I AM Setting You Free

~HOME SWEET HOME...(even in -20 degrees, Jan. '09) and how we got here.

~It was the fall of 2004. Steve and I had only been married a little more than a year. We had bought a house in Plainwell right after we'd gotten married; only to later discover it was too much of a financial burden and put it on the market in May of '04. I was crushed! Remember when I told you that I'd sold my home in 2000 and was "homeless"? After living in a sprawling 3500 sq. foot home for 21 years, then moving into a coccoon apartment where the Lord planted me for 3 years, I can tell you, unequivocably, that I desperately wanted to live in a real house again! So when my husband said it was time to put our home on the market, my lips said, "But, but, but....", progressing finally to "Yes dear", and then secretly, bawling my eyes out.
~Then October arrived. A friend had asked me to join her and her sister in a fast. YES! And one of the issues I really wanted to know from the Lord was if it was His will or not for us to move back to our former residence (a single-wide out near Richland). October became our month for showings...and I inwardly growled each time we had one, while my husband rejoiced! About three weeks into the fast, we had two repeat showings on the SAME DAY...and they both made offers! My husband declared, "THIS IS A MIRACLE OF GOD!!!!"....and I went upstairs the next morning and sobbed for all I was worth!
~And when I was finally done flinging snot all over the bedroom....the Lord just quietly asked me, "Are you done yet? Did you not ask Me where I wanted you to live when you began this fast? Did you want My answer or not?"......Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! That one hurt! You see, I still wanted a "miracle" so we could continue living there....even though it was costing us over a $1,000/month!
~My heart was convicted...."Yes, Lord...I will willingly move. I lay it down." (Actually, He WAS moving us whether I "wanted to or not"...but it sure made it a lot easier after He gave me an attitude adjustment!)
~Two weeks later we were moving back into our single-wide that the Lord had saved for us. We'd had it on the market, but it didn't budge! God saved it for us, because He knew we were going to need it!

~As we were getting settled into our "new home"....I was sitting on the living room floor - when the Spirit of God's peace swept over me, and I knew in an instant that we were supposed to live here. We downsized from 1750 sq. feet to 750 sq. feet....And then I felt embarrassed in front of the Lord, because I knew I had been acting like a spoiled brat - wanting my own way more than I wanted God's.
~"Lord, I will move into a cracker box if that's where You'd have us."
~His Purpose....His Peace.
In church the following Sunday, He spoke these words to me:
11/14/04 "My Child - Because of My great love for you, I am breaking you of those things which tie you to this world of flesh - for I desire to show you more of My Truth. But it requires a yielding - a sacrifice of the flesh. The flesh can never see what I desire you to see in the Spirit. To see in the Spirit requires a crucifixion of the flesh. That My People, who are called by My Name, would learn how to crucify the flesh.
I AM setting you free of the things which have bound you. I AM setting you free. The I AM is setting you free."
Galatians 5:24-25 "And those who belong to Christ Jesus (the Messiah) have crucified the flesh (the godless human nature) with its passions and appetities and desires. If we live by the [Holy] Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. [If by the Holy Spirit we have our life in God, let us go forward walking in line, our conduct controlled by the Spirit.]"
Hebrews 12: 5b "...do not think lightly or scorn to submit to the correction and discipline of the Lord, nor lose courage and give up and faint when you are reproved or corrected by Him; v. 6 For the Lord corrects and disciplines everyone whom He loves, and He punishes, even scourges, every son whom He accepts and welcomes to His heart and cherishes. v. 7 You must submit to and endure [correction] for discipline; God is dealing with you as with sons. v. 10b "...but He disciplines us for our certain good, that we may become sharers in His own holiness. v. 11 For the time being no disciplining brings joy, but seems grievous and painful; but afterwards it yields a peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it [a harvest of fruit which consists in righteousness - in conformity to God's will in purpose, thought and action, resulting in right living and right standing with God]." v. 14 Strive to live in peace with everybody and pursue that consecration and holiness without which no one will [ever] see the Lord."