Saturday, September 30, 2006

FREEDOM IN CHRIST

I had a lot of opportunity for experiencing and seeing freedom in Christ this weekend. First, I watched the movie "The Woodsman." It is about a man who gets out of prison as a sex offender and truly wants to be free from the perversion that grips him. He does begin to find freedom and discovers that he is able to resist sin. It's an intense but good movie. Then I also went to a course at Covenant Seminary on eating disorders. The content of the course will be a whole nother blog, but right now I want to mention the fact that so many women struggle with this and long to find freedom from finding their worth in their appearance. Or long to find freedom from needing to use food to numb their pain or kill their heart so they won't feel. And it is possible to find this freedom by realizing that Jesus is enough. That's a big truth to discover, but it is true and can be discovered. One of the most beautiful statements of the class was a story about a man who was letting his wife know how beautiful she is. And we women so long to be seen as beautiful. I am a woman and know this desire so well. This woman in the story struggled with an eating disorder, and as her husband told her about her beauty, he said, "I love your legs because they walk with me through life. I love your arms because the hug and hold me. I love you stomach because it carried out children. I love your hands because they so lovingly serve me." That's freedom from seeing beauty as the world portrays it in magazines. Freedom - such a glorious thing.

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

DEATH

My friend's husband died a week ago. He died on their 7 month anniversary. It took our whole Body to help me have hope in the midst of it all. The day after he died, we just wanted to be together, so 5 of us families got together for dinner and to talk about how we'd miss him. Tons of my friends helped me with arrangements, tons of my friends called to check on me or give me a hug. And then we all grieved together at the funeral where we remembered that we can KNOW that OUR REDEEMER LIVES! You know, its right that death is hard, because it is awful. Its a part of the fall of the world, and Jesus had to come to conquer death. But then also Satan and death have not won and will never win. Through everything hard in life, whether it be a friend dying or whatever, God is always the biggest and always holds me in his hand.