Freedom!

John 8:36 (NASB) ~ So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.

A year ago, I was in bad physical health. I had severe joint pain that limited my mobility and I had developed extreme gastrointestinal issues.  This was all on top of my barely controlled diabetes.  I had allowed myself to get into a position that was hindering my life and got to a point where I was missing parts of my life that were extremely important to me. Especially being able to serve God in the way He was asking me to serve Him.  I have a bad food addiction, particularly to sugar, but really to all foods that are bad for me.  With the joint pain I was having, all I wanted to do was sit in my recliner when I got home from work.  That led to me having issues with just walking in my day-to-day life.  I was miserable.

One day after missing a very important event due to some gastro issues I sat down and cried out to God.  I wanted to be released from what felt like a prison I had created for myself.  I had been praying for years for His help with this addiction. I knew it was an addiction, but I didn’t know how to get released from it.  That day when I cried out God gave me an answer.  He said you need to start memorizing scripture. Starting with the armor of God in Ephesians 6.  Now, I’ve NEVER been able to consistently memorize scripture.  But I knew something had to change in my life, and this was the answer I had received from God.  I asked for His help in this memorizing challenge.  I started with Ephesians 6:10-17 and it actually came very easily with God’s help.  Next, He told me to take one passage from each chapter in Ephesians to memorize.  I went through all the other 5 chapters and memorized Ephesians 1:16-19, Ephesians 2:10, Ephesians 3:16-21, Ephesians 4:1-3, Ephesians 5:6-17 and recently Psalms 23.  As I started to memorize them, I would repeat them every morning on my way to work.  This set my mind for the day on Him and against the things that were destroying my body. 

My problem my whole life has been I eat my feelings, happy, sad, depressed, no matter the emotion.  I either want to cover it up or celebrate it.  I always heard, “You deserve this!”  But each thing I thought I deserved was slowly killing me.  I began to walk, even with pain. I started slow and eventually found myself without the crippling pain.  I gave up sugar, fried foods, caffeine (ugh!) and all the other food I knew was not good for me.  Now, I have them occasionally, but I know immediately when I do because my body revolts. This has been one of the most difficult things I’ve ever had to do physically.  Each day when I know it’s time to exercise I have to push myself to do it.  There are days that I am just exhausted, or hurting or just busy.  But I know if I don’t push myself, I’ll give up completely and I cannot do that to myself.

A year ago, I started planning Chuck and I’s ultimate bucket list adventure.  We had been talking about going to Glacier National Park since we took a trip to Yellowstone 3-4 years ago.  On that trip I was unable to do anything that Chuck wanted to do. He is a born adventurer. Hiking 5-10 miles is fun for him. Really anything out in nature.  On our Yellowstone trip I was lucky to be able to walk a few hundred yards without wearing out. Pretty much all we were able to do was drive around and look at what could be seen from the road.  He told me when we started planning the Glacier trip that was not fun for him, that he wanted to do some hiking.  As I started my walking, I started asking God to help me condition my body to be able to do hikes with my husband.  I knew it was important to him and honestly, I’ve always been the type that wants to see the places most people don’t get to see.  I’d just never been able to get to those places before.  So, I started pushing myself.  Around March or April, I started lifting weights and doing inclines on the treadmill.  I was determined to be able to do these hikes with Chuck. 

I started researching short hikes, because I knew that I wasn’t ready for 5-10 miles. I don’t know if I’ll ever be ready for those.  But I found hikes that I thought sounded possible for me. I had 1 or 2 hikes in each area we were planning to visit.  The hardest without a doubt was Hornet’s Lookout in the Pollbridge area.  Straight up for 1 mile.  I almost gave up, but as Chuck went ahead to see how  much further it was, I sat on a stump and had a chat with God.  I said, “God, this is more than my body can do”.  His loving answer to me was, “No Christy, I want you to see that if you push through the fatigue and pain what you can accomplish. Sometimes, you just have to keep pushing.”  At that point I got up and started moving upward again.  Chuck met me right at the tree line and he said, “It’s only 100-200 more yards.”  We went through one tree line and just as we entered the second one, I could see the little cabin at the top.  I let out a loud, “HALLELUJAH!” and almost ran up the remaining 100 yards.  I have NEVER been one to push myself physically.  Spiritual, emotionally, yes.  But not physically.  If it gets too hard, I quit.  Having a husband that pushes himself every day has definitely helped.  He gave me advice, told me to just go slow and take breaks when I needed to.  He was my encourager every step of the way on that trip.  We did one hike every day when we were there.  I was able to see things and experience the beauty of God’s creation with the man that I love.  It was an incredible experience! 

However, that was not the only reason I started this new journey.  I know there are things that God is asking me to do that I would not be able to do in my past physical condition.  I was hindering God’s plan for my life with my unhealthy lifestyle.  My biggest fear in life is getting to heaven and realizing there were things God wanted me to do for Him that I didn’t do.  I want to get the entire bag of blessings that He has planned for me to receive.  This whole journey all started with God telling me to memorize His word.  That is our weapon.  God’s word is what we fight with and how we become victorious.  I had lived under the yoke of the enemy’s lie of “I deserved it!”  Whatever unhealthy decision I was making at the time.  God’s word broke through those lies.  What I deserve is to live a joyous, healthy, full out life serving God and enjoying the things that God intended me to enjoy.  His word is what broke me out of the prison I had created for myself.  I am free and Praise God, I can remain free from that yoke as I use His sword!

My next challenge, Chuck told me he wants to go on horse backing trips! Pray for me! :)