FREEDOM FRIDAY 
(5/14/21)

Are you experiencing a slump in your faith?

Feeling lukewarm?

Missing the fire?

Covid19 with its quarantine and staying away from people has really messed with our faith life. We haven’t been able to gather as a community to study the scriptures, hold prayer meetings, and share in fellowship.
I know that many have backslidden in their connection with God and are feeling dry and lost. You feel the void in your spirit but you can’t seem to get out of the slump. While things are slowly opening up most faith gatherings are not in full swing yet.

So, what can we do about it while we wait?

The truth is that while we absolutely need community around us it should not be the only source that feeds us.
The scriptures tell us that the deeper we press into God, he continuously infuses us with strength and encourages us in every way. We can absorb faith through our devotion to Jesus and it will enrich us.

We need to practice being alone with God.

Let me give you some suggestions that might help.

​Make it personal.

Get creative.

Think about how you would spend time with a friend and use that same thing to spend time with God.
It will become a Holy Addiction for you. More addicting than your phone and TV.

Be intentional!

Listen to the 9 minute video and receive the prayer at the end

Please leave your questions and comments below.
​
If this video helped you, please click the thumbs up icon.

Let your brain BLOOM!

I hope this 5 minute video inspires you for Mother’s Day and Mental Health Awareness Month.

Use God’s Word to transform your mind.

Give the gift of God’s Word to help transform someone else’s mind.

Please give this video a "thumbs up" if it was helpful.

Leave questions and comments below.

Happy Mother's Day!

​Speak out at least 3 of these scriptural affirmations every day!

THE BODY REMEMBERS
 
I felt inclined to add to last week’s Emotional Freedom topic and elaborate a little more on how emotional distress affects our physical bodies. Unfortunately, this is a subject that isn’t discussed and yet is vital for freedom to be complete.
We are not just a spirit being. We have a body and a mind. All three work together for wholeness therefore all three must be addressed.
Once again, I am not a mental health therapist or a physical therapist and I’m certainly not a scientist, but I am a Holy Spirit filled woman who has spent years encountering God, studying and teaching His Word and receiving His healing and freedom mentally, emotionally and physically.
His Word has healed me and set me free mentally by completely transforming my mind to think more like Him and to help others rise out of the muck of this world and into the realm of Truth. The Holy Spirit has healed me and set me free emotionally by helping me experience Him through the bible, worship, adoration, the sacraments, and faith filled men and women.
Being set free physically, however, has been a slightly different experience.

 A few years ago, when I was experiencing physical pain in my body, He led me to Myofascial Release Therapy. This form of therapy helped me more than any other I had tried. I worked diligently with my therapist Michelle Corson and committed to working on myself at home using the techniques she showed me. Michelle also took the time to teach me about the body’s connection to emotional trauma, distress, and the deep wounds that others inflict on us. She encouraged me to invite God into my therapy time, to allow Him to reveal what emotions might be trapped in the painful areas, and then to release it. She also explained that it wasn’t always necessary to know this information if it wasn’t revealed but to flow with the release of my body non-the-less. The healing didn’t happen overnight, but I learned how to open up to what my body was trying to tell me through pain.

I have experienced great healing and freedom in every area of my body. I have also gained a fuller understanding of how our bodies speak to us and how entwined our emotions, fears and wounds are with physical pain. It was on Michelle’s table that the revelation of “the body remembers” came to me. As this wisdom entered my mind, I immediately knew that God had pressed the ENTER button on his computer and the download on how emotional distress affects our bodies had begun to enter my brain. A few days later I wrote it all in a poem. I hope this helps you connect the dots for you.
 
The Body Remembers By: Ivonne Sherman
The body remembers
The body remembers
The body remembers it all.
The body remembers
every time we were scolded by our parents.
It holds on to the disappointment.
The body remembers
the bullies at school and how insignificantly stupid they made us feel.
It holds onto it with a tight grip of protection.
The body remembers
the heartbreaks of life
and holds them as sacred.
The body remembers
The manipulation and the emotional abuse.
It guards it with every breath.
The body remembers
the physical and sexual abuse.
It chooses to bury the reality of the pain only causing it to burrow itself
into every fiber of our being that holds us together.
The body remembers
The faithless times, the murders, the lies, the isolation.
It remembers so vividly that it chokes our movement, restricting the freedom
that we were meant to move with.
The body remembers it all.
It learns to hold the memories, trapping them into enslavement.
Bound by chains, the slaves become madden and crazed.
They scream and press against the bars of their prison cells.
Reaching their hands out they beg for freedom through the expression of pain.
_____________________________
Oh, my dear body,
I hear you.
I hear the screams of the memories stored within you.
I see the chains that have enslaved you.
I choose to release you from the bondage of slavery
and nurture you back to health.
I will remember and I will forgive,
for forgiveness is the key that unlocks the chains.
As the chains begin to drop, I will help you walk.
If you can’t walk, I will carry you and lay you on a bed of flowers.
There I will kneel by your side and seek the face of God, for he will help me
nurture you back to health.
I love you, my body.
After today I will help you remember the good moments, and as I wipe the tears
from your eyes I will help you see the beauty that surrounds us right now.
 
