{"id":10695,"date":"2017-03-20T11:53:50","date_gmt":"2017-03-20T16:53:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/?p=10695"},"modified":"2017-03-20T11:53:50","modified_gmt":"2017-03-20T16:53:50","slug":"book-review-you-are-free","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/?p=10695","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: You Are Free"},"content":{"rendered":"

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FREEDOM has been my word for 2017. \u00a0It is remarkable the way the Lord continues to bring this word to the forefront of my time with Him and my conversations with others. \u00a0I know that I am the type of person that so quickly looks to my performance rather than the finished work of Christ on the cross. \u00a0I continuously have to be reminded of the truth of Galatians 5:1 “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.\u201d \u00a0<\/i>Our pastor preached on this passage yesterday. \u00a0A good friend of mine\u2026another pastor\u2026just released an album on the book of Galatians. \u00a0Everywhere I look\u2026the Lord is reminding me that I am free in Him to do amazing things for His glory and the good of others.<\/div>\n
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You are Free<\/em><\/a> by Rebekah Lyons was so helpful! \u00a0I\u2019m grateful for her transparency and authenticity as she shared her own story with this struggle to live in the freedom that Christ has provided us. \u00a0I\u2019ve enjoyed watching the Lyons family from afar as I\u2019ve followed Gabe Lyons with Q as well as read some of his books. \u00a0It\u2019s exciting to see the way that Lord is using their family to meet a variety of needs in the Christian community. I highlighted several things while reading and can already see several things that I will be reminding myself of quite often!<\/div>\n
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  • What Scripture teaches about freedom and what we witness in our everyday lives are two opposing realities. \u00a0We hobble through our days, yet we long for the God of the grand gesture, the one who splits the seas where they surface and exposes the foundations of the world with a single breath. \u00a0Jesus promised life abundant, but this challenges our experience and brokenness and captivity. \u00a0p. 21<\/li>\n
  • Freedom comes when we know God is enough, when he is our everything. \u00a0When he is our peace and our strength, joy, and rest. \u00a0Our provision, healer, hope, fortress, shelter, strong tower, and Father. \u00a0Freedom reveals everything good is from him and by him and for him. \u00a0Every breath we take, every person we encounter, every word we utter is all an expression of a freedom where God dwells in us and loves through us! p. 23<\/li>\n
  • \u201cTell the truth and write about freedom and fight for it, however you can, and you will be richly rewarded.\u201d Anne Lamott p. 25<\/li>\n
  • We weren\u2019t made to keep up. \u00a0We were made to be free. \u00a0To be who we already are. \u00a0p. 33<\/li>\n
  • We cannot prioritize our doing before being, our assignment before healing, our service before freedom. \u00a0p. 34<\/li>\n
  • \u201cIf you are going to be used by God, He will take you through a multitude of experiences that are not meant for you at all, they are meant to make you useful in His hands.\u201d Oswald Chambers p. 37<\/li>\n
  • When I was sick, I only looked inward. \u00a0Through healing, I started seeing everyone else. \u00a0p. 44<\/li>\n
  • This wasn\u2019t my story of struggle; it was his story of rescue. p. 44<\/li>\n
  • \u201cThe place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world\u2019s deep hunger meet.\u201d Frederick Buchner p. 47<\/li>\n
  • Meaning follows surrender. p. 49<\/li>\n
  • Calling is where our talents and burdens collide. p. 51<\/li>\n
  • Calling begins with a caller! What a relief; calling isn\u2019t up to us. p. 51<\/li>\n
  • \u201cI wil no longer act on the outside in a way that contradicts the truth I hold deeply on the inside. \u00a0I will no longer act as if I were less than the whole person I know myself inwardly to be.\u201d Rosa Parks p. 59<\/li>\n
  • \u201cYou have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.\u201d Augustine p. 60<\/li>\n
  • As we abide in God\u2019s presence, where he informs and sustains us, we can serve from a new place of freedom. p. 69<\/li>\n
  • Confession, whether it be a confession of repentance or a declaration of truth, begets freedom. \u00a0There is no shortcut or strategy. p. 69<\/li>\n
  • \u201cThe thirstier a man is, the more he\u2019ll prize a cup of water; the more our sins break and burden us, the more we\u2019ll treasure our Healer and Deliverer.\u201d Thomas Wilcox p. 70<\/li>\n
  • What God begins with the natural, he fulfills with the supernatural. p. 79<\/li>\n
  • Lord, make me thirsty for me of you. \u00a0As you grow my thirst, lead me to the water. \u00a0Show me the ways you want to quench my thirst. \u00a0You alone are the water of life. p. 85<\/li>\n
  • \u201cSome people think God does not like to be troubled with our constant coming and asking. \u00a0The way to trouble God is not to come at all.\u201d D.L. Moody p. 87<\/li>\n
  • What if disciple-making is not just talking about God, but inviting others to talk to God, to confess, repent, and then, with boldness, to petition him? \u00a0What if disciple-making is about giving people the freedom to ask, no matter how big or impossible the request? p. 93<\/li>\n
