In our daily reading we came to John 8 and verse 32: “You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free.”

As I thought about this, I realized that the Truth sets us free as a process. In my own life I can see important steps in this as He led me out into progressive freedom. Here are some of the steps in chronological order

Freedom to surrender to the Lord

Freedom from self and sin (an ongoing process)

Freedom from wrong thinking

Freedom from depression

Freedom from loneliness,

Freedom from holding on to things too tightly,

Freedom from fear of losing family

Freedom from not liking holidays

Freedom from fear of being home alone in the dark

Freedom from the desire to have a position, power, praise.

Freedom from doing things always the same,

Freedom to give thanks in all things.

Freedom to move into old age with thankfulness.

Freedom to let go, hold on, rise above.

. At times I’ve asked, “Why didn’t he give me this freedom earlier? Why did He wait til I was 50 before freeing me from my dislike of holidays? This is where trust comes in: He has his reasons.

Our part is to press on and respond to His showing us the next step in freedom and to move into it, often with repentance and a deeper surrender. This means following Hebrews 12:1-2, “Let us lay aside every weight and sin that so easily entangles us and run with endurance the race that is set before us (like our boy Nat in the crpsss-country picture here), looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.”.

In God’s Kingdom, he who finishes the race wins!