Days Of Delight Guest Post! - "Freedom" by Hope Bridgeman!

Hey guys, so today, for our first guest post, we have the lovely, Hope Bridgeman!! She is one of the Delight leaders, and also is a dear friend of mine, who I've even had the pleasure of meeting! ❤️ I hope you guys enjoy hearing from her as much as I did! And if you would like to donate to Days Of Delight, here is the link! http://bit.ly/1QWJqwU

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"Originally I was going to write a post about adoration. What it looks like in the midst of a crazy Christmas season to come and adore our Lord. To sit in awe of all that was accomplished through His birth. But today… God led me another way. 

I was reading Colossians for what seems like the 100th time this morning. It funny how you can read something over and over again and something new can just jump off of the page. His word guys… it’s living and active! In reading that this morning, Christ was preparing my heart for a conversation I would have later tonight with a girl who is struggling. We were talking and she said, “I figure at some point I’d have to face all that’s pent up over a while. It has to get worse before it gets better, right?”

That’s when my mind had to stop and think it over. Why does life often have to get worse before it gets better? I want that so badly to not be true, but it absolutely is or else it wouldn’t be a saying that is used as much as it is. Often times in life, when the going gets tough, hang on tight because it’s only going to get worse, right? 

We tend to build up walls as self protection. We feel hopeless and helpless as God knocks those walls down clinging to every brick and trying to rebuild them as fast as He is tearing them down. Things seem worse, because we are losing control that we have fought to hard to try and gain. It gets worse because God is fully bringing us to the end of ourselves. 

Think about walls. Walls not only keep people out, but they keep us in, especially when they are built in a manner to protect. In the bible, the people didn’t build walls only to stand outside of them. They build them to keep others out, and they themselves stayed inside.

The problem with walls is that we are creating more pain for ourselves. We are denying others the ability to enter into our lives. We are denying ourselves the ability to be vulnerable and open with God and those around us. Imagine building a wall and how torn and beat up your body would get! The higher the wall, the more the load of work, and the harder the fall. 

So what are we doing to ourselves when we build walls? We are in a constant state of struggle and work. Even though we have walls, we fear that we are still weak, and that the walls aren’t strong enough, so we wait. We watch. We are anxious. When we do this, we are essentially saying to God that we don’t want the freedom that He has to offer. That we would rather stay in our safe little haven that we have seemingly built for ourselves, than wander in the fields and meadows of His grace and mercy that are new every morning. 

The reality is that the only thing that can protect us and our hearts is Christ and what He accomplished in and through the cross. In tearing down our walls, He offers us freedom in the midst of the struggle and the pain. He offers us grace and He offers us the ability to step outside and breath in the fresh air of life that Jesus came to give when He died on the cross. He offers us rest from striving to have the tallest wall to keep out any pain that may enter. Death and resurrection is what had to happen in order for us to truly be protected. 

What walls have you built that need knocking down? What wall is the Lord currently knocking down and why is it hard for you to let go of, and see it gone? Let Him in tonight. Let Him bring you peace and rest. Building walls is tiring, and not the will of the Jesus. He came that we may have life and have it abundantly! (John 10:10)"