  • Asking requires much. p. 95<\/li>\n
  • Asking awakens our holy imagination to God\u2019s divine intervention. p. 95<\/li>\n
  • Confession opens the gates for healing to rush in. p. 98<\/li>\n
  • What would you ask God, if you felt free to ask for anything? Even something so big it seems impossible? p. 101<\/li>\n
  • Psalm 139:1-10 O LORD, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. \u00a0You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. \u00a0Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether. \u00a0You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. \u00a0Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. \u00a0Where shall I go from your Spirit? where shall I flee from your presence?If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.<\/i> (ESV)<\/li>\n
  • You cannot see the unknown until you release the known. p. 124<\/li>\n
  • Isaiah 30:15, 18 For thus said the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, \u201cIn returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.\u201d Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the LORD is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.<\/i> (ESV) p. 125<\/li>\n
  • In our waiting, God is working. p. 126<\/li>\n
  • \u201cRest time is not waste time. \u00a0It is economy to gather fresh strength\u2026It is wisdom to take occasional furlough. \u00a0In the long run, we shall do more by sometimes doing less.\u201d Charles Spurgeon p. 131<\/li>\n
  • When I stray from reflection, life strays away from me. \u00a0I become restless and fragmented, busy and insecure. \u00a0I compare, compete, and strive. \u00a0My best parts become my worst parts. \u00a0Then I remember Jesus\u2019 final promise to make all things new. \u00a0Morning Pages, for me, are a ritual of redemption. p. 135<\/li>\n
  • God cares more about our presence than our performance. p. 141<\/li>\n
  • What a beautiful relief! \u00a0The old covenant was about what we bring to him: our annual offering, our covering of sin to be restored with God. \u00a0The new covenant is all about what Jesus brings to us; his offering, his blood to forgive our sins, and his righteousness credited to us, making us right with God. p. 142<\/li>\n
  • If we cannot grieve, we cannot be comforted. p. 152<\/li>\n
  • Isaiah 53:3 \u201cJesus was a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief.\u201d p. 153<\/li>\n
  • Tears confess our need for comfort. \u00a0Lament is a different kind of confession, one beyond words. \u00a0It\u2019s where the Spirit confesses for us, with groans we can\u2019t express. \u00a0\u201cIn the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. \u00a0For we do not know how we ought to pray, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans too deep for words.\u201d p. 155<\/li>\n
  • \u201cThe weaker we feel, the harder we lean. \u00a0The harder we lean, the stronger we grow spiritually, even while our bodies waste away.\u201d J.I. Packer p. 159<\/li>\n
  • God wants us to reveal our weaknesses\u2014to recognize what traumatizes and exhausts us. \u00a0He wants us to confess our wounds, our sources of pain and stress, and bring them into the light so he can redeem and transform them with his strength. \u00a0Have you confessed to him your exhaustion, your fear, your stress? \u00a0Have you confessed that God wants to display his strength in your weakness? p. 165<\/li>\n
  • Joy is not the absence of darkness. \u00a0Joy is confidence that the darkness will lift. p. 188<\/li>\n
  • I want my trust to be louder than my fear, even when I tremble. \u00a0I want to help others see that fear doesn\u2019t have to win. p. 202<\/li>\n
  • Shame is a curse, but forgiveness is life. p. 218<\/li>\n
  • \u201cFreedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor, it must be demanded by the oppressed.\u201d Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. p. 221<\/li>\n
  • These things I know: Freedom begets freedom. \u00a0Freedom is contagious. \u00a0Freedom helps us set others free. p. 223<\/li>\n
  • There\u2019s no boasting here; I brought nothing to this freedom. \u00a0It was all Jesus. p. 227<\/li>\n
  • You are invaluable to the kingdom of heaven. \u00a0God has appointed a specific role that only you can play. \u00a0You are needed and wanted, chosen and set apart, beloved and worthy. \u00a0You will receive all power and glory when the Spirit comes upon you. \u00a0You will bear witness to everything Christ did to set you free. \u00a0This is your calling. \u00a0You are free. Go. Set others free. p. 228<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n

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    FREEDOM has been my word for 2017. \u00a0It is remarkable the way the Lord continues to bring this word to the forefront of my time with Him and my conversations with others. \u00a0I know that I am the type of person that so quickly looks to my performance rather than the finished work of Christ […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,14,37,12,16,23,28,17,32,34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-study","category-book-review","category-eli","category-emma","category-family","category-generosity","category-integrity","category-leadership","category-marriage","category-truth"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10695\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}