"When the Chains are Broken" by Karen Cone

I stood in the back of the room listening as my friend taught about shame - that stubborn and pervasive belief that I am worthless, unwanted, beyond hope or help.

When my friend finished, a lady named Rae* spoke, "I want to say something.  I'm going to try not to cry.  My childhood was horrible.  My parents were extremely abusive and should have been jailed for the things they did to me.  But, I am sensing that I am about to be free because of what you just taught.  I am understanding for the first time that it was not me; it was not my fault that I was abused.  I can tell that God is setting me free from this lie that I have believed all my life." 

A holy hush fell upon the room as Rae shared with vulnerability the hope that God was revealing to her.  The gentle cleansing of tears flowed from person to person.  In moments like these, we perceive Him.  Jesus ... He has been there all along, but our eyes now behold reality.  The scales fall away.  We are reminded this material world is not all there is.  Jesus is not just a historical figure for us to study.  He lives.  He moves.  He frees us.

A question pierces my own heart:  Why do I resist the idea that I am broken and need help?  Pride slipped in undetected again.  Why would I let my self-sufficiency keep me from further hope, healing, and liberty?  I feel warmth grow through my neck and shoulders as the Spirit touches the tightness seemed to live there.  Stiffness built through the fear that I had to make things happen or get things done, forgetting His promise, "Without Me, you can do nothing."  God's Spirit wasn't just speaking to Rae about her freedom.  He was speaking to me.

Something happens when chains are broken.  Something greater happens when we are bold enough to open our mouths and say so.  "Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous deeds among all peoples." I Chronicles 16:24

As we were dismissing, I said to Rae, "Thank you for sharing that.  I could hear God speaking."  Rae replied, "I felt I needed to say it out loud.  I wanted the enemy to hear it."

Amen.  The Spirit moves.  Eyes are opened.  Freedom is granted.  The enemy quakes.

*name changed for privacy purposes

Karen loves to write and lead women's support group.  She is learning to walk in God's grace day to day as well as learning to extend that grace to others.  You can follow her blog at karencone.org

Promises, Promises ~ A Guest Post by Becky Dye

I wonder if he ran around tossing his toys all over the living room.

I wonder if he loved smearing his black beans all over his face….then all down his shirt.  Did he then take his gooey bean-covered hands and run them through his hair?

I wonder if he loved running around, squealing at the top of his lungs for all to hear.

I wonder if he ran from his momma in hopes she would chase him around the yard and follow him wherever he went .

I wonder about his momma, too. Did she pick up every mess he made or did she leave it till the end of the day when her energetic toddler was finally asleep?  Did she have the energy to chase her precious son around the yard as he gleefully begged her to play?  Did she just collapse at the end of the day from shear exhaustion?

I mean, come on….

She was old, ancient even, grandma age...no, make that great-grandma age.  Yet in spite of that, she became a first time mommy at the ripe old age of 90.

She was nearly double my age.

These thoughts have crossed my mind over the past 48 hours or so because I’ve had the joy of having my precious 20-month-old grandson for the weekend.  Oh, that boy!  I love him so! I cherish each and every second I get with him. 

When we agreed to take him for this weekend, we knew we had other plans.  Well, I should say JoePa had other plans.  So going into this weekend, I knew that the bulk of the responsibility of watching Holden would be mine.  I was OK with that, but it’s caused me to have some random thoughts.  So here you go…

Random thought #1... God has done many brilliant things since the dawn of time but making humans most reproducible while we’re in our 20′s and 30′s was amongst His most brilliant.

Random thought #2… I wish there was a way to bottle up the energy of a toddler so that old grannies like me could take a whiff of it later and have instant toddler energy!  I’d be a gazillion-aire if I could figure out how to do this!

Random Thought #3… I have no right to claim exhaustion as a young, sprite 50-year-old woman when Sarah gave birth at the age of 90.  Shewie……….

Exhaustion.  Did Sarah consider the fact that the older she got, the more tiring it would be to raise a child of her own?  I don’t think so, because she continued to want that child, and God PROMISED it to her.  He PROMISED!

I wonder now, as the years crept up on her, did she ever doubt God?  As she celebrated her 50th birthday? Her 60th?  Her 80th? Surely she felt God had forgotten her. Her friends were all mothers. Her maidservant became a mother FOR her……oh, Lord, what in the world was she thinking on that one???

God’s timing is always perfect.  We have to remember that only He sees the whole big picture.  To us, his timing may seem off at times.  I’m sure to Sarah, God’s timing was a bit odd, but we find in Genesis 21 that God does not withhold the fulfillment of a promise He makes…..

“Now the LORD was gracious to Sarah as He  had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what He had promised.  Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age at the very time God has promised him.  Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him.”….Gen 21:1-3

Sarah was 90.  Her old man husband Abraham was 100.

And all I can say about that is, "Praise You, Jesus, for somewhere in time changing Your mind about the appropriate age for women to bear children!!"

God promised.  God fulfilled.

Friends, if you are still waiting on something you know God has promised you, remember Sarah.  God’s timing surely seemed slow and endless to her, but in the end, there was no better time for sweet baby Isaac to come into the world.  

God’s timing was perfect then, and it’s perfect now.  So don’t lose faith if you’re still waiting. And in the waiting, give a shout of praise because you know God is working out His promise to you……..and because you know you’ll likely never be a 90-year-old with a newborn baby!

Thank You Jesus!

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I’m Becky and I guess this is the part where I tell you a little bit about myself.  I’m Joseph’s wife.  I’m a mom to five. When I was a teenager, I used to spend hours coming up with baby names for my future children….I wanted six.  I settled on one name…Tiffany Marie.   That was it!   My children are Megan, Lauren, Alex, Josh and Noah.  Not a Tiffany in the bunch!   Maybe  Tiffany is that sixth child I never had!  Megan brought us Justin.  And together they gave us Holden, who calls me by my very favorite name, BeBe.   I’d heard rumors that grandkids were beyond fabulous.  If you have yet to be blessed with little grands, trust me when I tell you the rumors are true!

My biggest love is Jesus.  I hope you know Him.  If you don’t, I hope you’ll see Him all over the stories I share and come to love Him too.  He’s pretty awesome!

And I’ll leave you with a picture of me.   No matter how old I am, I’ll always be a work in progress!

***********  Connect with Becky at http://bebedyearies.wordpress.com/