To be free is to have achieved your life. –Tennessee Williams
Freedom is an adventure. One like no other, because when you’re free, you never know where life is going to take you – what’s more, there’s no limit on how far you can go. “But I’m not free,” you say.
Oh yes you are. You just don’t know it yet.
Webster’s defines freedom as this: [T]he quality or state of being free: as a: the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action b: liberation from slavery or restraint or from the power of another.
At this very moment, you are free. You are free to choose something better or stay where you are. You are free to let go of the past or let the past continue to control you. You are free to forgive and rise higher or free to hold onto those grudges and be tied to them. You are free to live your life stressed out, depressed, worried, ashamed, afraid, angry, addicted, abused, alone, miserable, and let’s face it, wasting the only life you have, or you can choose to say “it stops here.” And reach for the life you were meant to live.
Notice the definition says liberation from slavery or restraint from the power of another. Who controls your life? Is it you or someone else? Or maybe something else? Perhaps it’s time to find out.
“But you don’t know what I’m up against,” I hear you saying. Let’s run down the top 10 list and see if any ring a bell.
1. I’m so depressed – aka “Life sucks.”
2. My business is failing – aka “I’m broke.”
3. My husband/wife/child is not treating me right.
4. I come from a broken home.
5. I have health problems.
6. I have been abused or I am abusive.
7. I have a drug/alcohol/eating/smoking/sex/gambling/whatever it is problem – aka “If I only had more willpower.”
8. I’m in prison – aka “I have a past.”
9. I’m all alone – aka “No one understands me.”
10. I can’t change. This is just the way I am - aka “I give up.”
Any of those sound familiar?
How many times have you tried everything you know how to change your circumstances, to change your life, and you still come up short? You’ve tried every diet, you’ve tried every self help program there is, you’ve been in therapy for years, you still cry yourself to sleep and you still want that drink and the bill collectors keep calling and frankly, at this point it looks pretty hopeless.
Because it IS.
You heard right. IT’S HOPELESS. STOP NOW.
There. I said it. Believe it or not, this is very good news.
Now for the truth.
The truth is you can’t change your life or anyone else’s -because real change comes from the heart. No matter how hard you try, without some help, you will always come up short.
Why?
Because only God can change a heart.
The good news is, you only have to ask. “God, I’m having a problem with __________. I’m asking you to change my heart.” Then let go of it. It’s God’s problem to solve now. Pretty simple, right?
It is if you can do it.
The problem is that giving up control over our lives and our situations is one of the hardest things in the world to do. Our sense of pride and self preservation takes over and we immediately start trying to fix things ourselves. (If only I had more willpower). We dwell on our problems and we look for ways around them and we wrestle with them until we are plumb worn out. In the end we accept them as a part of life and we move onto our next project -fixing someone else. (This is just the way I am. I give up). The moment you ask God to change your heart and you let go of your own way, He begins to move on your behalf. You may not see it right away. Most of the time you won’t even realize it’s happened until it’s over, but if you believe it, He will. He promised:
“I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. I will
not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake you nor let you down.” –Hebrews
13:5
That’s a pretty big promise. Who couldn’t use a little help from God Almighty himself?
“So, how do I do that?” you ask.
“Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10
Start small. Pick one area that you struggle with and keep asking God to change your heart. Each time you feel yourself trying to take over, ask Him again. Be persistent, but most of all be consistent, then watch what He will do.
The good news? You are free. You no longer have to struggle with changing your life on your own and you are no longer limited by your circumstances. You are taking what is impossible for you and turning it over to The One who makes “all things possible.”
And that, is the truth that will “set you free. . .”
Freedom is an adventure. One like no other, because when you’re free, you never know where life is going to take you – what’s more, there’s no limit on how far you can go. “But I’m not free,” you say.
Oh yes you are. You just don’t know it yet.
Webster’s defines freedom as this: [T]he quality or state of being free: as a: the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action b: liberation from slavery or restraint or from the power of another.
At this very moment, you are free. You are free to choose something better or stay where you are. You are free to let go of the past or let the past continue to control you. You are free to forgive and rise higher or free to hold onto those grudges and be tied to them. You are free to live your life stressed out, depressed, worried, ashamed, afraid, angry, addicted, abused, alone, miserable, and let’s face it, wasting the only life you have, or you can choose to say “it stops here.” And reach for the life you were meant to live.
Notice the definition says liberation from slavery or restraint from the power of another. Who controls your life? Is it you or someone else? Or maybe something else? Perhaps it’s time to find out.
“But you don’t know what I’m up against,” I hear you saying. Let’s run down the top 10 list and see if any ring a bell.
1. I’m so depressed – aka “Life sucks.”
2. My business is failing – aka “I’m broke.”
3. My husband/wife/child is not treating me right.
4. I come from a broken home.
5. I have health problems.
6. I have been abused or I am abusive.
7. I have a drug/alcohol/eating/smoking/sex/gambling/whatever it is problem – aka “If I only had more willpower.”
8. I’m in prison – aka “I have a past.”
9. I’m all alone – aka “No one understands me.”
10. I can’t change. This is just the way I am - aka “I give up.”
Any of those sound familiar?
How many times have you tried everything you know how to change your circumstances, to change your life, and you still come up short? You’ve tried every diet, you’ve tried every self help program there is, you’ve been in therapy for years, you still cry yourself to sleep and you still want that drink and the bill collectors keep calling and frankly, at this point it looks pretty hopeless.
Because it IS.
You heard right. IT’S HOPELESS. STOP NOW.
There. I said it. Believe it or not, this is very good news.
Now for the truth.
The truth is you can’t change your life or anyone else’s -because real change comes from the heart. No matter how hard you try, without some help, you will always come up short.
Why?
Because only God can change a heart.
The good news is, you only have to ask. “God, I’m having a problem with __________. I’m asking you to change my heart.” Then let go of it. It’s God’s problem to solve now. Pretty simple, right?
It is if you can do it.
The problem is that giving up control over our lives and our situations is one of the hardest things in the world to do. Our sense of pride and self preservation takes over and we immediately start trying to fix things ourselves. (If only I had more willpower). We dwell on our problems and we look for ways around them and we wrestle with them until we are plumb worn out. In the end we accept them as a part of life and we move onto our next project -fixing someone else. (This is just the way I am. I give up). The moment you ask God to change your heart and you let go of your own way, He begins to move on your behalf. You may not see it right away. Most of the time you won’t even realize it’s happened until it’s over, but if you believe it, He will. He promised:
“I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. I will
not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake you nor let you down.” –Hebrews
13:5
That’s a pretty big promise. Who couldn’t use a little help from God Almighty himself?
“So, how do I do that?” you ask.
“Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10
Start small. Pick one area that you struggle with and keep asking God to change your heart. Each time you feel yourself trying to take over, ask Him again. Be persistent, but most of all be consistent, then watch what He will do.
The good news? You are free. You no longer have to struggle with changing your life on your own and you are no longer limited by your circumstances. You are taking what is impossible for you and turning it over to The One who makes “all things possible.”
And that, is the truth that will “set you free. . .”
The Butterfly Project© 2009
All rights reserved.
All rights reserved.
