Most of us spend our lives in this country free.  Of course we have jobs to go to, commitments we need to adhere to and there is always someone to answer to.  But for the most part we live life in the “Land of the Free and Home of the Brave.”

My question for you though is, are you really free?  I know most of us have been brave because of the way this world is today you have to be. There is murder, rape, abuse, slavery, drug abuse, hatred, and war.  There are lairs, thieves, adulterers, gossipers and those that just care nothing of anyone else unless it fits into their agenda.  Of course the agenda.  Whose? The world’s!  If you aren’t busy and aren’t making sure every moment is filled to the brim, there is something wrong with you.  The world makes sure you are so busy that you stop hearing that voice inside of you that screams RUN! Run away, hide… rest in Me! So on some level we all have to be brave.

But freedom, that is another question.  Am I free?  In my country I am free.  In my home I am free.  In Christ I am free.  In my mind however, I am a slave to fear and worry and the agenda… whether the world’s or my own.

We spend so much of our time worrying about what might happen that we never let ourselves rest long enough to hear how He wants to help us.  We are bound by our own prison walls. Does He want us to pack our bags, pick up and run away leaving everyone behind?  For most of us no, He wants us to run to our prayer closets and hide there resting in Him!  We hear things from every side of us.  Newspapers (mostly online now 😉 ), television, the internet, phones, iPads and people all around jockey for position to tell us what we should think, believe, and do.  It is simply overwhelming.

He wants our lives to be so much simpler, so much more peaceful, without a lot of other voices in our heads that want nothing more than to knock us down so they can be elevated and made king of our lives.

The picture above is perfect because it shows simply what I want to do most days.  I want to pack my bags and leave now, leave to a simpler life, one of joy and peace.  Some days I never want to see another living soul and others I know I would die without those I love.  But always I am wanting something simpler.  Sometimes I wonder if the Amish have it right and the rest of us have lost our minds, though deep down I know that just because their lives are lived differently, they have the same demand on their lives from their community that would threaten to drown out the voice of God.

As I sit here and pour my thoughts out onto this page God speaks to me and calms my heart.  He tells me not to leave as the man in the above picture… with his suitcase in hand.  But to run to Him with nothing in hand!  He wants me to let the Holy Spirit provide for my every need and and for me to let Him comfort me.  Jesus already paved the way for me, all I have to do is accept His road and let the Holy Spirit do all the work that I seem to get frustrated with.

What a gift the Holy Spirit is, the Comforter, the Helper, the Healer!  I am so blessed and most of the time I do not see it, do not feel it, and do not even want to recognize it.  But today I do.  And today I run helplessly into the hands of the Holy Spirit and let Him decide what I do next and let Him worry about how it will get done.  Today  I will just keep my eyes fixed on Jesus and that is all I have to do.  That is freedom, simply and fully.

Are you free?  Or are you still bound?

The above was written as part of the Free Write Friday prompt by Kellie Elmore.  Click on the picture below to be part of it too!  Blessings!