If Myofascial Release Therapy isn’t your thing, then at the very least… MOVE. Movement is critical. Allow your body to express what you’re feeling.
For example: if you’re angry let it out through some form of physical exertion. If you’re sad move your body to music that is uplifting and soothing. It doesn’t have to be a dance just move in the direction your body takes you or go for a walk while listening.
Finally, invite the Holy Spirit into all of it.

Resources:
Pain Free & Empowered Facebook group
Comprehensive Myofascial Self Treatment Book by Joyce Karnis, PT

What topics would you like me to cover?

Please leave your questions and comments below. 

 First of all, I want to make sure you know I am not a therapist, nor do I pretend to be. I do however know a few good ones that I am happy to refer you to if you need their guidance.

(If you have suffered abuse and have experienced any form of trauma, I encourage you to seek out a good therapist to help you process and heal. Please don’t try to do this alone.)

What I am going to share here is what I understood the Holy Spirit wanted to communicate when I asked Him about this subject.
I would say this is a spiritual response to the question.

Emotional freedom has a lot to do with sin. Our own sin and the sins of others.

What is sin? In my own words I would say,

“sin is when we come out of alignment with God’s desires for our own good and the good of others and act in that misaligned manner.”

Philippians 4:8&9 gives us an example of how God wants us to act.

8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 Keep on doing what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me. Then the God of peace will be with you.
 
Notice the last sentence of that scripture, “Then the God of peace will be with you.” The operative word there is, “then.” This is NOT saying that unless we behave in this way God won’t be with us. It’s saying we won’t be able to access God’s peace, which is supernatural.
Why, you ask? Because doing the opposite of these things creates a web that tangles us in the bondage of lies, judgments, selfishness, anger (lashing out at those closest to us), lust (disordered passions), laziness, and mediocrity.
We will never find peace and emotional freedom among these.

If we look at emotional freedom from this perspective, we see that it is also a choice and that there is work to be done on our part.
This work requires a re-training of the mind and the will. Romans 12:2 tells us to be transformed by the renewal of our minds. The rest of the chapter details what this transformation is. I encourage you to read all of Romans 12 in the Bible. 
( I included the scripture below. I encourage you to read it.)


Sacrifice of Body and Mind. 1 [I urge you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship. 2 Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.
Many Parts in One Body. 3 For by the grace given to me I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than one ought to think, but to think soberly, each according to the measure of faith that God has apportioned. 4 For as in one body we have many parts, and all the parts do not have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually parts of one another. 6 Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us exercise them:[ if prophecy, in proportion to the faith; 7 if ministry, in ministering; if one is a teacher, in teaching; 8 if one exhorts, in exhortation; if one contributes, in generosity; if one is over others] with diligence; if one does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
Mutual Love. 9 Let love be sincere; hate what is evil, hold on to what is good; 10 love one another with mutual affection; anticipate one another in showing honor. 11 Do not grow slack in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, endure in affliction, persevere in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the holy ones, exercise hospitality. 14 [Bless those who persecute [you], bless and do not curse them. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 Have the same regard for one another; do not be haughty but associate with the lowly; do not be wise in your own estimation. 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil; be concerned for what is noble in the sight of all. 18 If possible, on your part, live at peace with all. 19 Beloved, do not look for revenge but leave room for the wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20 Rather, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head.” 21 Do not be conquered by evil but conquer evil with good.

There are different methods used to re-train the mind but the one that has helped me has been to find the scriptures on what it is I want to transform my mind on and then spend weeks speaking them out loud until I believe them. Google works great for finding specific scriptures.
Here’s a website that can help you. https://www.openbible.info/topics/who_i_am 
 
Re-training the will is another story. This takes active choices and God’s grace (help). 
It is also necessary to be gentle and kind to ourselves when we make mistakes. Forgiving ourselves and getting back up and trying again.
Keep choosing what is right and good and keep asking the Holy Spirit to help you. I promise, He will.
 
Other people’s sins affect our emotional freedom because they can incite the wrong reactions in us (anger, fear, pain, confusion etc.). Unfortunately, we don’t have much power over other people’s choices, but we do have the power to change our negative reactions into responses that are filled with wisdom, kindness, and love through the process of transforming ourselves.

It is not easy but the more we work on ourselves the better we can handle everything that’s thrown at us.

Please leave your questions and comments below.
 

