I thought that doing this detox would help me to shed the addictions of coffee, soda, and sugar, and help me to eat only nutritious foods.  Instead, I have come to the conclusion that food should stop being a focus of mine… period.  Food is food.  It is what God has given us to survive.  We should be able to enjoy it.  We should use it to give us energy (which, by the way, I have had little of these past 9 days).  Yes, we should eat as nutritiously as we realistically can (and financially), but it should NOT be something that I live and breathe as a focus in life.  I have spent so much money (that we don’t have right now) to do this raw foods detox… and that does not benefit my family.  It’s ridiculous.

Right now, in this moment, it seems absolutely crazy how quickly it becomes a focus of mine, but it happens very quickly and I don’t even know it is happening until it is consuming me.  You see, this is just part of my desire to be perfect.  I have had this struggle for years and years… and unfortunately, I probably will for a while… until I can truly give it over to Jesus.  I truly thought that I had, then I realized (just this morning) that I have not.  In fact, I’m probably holding onto it tighter than ever.

So, I sat and prayed/processed through some things.  Is my desire to “know Him and make Him known” bigger than my desire to eat perfectly?  Nope.  Is my desire to “know Him and make Him known” bigger than having a perfectly clean home, perfectly behaved children, and have the perfect circumstances?  Nope.

“For the love of Christ controls (compels) us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for Him for their sake died and was raised.”  2 Corinthians 5:14-15

“For it is all for Your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving to the Glory of God.  So we do not lose heart.  Thought our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day.”  2 Corinthians 4:15-16

Everything that I do should come from being compelled and controlled by Christ’s love.  Period.  Everything that I do should come from my desire to give Him glory, and not out of living for myself and my desires.  I’m not there yet.  I don’t think any of us are.  We are all in this “race” together.

I also thought that Facebook and my blog were the reasons for some anxiety and this desire to be perfect/appear perfect (which is why I fasted from them).  Nope.  It’s just me.  My heart.  My heart is ugly.  It’s full of pride.  It’s full of sin.  It has absolutely nothing to do with what others do or say… it is me.  This is the sin that I have to lay at the foot of the cross on a daily basis.  And I know that it will continue to be a struggle until I truly let go and leave it at the cross.

So… I would NOT say that my detox/fast was pointless.  I learned many things, but the two most important are: 1) it reminded me that I will never be able to eat perfectly nor feed my family perfectly… no matter how hard I try and 2) it reminded me that my heart needs to change… nothing else.  The only way that will happen is through continually spending time in close relationship with my Savior.

I almost didn’t want to write this or “announce” that I’m stopping my detox early because of pride, but that would just feed my desire to appear perfect… So… here I am… a broken person in need of Jesus. I can’t do it anymore.

I pray that over time I will truly make my number one desire and goal in life to “know Him and make Him known” as I so proudly share as such.  I’m not sure that I’m there yet… but I hope to one day be.  In the meantime, I will continue relying on Jesus for His power and love… and stop focusing on things that really. don’t. matter.  What does matter?  Jesus.  That’s it.  I hope that you’ll start to see less about food and more about Jesus and His redemptive power on my blog.  That’s what living in this world is all about.  Him.  Loving Him.  Sharing Him.

The name of my blog is This Crazy, Messy Life… embracing God’s grace in the midst of the mess because I know that I am nothing without His grace.  I am embracing it right now as I feel like I’m a broken vessel and asking for Him to restore me for His glory, not my own.  I am nothing without Him.

Today I am also embracing the freedom that comes with His grace to serve Him with joy and peace.

Reality of Homeschooling in Our Home

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I’m so thankful for this short term opportunity to homeschool because it did one thing: show me that homeschooling isn’t for our family.

I have been “fighting” with Robert for years about homeschooling.  I have wanted to, Robert hasn’t.  Simple as that.  So, when I got the opportunity to homeschool this semester, I thought that it would be the perfect chance to show Robert that he was wrong.  Instead, the opposite has happened.  Oops.  Another “ouch” for my pride.

I love teaching.  I feel that teaching is the area where God has gifted me for His glory.  I figured this would be the best way to teach without having to do it outside of the home.  Little did I know, teaching my own children is so much different than teaching others.  It has not gone all that well.

