Today's Thoughts On Freedom

I always knew that there was something greater than me, a God who created the universe and everything in it, including me. I believed at a young age that God had a purpose and plan for my life. But fear made me doubt that God’s design for my life would give me the life I wanted. So like Jonah, I ran from God’s will for my life. 

This created a void in my life that could only be filled by a relationship with my Creator. I tried to fill this void with other things, pleasures and distractions that would provide escape from the misery and pain that reality without God in my life brought on, from the truth that my will led only to destruction. Before long, I became swallowed up and enslaved by the very things that I turned to for refuge. 

I knew that I would die if I did not escape the prison that I had created for myself. In desperation I turned to God for help, I admitted that there existed no victory for me in my own will, in my own strength. I surrendered to His will, way and purpose. When I did, God gave me the direction and power to escape my bondage. He set me free. I discovered more than freedom through defeat. The truth is that the will and purpose of God for me had been nothing to fear. It gave me everything that I had ever desired. 

No, I don’t mean money or glory or many of the surface trappings of what we often see as “the good life,” but rather it gave me the treasures that lie beneath those ideas. God gave me what I truly desired over and beyond what I could imagine, especially from the darkness of the dungeon that had swallowed me and held me bound. I found love, peace and joy. 

The life worth living that I thought I ran toward when I rebelled from my Creator, insisting that my way would be better became a reality only when I quit running from God and began running to Him. God’s purpose is better than anything we can do on our own. Today I will remember that while my way may appear better or more enjoyable, history has proven time and again that it never is. Today I will run to Him and make my purpose His purpose. By doing so I will find another day worth living, another day that ends in contentment, one more day filled with love, peace and joy. How much of these three treasures I find today will depend on how completely I am able to surrender this day to His will and His care. You too can enjoy victory and a life worth living today by surrendering and trading your will for His.