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Are you feeling stuck? It seems like most people are feeling that way for one reason or another these days, whether it is physically, mentally, or emotionally. There is a way to live a life of freedom, regardless of the physical circumstances you find yourself in.
This topic is something I have wanted to write about for a while, but I really wasn’t sure exactly how to start. Since it is the fourth of July, typically a day filled with celebrating our country’s freedom, I thought this is the right time. Let’s dive in to how you can have personal freedom in your life.
The Situation
In these uncertain times that we live in, it seems like the world is filled with fear, panic, chaos, worry, and fighting.
All of these negative emotions leave us filled with anxiety and cause us to want to shrink away and hope that it all passes quickly. Many feeling trapped and often alone. 
I have been challenged with these types of feelings myself.
When you spend more time with yourself, it gives you more time to think and reflect. While that sounds like a lovely thing, it is not always a pretty picture.
Everyone reacts differently and therefore the resulting behaviors are not always the same.
In my situation, I found myself going through a wide range of emotions. I do not consider myself to be an exceptionally emotional person and I usually internalize most of my feelings.
This sudden roller coaster that I found myself on was quite unsettling. I found myself reacting to situations in ways that I wouldn’t normally react.
In addition to the range of emotions, extra think time brought up reflection about past life-events.
You quickly move to thinking about all the things you should have done. Or, wondering if you had made a different decision at that one pivotal moment, if your life would have turned out better.
It isn’t any wonder that people turn to numbing behaviors when these feelings and situations permeate our minds and lives. When the feelings come on strong, we look for ways to avoid feeling them.
Numbing behaviors can be defined as anything that we are using to avoid these feelings. It could be turning to food, alcohol, drugs, extreme exercising, sports, social media, etc.
Some of these things are not bad in moderation, but when used as a numbing agent, moderation is rarely present.
As I start to look outside of myself, I see a world where people are living with this type of stress on a regular basis.
For some, the current circumstances have brought it on. For many others, however, this is their life every day.
How Can It Change?
It took a while, but God has really been working on changing the course I was headed on.
He has had to come alongside and remind me that I don’t have to get stuck in negative reflections and emotions. I don’t need to avoid my feelings by numbing them.
He already gave me freedom in my life that extends beyond any circumstance of this world, past or present.
The truth of the matter is that I can’t change things on my own. Without God, there can’t be peace, and there can’t be freedom.
Our Need
We have already talked about some of the issues facing us today and our need to find freedom all that has us stuck.
Part of the reason that we dwell on all the things we have done wrong is because we have all sinned. The Bible states in Romans 3:23, “ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” I want you to know that you are not alone. All means everyone.
To put it simply, we have all broken God’s law (sinned). Take a deep breath. You may be protesting and saying “well I have never murdered anyone. I have never even been to court.”
Let me tell you that is awesome. We might just need to look at a couple of God’s laws that are easy to break and don’t require you to make a court appearance here on Earth.
You can find all of God’s law recorded in Exodus 20. This is commonly referred to as the ten commandments.
I want to highlight just a couple. In verse 15 it says, “You shall not steal.” This law does not specify the size or value of the item.
It does not matter if it is copying someone’s intellectual property or taking gum out of your mom’s purse without asking. Either thing is breaking God’s law.
The second one I want to highlight is found in verse 16. “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” To simplify, don’t lie.
This is another area where we tend to justify having done it based on our reason for doing so. However, there is not a disclaimer on this that says if you lied to protect someone’s feelings it doesn’t count. Any time we don’t tell the truth, it is breaking God’s law.
Yikes! We only visited two commandments and I am in trouble. How did you fare?
So What?
In Romans 5:8 it says, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Christ died for us in order to take away all the sin that we have done and will ever commit.
He paid the ultimate price that every person should have had to pay. This sacrifice gives every one of us the opportunity to have peace with God and allow Him to provide freedom in our lives from all the things that are weighing us down.
Unfortunately, not everyone wants to accept the gift that God has given. It really isn’t hard. Romans 10:9-10 says, “That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
Many want to reject the gift for fear that they will have to change. The thing is, when you think about the list of problems we have in our lives, who doesn’t want a change.
It isn’t an easy path and challenges will still come our way, but it sure helps knowing that God is there to provide the peace and freedom necessary to walk in those challenges.
Freedom
There will be times when emotions want to take over and make you think that you are still stuck, as they did for me. However, there is something comforting about knowing that we are not alone.
God never designed for us to carry these weights and concerns on our own. Once you accept His gift, you have the freedom in knowing that He will help you deal with things and you don’t have to let them rule your life.
It is my hope that you will reach out to God today and allow Him to help you live a of freedom! Enjoy the celebrations that come with celebrating the freedom of our country and may you enjoy this same freedom on a personal level.
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