Being a “homeschooling mom” is just not for me, and Karis really needs to be in school.  There’s so much to it, but I will tell you that she did better in a school environment.  We also feel that God has called our family to be involved in the public school system.  If all Christian families home-schooled, then there would be no Christians in the public schools.  I realize that some families believe that’s awful to say, but Robert and I now believe this wholeheartedly.  Everyone is different.  God has called each family to different things.  Isn’t that great?  There’s so much freedom in following His will.  We are not all called to look exactly the same and do the exact same things.  And I finally have peace with that.

Again, if I had not had the opportunity to home-school, I would have never come to this realization.  Robert is thankful for this opportunity as well.  It has been hard, but good.

Can I just say that these past few months have been so good for my pride?

Filling Myself with Him

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“I used to dream of a life so lovely, there’d be no room for tears.  Now letting go… yeah, letting go… it’s the hardest part… it’s the hardest part.
There is no fight left, on the inside.  Maybe that’s where I should be.  I’m giving up trying; I’m giving it all to You.”  No Fight Left by JJ Heller

I realized yesterday, as I was “chewing” on everything that God is teaching me, that I have had this idea that once I get “this, this, and this” in order, everything would be easier and better.  Just like I said in the previous post, I try to fix everything instead of being filled with Jesus.  Through this desire to “fix myself,” I have allowed a cycle to continue that should have been broken several years ago.  I thought it was broken.  But I was oh. so. wrong.

You see, I can’t break the cycle… only Jesus can.  And until I realize that I need to completely fill myself with Him, all day, every day, this cycle will never be broken.  Until I realize that I can’t control this, the cycle will never be broken.

I am going to be intentional about filling myself with Him and His truth and set the other “good things” aside for a while.  Truly, He is the only one that is good… everything else is futile. 

Again, I’m going to spend less time reading other blogs, being on Facebook, and focusing on things that are temporal, and I’m going to spend more time with Jesus and focusing on things that are eternal.  This will not be easy, because my natural inclination is to see what other people say about this or that, and to research ways to become better at this or that.  But, instead of researching worldly things, I need to fill myself with Truth.

What are the “laws” that I’ve created for myself, and the lies from Satan that I believe?

I’m not a good mom unless I feed my children all organic, grass fed, homemade foods.  That I must stick with a budget perfectly or it’s really going to hurt our family.  Because I have struggled with homeschooling Karis, I’m a bad mom and a bad teacher.  Because my house is currently messy, I must be lazy and not a good stay at home mom.  If I don’t follow everything that I have set up for myself to complete each day, I’m a bad wife and mom.  My identity is in what I do, not who I am in Christ.  If I let someone down, I have permanently hurt them.

One thing that I see through all of these “laws” and lies is that it’s all about me.  I have allowed myself to believe that I truly have control in every area, and if something isn’t perfect, it’s my fault.  How selfish.  How prideful.  How untrue.  It’s not all about me as much as I would love to believe that.

Here is some truth to end the post-

Galatians:

“…yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.”  2:16

“For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God.  I have been crucified with Christ.  It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.  And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loves me and gave himself for me.  I do not nullify the grace of God, for if justification were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.”  2:19-21

“For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”  5:1

“For you were called to freedom, brothers.  Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.”  5:13

“But I say, walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.  For desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.  But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”  5:16-18

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control; against such things there is no law.”  5:22-23 (notice it doesn’t say the fruit of the Spirit is a clean house, homemade food, natural living, perfect children…)

“If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.  Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.”  5:25

Watch this amazing video, reminding us of who we are: Liberty (by Shane & Shane and Phil Wickham)

The Lord is the Spirit
Where the Spirit of the Lord is, now
There is liberty
And the Spirit lives inside of me
Where the Spirit of the Lord is, now
There is liberty, there is liberty,
There is liberty

For freedom You set me free
And yes, I am free indeed
You rewrote my name
And shackled my shame
You opened my eyes to see
I am free

When the spirit of the world
Comes to kill me and enslave me I will say
There is liberty
For the chains of sin that once entangled me
Have been broken, now I’m singing ’cause I’m free
There is liberty, there is liberty,
There is liberty

For freedom You set me free
And yes, I am free indeed
You rewrote my name
And shackled my shame
You opened my eyes to see
I am free

The storm rolled in
It was dark in the land
As the Son of Man
Was crucified
You don’t take his life
He laid it down
He paid the price
And shed His blood

It is done!
The veil is torn
He has won
And I am free
And I am free
And I am free
I am free

For freedom You set me free
And yes, I am free indeed
You rewrote my name
And shackled my shame
You opened my eyes to see
For freedom You set me free

And yes, I am free indeed
You rewrote my name
And shackled my shame
You opened my eyes to see
I am free