Slaves No Longer

I was at the gym this afternoon and I like to listen to worship music when I workout. (Although sometimes it is sooo hard for me not to sing out loud in the middle of the gym!) Today was one of those days... a song came on my ipod that I have listened to bunches of times but it spoke really loudly to me this afternoon. It talks about how Christ has opened blinded eyes to see, that He has set the captives free and it got me to thinking... We as believers really forget that. That we aren't captives anymore. I think we really forget that we aren't slaves to sin any longer. When He came, he came for our freedom. Yet we sit in the middle of our sins and struggles and our chains like we haven't been given our freedom yet. But if we are believers, He has already set us free! We have been granted our freedom and our lives don't look like it.
I will be really transparent in this blog. I have been struggling with bitterness in my life. And I've been begging God to help me, to take it away, to give me a loving heart. And when I heard this song today, I literally heard God say to me.." Lori, you are already free. I bought you with a price. You aren't a slave to this. Let it go."
It was like the heavens had opened in the middle of the gym.
So I came home and looked up some verses about freedom and I wanted to share them.
Psalm 34:22 "God pays for each slave's freedom, no one who runs to him loses out."
Romans 6:14" Sin can't tell you how to live. After all, you're not living under that old tyranny any longer. You're living in the freedom of God."

I love that.. sin can't tell me how to live! I'm living in the freedom of God.

Let this be a reminder to you..whatever you're dealing with.. being prideful, being envious, lust, bitterness, not being content with your life, whatever.......you don't have to stay chained to it. You've already been set free. Just get up and walk away. Sin can't tell you how to live anymore. And if you run to Him, you won't lose out. Those are promises straight from His Word.

Here is a link to the song "God of the Redeemed"

A little perspective

When I think about relationships, at least relationships in my life, the word "jaded" comes to mind. I don't think you can deal with people, friends, etc. for very long without becoming somewhat jaded. People are human and are flawed and therefore they disappoint you. I can promise you if you are in a relationship with a person, you WILL be disappointed in some capacity.
In the past, I have dealt with my disappointments in people in various ways. I have gotten hurt and continued to let that person hurt me over and over again without standing up for myself. I have gone to the other extreme and completely shut down to new friendships and relationships. And then through some life experience, soul-searching, and wisdom from others, I now find myself in a place of happy-medium.
This past semester, I did a psychiatric rotation for nursing school and I had the priviledge of sitting through some incredible group therapy sessions. In those group therapy sessions, I met and listened to flawed people. People that had abused drugs and their families. People who had been abused by family members and close friends. People with addictions. People with anger issues. What I learned in those sessions is that I am not really that different from "those" people. I have my own insecurities. My past experiences have shaped me just like their experiences have shaped them.
What I gained out of those sessions was some understanding. Some perspective. That we all have our issues. We all disappoint people on some level. We all are flawed.
So this past week when I found myself feeling disappointed by someone, I had to take the time to remember that this person had their reasons for being the way they are. This person is flawed and so am I.
A little perspective can go a long way. Relationships are hard. But if we remember we all are flawed people, it becomes much easier to make allowances for others. It is hard to put yourself out there and know you will be disappointed or hurt by someone, but relationships are worth the risk, worth the hurt, worth the growing pains. We were created to be known, for relationships, to connect.

A Fragrant Life

I love things that smell good. Perfume, flowers, a clean house, freshly folded laundry, the smell of fall in the air. It's funny how sometimes you smell a particular smell and it brings back a memory just as sure as you were standing in that very place again. Sometimes things smell really bad. I work in a hospital and I smell some really horrible smells. Things that I won't go into detail about. :)
In my life, I have been told that my attitude stinks. I think probably at one time or another we all have been told that. If we haven't been told that, someone has probably thought it about us. I know I have been around people who's attitude stinks. It isn't pleasant. It really is like a bad smell that infects the air around them. It affects the attitudes of the people around them.
As believers, we have a smell. The Bible actually says so. In 2 Corinthians 2:14 "Through us, he brings knowledge of Christ. Everywhere we go, people breathe in the exquisite fragrance."
Do our lives smell exquisite? I hope mine does. Sometimes it stinks but I really hope that sometimes it smells good to the people around me.

The Broken are Beautiful

I have broken several bones in my life. I broke my wrist in 4th grade walking.. yes.. that's right. walking. I tripped over my feet, fell, and broke my wrist. You are probably wondering why on earth I would admit to that?? I also broke my right foot in a golf cart accident on my 19th birthday. Then I broke my left ankle playing kickball with some youth. Then the following summer, I broke my right foot again falling down the stairs. I am a very clumsy girl. And it's sort of embarrassing.
What I have learned by all these accidents and broken bones, is that it hurts. When you break a bone it is really quite painful. Even after it heals, sometimes that bone aches.
I think our lives are alot like that. We make choices that leave us broken. Sometimes life just leaves us broken, circumstances leave us broken. And it hurts. We are left with a lot of hurt. And when we are sitting in the middle of that hurt, we can't see anything good that could ever come out of that situation. But I think that when God looks at us in our broken state, He sees something beautiful. When we are strong, we don't realize our need for Him. When things in life are going great, we think we can make it on our own. But when we are broken and weak, we are desperate for Him. I can think of many times in my life when I really thought my life was over, that nothing good would ever happen to me again (sounds dramatic right??). Guess what? I was wrong. God had plans for me all along. He still does. He still has plans for me. And in my brokenness, in my weakness,He orchestrates those plans because my self isn't getting in the way anymore.
Psalm 51:17 "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God you will not despise."
He loves a broken spirit because it has a desperate need for him.
He comes to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives, to release prisoners from the darkness, to give comfort to those who mourn, to make beauty out of the ashes of our lives...(Isaiah 61)
God can turn the brokenness of our lives into something extraordinarily beautiful if we just let him.