Finding Freedom

I'll start with a happy picture to offset this icy day. A cute little bird sunning himself (it's hi res, so clicking=big) :

Have you ever had a recurring dream?

If you have, you can relate to me.

I have a dream that pops up every so often. When I tell it to others, it's laughable in the circumstance it presents. I'll spare you the details.

However, when I'm going through the dream, it's a nightmare. I think this dream is revealing one of my greatest fears.

My greatest fear is not death.
It isn't pain.

It's not even in the list of top fears:

1. fear of snakes
2. speaking in public 
3. heights 
4. being closed in a small space 
5. spiders and insects 
6. needles and getting shots
7. mice 
8. flying on a plane 
9. dogs
10. darkness
11. crowds
12. going to the doctor 

My nightmares consist of having no free will.
Try as I might to speak my opinion/preference, my voice is cancelled out by louder foes. I have no control, no say. I look on helplessly.

(**Disclaimer** this loss of control hasn't happened in reality, my parents have always listened to me, loved me, and I am given freedom to make decisions.)

This dream of the subconscious speaks volumes about me and the way I tick. 

Herein lies one contradiction of my personality: I'm a push-over/pleaser-type, yet I highly value my independence and freedom of choice. 

I love it when I can do something to serve others, but when it gets into the realm of becoming a doormat, I can't take it. 

You may be thinking, "What about giving up to God?".  

You have a point there. 

This is totally apart from that. In my weak humanity, freedom is what I cling to. Losing it is what I fear. 

In the strength of the Spirit, I choose to serve God, and that makes all of the difference. I trust Him implicitly, and He knows what is best for me. 

He is all that is good, He is perfect. He loves me. I know that I am His totally and irrefutably, because I have chosen to be His. 

The funny thing is that by choosing to give it all to Him, I have chosen freedom for myself. 

He promises that He will set me free. If He has set me free, then I am free indeed.   

This fills me with such hope. Again and again, God promises freedom:


"You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love."
Galatians 5:13


 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
   because He has anointed me
   to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
   and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
   to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”


~Luke 4:18-19, Jesus speaking.