Celebrating Our Freedom

As I reflect on our nation’s Fourth of July celebration and our time together with much of our family, I am so grateful!

Grateful to be an American. What a privilege it is to be born in a nation established under Godly principles, as our pledge proclaims, “One Nation Under God.” Grateful for a God who never gave up on pursuing my heart. Rescuing me from my sin nature and giving me a heart to know Him and surrender to his ways. Grateful for the family He gave me, allowing me to share my faith and love of God with them. And now so grateful for the precious gift of grandchildren. A new role and responsibility that has allowed me to clearly see God’s plan to further His kingdom. Each grandchild another life to influence through pray with anticipation to pass on our legacy of faith in Jesus. I am so grateful for the freedom to share my Godly values with the next generation. I am forever grateful for the new life God gave me through faith in His Son. On the Fourth of July we celebrate our declaration of independence from Great Britain and the freedom to form a new nation. I want to encourage you to take a moment and reflect on the courage of those who fought for our right to be a free and independent nation and those who continue to do so today.  The Fourth of July, a day to celebrate the freedoms we enjoy stated in the Bill of Rights with the first including the most important freedom we have:  the freedom to choose our religion and share it with others. Today as I reflect on the word freedom, I am compelled to share the truth, true freedom is only found in a relationship to Jesus Christ.  God gave us a free will to choose to accept the gift of forgiveness in His Son and surrender our heart and life to Him. The result is true freedom as God then begins to transform our hearts, taking away our desire for our old ways and replacing in us a heart that is like His. The old is gone and the new freedom in Christ, restores and redeems us into the people He intended us to be. Today there are people living in the freest nation in the world and yet they are held captive. Also today there are believers in Christ living in China experiencing incredible freedom that only comes by knowing Jesus. This is true freedom, a gift that only God can give.

John 8:36 says it perfectly, ” If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed!”

I encourage you to walk in the freedom that only Christ can give.