So it’s been several days since I felt inspired to write but now I am anxious to get back into it. So we left off at the end of the retreat, where I was just overjoyed with the new freedom I had just found and overwhelmed by God’s amazing provision and love. 

  So I leave that retreat a completely changed person, I am serious, I felt and even thought like a new person, I can’t put into words how much change entered my life.  And I think i mentioned in the previous post that I went into this retreat with the mindset of ‘having my life together’ and God uprooted it all in a good way.  Thank you Jesus!! 

  And so, I am now going back home, back to life as I had known it before, yet it was completely different now.  After a couple days of being home, I knew that what God was asking me to do, was not going to be accomplished by mere human strength, but only by leaning on Him and allowing Him to do His work.  I knew I needed to be obedient and meet with the very person who had caused me much pain in my life, God gave me two things to tell him.

I needed to tell him that I forgive him and that God loves Him. 

 I will always remember that ride to meet with Him, the Song, No Longer Slaves, was playing as I drove and the words just ministered to my Spirit and I just wept. 

You split the sea
So I could walk right through it
My fears were drowned in perfect love
You rescued me
And I could stand and sing
I am a child of God…

 I knew then, that as difficult as it was going to be to face this person, God was going to provide a way to share the Love of JESUS with him. 

 We met and the tears flowed freely as we talked,there was tremendous healing in the words,”I forgive you” and “I am so sorry, for all the hurt and pain I caused you”. God did a work in my heart and Spirit, as broken as I felt, I could feel God’s love surrounding me and His hand upon me. 

I am surrounded
By the arms of the father
I am surrounded
By songs of deliverance

We’ve been liberated
From our bondage
We’re the sons and the daughters
Let us sing our freedom

   And to this day, every time I hear this song, I rejoice in how it ministered to me that day.  That day, the chains of fear that had held me captive for so many years, were broken and I was FREE!!! 

 No longer did I have to feel that I was the one responsible for having caused myself so much pain. Neither did I think that I was the one that deserved the abuse, cuz of who I was!! The enemy had to flee, cuz where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Freedom!!! 

    My heart continued to heal, the dry bones were coming back to life, and there was Freedom! Thank you Jesus!! 

 But there’s more…. 

 Thankful for Redemption! 

Vinny