:: Freed to Freer ::

[Lucky you guys!  You get two posts in two days!]

 

“Through you I am saying to the prisoners of darkness, ‘Come out! I am giving you your freedom!‘ They will be my sheep, grazing in green pastures and on hills that were previously bare.

They will neither hunger nor thirst.  The searing sun and scorching desert winds will not reach them anymore. For the Lord in his mercy will lead them beside cool waters.

And I will make my mountains into level paths for them. The highways will be raised above the valleys.

Sing for joy, O heavens! Rejoice, O earth! Burst into song, O mountains! For the Lord has comforted his people and will have compassion on them in their sorrow.“

Isaiah 49:9-11, 13

 

I came across this passage yesterday in my time with God (can you tell Isaiah is my fav book  of the Bible?).  It reminded me of why I wanted to go back to school to get my Master’s in Marital and Family Therapy, even why I went into ministry in the first place.

God, in His grace, has freed me from so much captivity: captivity to an eating disorder, captivity to depression, captivity to anxiety, captivity to negative thinking, captivity to negative behaviors, captivity to obsessive compulsiveness…so much darkness and barrenness in my life.  In this passage He calls those previously freed to become the freers. How can I read this and not respond??  How can I be so unbelievably freed and just watch others drown in captivity??

My prayer is that this passage would reflect who I am as a therapist, that God would use my life to free others, to lead them to LIFE abundant, to lead them to His goodness.

:: Isaiah 40:6-8 ::

6 A voice says, “Cry out.”
And I said, “What shall I cry?”
“All men are like grass,
and all their glory is like the flowers of the field.

7 The grass withers and the flowers fall,
because the breath of the LORD blows on them.
Surely the people are grass.

8 The grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of our God stands forever.”

Carrie Underwood

If you know me, you KNOW I am an avid Carrie Underwood fan! Not just a “listen to a song here or there” fan, but a “listen to each CD over and over and over (and over and over) again until I know every single word and harmony” fan. I just love her to bits, she is so adorable and sweet, and MAN, can she belt it out! I’ve been so happy for her as she’s received recognition for her talent, and especially to see her rise from where she came from in her small town of Checotah, OK to become one of the biggest names in country music.

But then…

Taylor Swift

…comes Taylor Swift. A younger, fresher face. A new voice in the industry. And all of a sudden, she’s sweeping away all the awards and recognition from my Carrie! How dare she! I wanted to hate her. I wanted to hate her music. I refused to listen to her for a year. Eventually, her music broke through my hardened ears. And then I started foot tapping to her music. And then I grew to like it. It’s catchy! And pretty clever, I suppose.

And then the sad reality of Isaiah 40 hit me…”All men are like grass, and all their glory like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall because the breath of the Lord blows on them.” There will always be someone to rise up and be better, more remembered than the biggest thing on the scene now. Taylor Swift came in to swoop away all recognition and glory from Carrie. Soon, a younger, fresher face will replace Taylor Swift. Any glory we achieve on earth is so fleeting and temporary, and unfortunately that’s true even for my favorite artist. Of course, Carrie Underwood will always be my number one. But maybe not the general public’s. In 20 years, will anyone remember her?

So if even celebrities aren’t immune to fallen glory, then what hope do we have? What is the point of all our endeavors, what we are striving so hard to achieve, if someone else will come in easily to sweep away the glory?

“But the Word of the Lord will stand forever.”

It seems that to have lasting and eternal glory, we need to attach ourselves to God’s glory, to find glory in His Word and His works. And He lets us into that, which is more than gracious of Him. But I think the problem is believing that’s a good enough cause and achievement in this world.

God, change our hearts to desire Your glory, the lasting, eternal glory.

Still a Carrie girl, through and through.