Staying Free After Breaking FreeSample

PEEL IT BACK

Each week after I go to the grocery, I gather all the fresh yummy vegetables I’ve just purchased and make a salad. It’s helpful to have healthy options ready to go when I get hungry so that I don’t eat junk. My salads usually consist of a combination of different lettuces (butter, spring, arugula, and spinach), tri-colored peppers, cucumbers, celery, tomatoes, and onions.

Feeling hungry yet?

I've noticed something interesting about the onions I bring home. After a while, the outside layers begin to soften and spoil. However, I’ve discovered the softened layers can be peeled back and discarded, keeping the heart of the vegetable underneath fresh and ready to use.

The parallel of peeling back onion layers is often used to explain the process of spiritual growth and healing. Like peeling back an onion, we too must discard the old to make way for the new.

I have learned through my own personal journey that negative emotions can create an environment of decay and keep us from further healing. Two of the biggest culprits are anger and unforgiveness. Anger and unforgiveness have a way of spoiling good fruit that God wants to develop in our lives. We need to peel back these protective layers that are no longer serving us well, so that we, too, can be fresh, new, and ready to use.

Start by going to the Great Physician and Wonderful Counselor, Jesus Christ, and through prayer and petition, ask God to remove that which is not of Him. Are there any festering wounds you’ve never fully addressed? Do you harbor anger or unforgiveness from past hurts? God wants to take those painful memories and heal them once and for all. The mindset of surrender and submission is vitally important throughout the staying free process. It may take time, but it is worth the effort.

Allow God to help you remove the old so you can make way for the new.

PERSONAL REFLECTION

Take some time to reflect on who you might need to forgive for past hurts that may have contributed to your areas of bondage. Remember, forgiveness is a gift that you give to yourself, not the other person. It can be very helpful to write a letter to those who have hurt you. (Keep in mind that you don’t have to mail it to them.) Writing it alone can be very healing.

PRAYER

Lord Jesus, help me to forgive __________. I don’t want to hold unforgiveness in my heart any longer. It is too painful for me to bear. Help me release it all to you. Have your way in me, Lord. Thank you for answered prayer. Amen