Being Free

I think I’ve always known that I was a hippy. Not like a crazy, tree hugging hippy. But more of a free spirit. There’s always been a want inside of me to discover new places, and try new things, and feel free to do so. And I don’t know why the Lord has been revealing this to me this past week, but for so long I’ve been suppressing it. I’ve been pushing down this spirit of freedom rather than just letting it out. In so many areas of my life I’ve walked with like a spirit of timidity without even knowing it. Always being concerned with pleasing people or worried about what other people think. And I know that sounds so petty,  but the Lord revealed to me this week what a stronghold all this has had on me for my entire life. I’ve never realized it but realistically I’ve been operating out fear instead of freedom. 

The Lord specifically tells me that I am free. He says in Galatians, “It is for freedom that Christ sets you free.” “Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom” (2 Corinthians 3:17) and the Spirit lives inside of me. And one of the best reminders of all: ” Therefore there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:1-2). Praise the Lord, because he continues to tell us how free we are all throughout His word. I keep thinking, “why I have been so afraid to walk in this freedom that I know I have?” I’ll admit that for a long time I have been listening to who other people say I am, and have been allowing the influence of others to determine a lot of my actions. But the Lord tells me that I am so much more than this world has been telling me I am and I haven’t been listening! I am free to be everything that I have been told I am not! I am free to run and dance and sing and play and it’s okay because I’m a daughter of the Living God and He tells me I’m free! This all sounds so simple, but the Lord has completely been shaking my heart up. 

This week I was teaching English at a bilingual elementary school, and I realized that I’m  free to be a teacher because the Lord says I can be. I am free to pour into the boys on this property because the love of the God who set me free lives inside of me. I’m free to declare freedom over these Hondurans because the Lord has already set them free. And I want to walk in my own freedom so that I can know how to better declare freedom for these people. 

The Lord is so good. So, so good. And He only wants good for His children. This week the Lord has been telling me to let my hippy out. It’s an active choice to listen to who other people say you are, and I want to start listening to the opposite. Everyday I’ll have to have battle off the lies I’ve believed for myself for so long, and actively choose to live in freedom. But I would rather choose to be a hippy everyday from now on than continuously live in fear. I want to ask the Lord to continue telling me who I am. I want to step out and declare that I’m capable to do everything I’ve thought I  couldn’t do and be the things I’ve believed I couldn’t be. I don’t ever want to miss out on who I am in Christ, because if I miss out on who I am in Him, I miss out on everything.