FREEDOM FRIDAY
(SURRENDER)
 
Surrendering is a choice. It takes humility, trust, an understanding of God’s love, and faith in knowing that He wants our good and nothing less.
These four things come by way of,

• Spending time in God’s presence and dialoging with Him.  Not just talking but listening to Him as well. (This can be another subject to discuss here)
• Reading and studying His Word the Bible. We will never know the character of God, the promises He’s made us or how much He loves us until we read about Him and what’s he has said. (we tend to believe a lot of things about God that are not true)
• Getting involved in a community of believers to grow with and walk life with by going to church, joining a bible study class or a prayer group.
• Practice surrendering daily.

We tend to think that we have to worry about something in order to keep it from happening or to make it happen. It’s really a form of control. We believe that unless we worry or continually think about it we will lose control over it.

We must do our part (surrender) and let God do His (take it and fix it). We can choose to stop getting in His way.
Sometimes we surrender something and then “worry” steps back in. This is a part of being human.

Just like anything else surrendering takes practice and we must continue to hand the problem to God over and over.
I find that what works well for me is to simply say, “Jesus, I trust in You” when this happens. Occasionally it becomes a mantra I repeat until it roots itself in my mind and I actually believe it.

Don’t get discouraged. Build your faith by practicing it.

What are you struggling to surrender?

What topics would you like to hear about?

Leave your comments below.

I began this series on Good Friday on Facebook and didn't think to include it here . So... I'm including it now. 
Take a quick listen to the video and let me know what you think.
​The notes are below.

Good Friday.
Good because it was the day that Jesus willingly went to his death to set us free from sin and gave us access to eternal life. He unlocked the heavens so that when we passed from this life, we could cross over into an eternal life filled with perfect love, goodness, and Him.
I have noticed a trend as of late of Christians walking away from their faith and walking away from Jesus. I’ve seen how the truth of Gospel has been watered down stripping it of its power and making Jesus just another great man. Christianity has been dumped into the big pot of different religions and mixed in like it’s just another ingredient. While all of this breaks my heart, it’s not what I want to focus on here. Although I will say that I don’t know of any other religious leader that gave up his life willingly to save those he led or made the outrages claims that Jesus did. He was either a lunatic, a liar, or he really was and is Lord.

If you have found yourself drowning in the current of this trend and want to catch a breath that will fill your lungs with life, I’m happy to chat with you in private. Contact me and we can begin CPR.

Sin has also become diluted with so much relativism that many have lost their ability to know what’s right and what’s wrong. Confusion is running around claiming souls and thrusting them into spiritual chaos and bondage.  This breaks my heart as well but also not the message I want to get across here.

If you find that your life has turned a bit dark, your impulses toward unhealthy behaviors or thought patterns have begun to control you, and you seem to be unhappy more than you’re happy, contact me and I can help you turn the light of clarity and joy back on.

So, you may be asking, “What do you want to focus on here”? Well, let me tell you. I want to encourage you to focus on Jesus and what he did for us. He obeyed his Father even to the point of death and willingly died for our sins while we were still sinners. He bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might choose to stop sinning and live for what is right. By his wounds we are healed. He conquered death and the bondage of everything that causes us to live a dead life. His willingness to die for us set us free to live! This IS the truth! This IS the Gospel! This IS the Good News!
Are you living in this freedom?!

What topics would you like me to cover on Freedom Fridays to help you live in this freedom?

You can answer in the comments or message me in private.
​
Scriptures References and to ponder: Romans 5:8, John 3:16, 1 Peter 2:24, Romans 8:23, Galatians 2:20, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Acts 4:12, John 8:36

​Praising Through the Passion

Typically, when we think about the Passion of Christ we don’t associate it with praise. We meditate on it as onlookers thinking about how awful it was for Him and we fail to relate it to our personal lives. During this Holy Week I encourage us to go beyond being an onlooker and to make the Passion personal by praising Him through it.

In the short video below I explain why it important to praise God, even during this solemn time of the year.

​This poem represents wounds that were inflicted on us by our well-meaning parents. Wounds that we carry into adulthood if forgiveness and healing don’t take place. Shame, guilt and fear cause us to hide who we really are making us a shadow of our true self. This causes problems in our marriages, friendships and every relationship. We are afraid to be vulnerable and expose our hearts because we dread that it will get trampled on. The lie that we must hide is so cunning and convincing that many don’t know that they are bowing down to it’s command. The soul is completely unaware.
 This Lent I believe that Jesus is inviting us to discover the hidden places within us. The places where the door has been locked and the key seems to have been thrown away. The dark places that are filled with cobwebs and dust and seem too scary to walk into. If we’re willing, He even wants to show us the dark places that we don’t know exist. By allowing the Holy Spirit to search us, He will find those places, breathe His Spirit Wind through the cobb webs and blow the closed doors down so that Jesus can step in with His light. Together they will prepare the space for the Father to come and speak His truth saying, “You are my beloved child, in whom I am well pleased.” Beloved Freedom Child will become your new name and you will begin to experience the abundant life that Jesus spoke about in John 10:10.
How about it?
Will you trust Jesus with the hidden areas?