Psalm 23:3-5

"3 He restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows."

As I've been on this journey or quest to know God, not just know, but REALLY know Him, this scripture has come to make sense. It's always been a favorite of mine, and I wasn't really quite sure why, until now.
To really live free, free of guilt, control or lack of control, fear, pain, addiction, etc, we have to know in our heart just how our heavenly Father feels about us. I mean, not just know in our head, but let the truth make the long 18 inch trek from our head to our heart. I have heard of many people that I knew long ago, that are being gobbled up by addictions, failed relationships, and the list goes on. Being someone who had an addiction 9 years ago, I know now that most of the reason I did what I did, was because of the insecurities I had and I learned early on that the best way to dull the pain is to not feel it. The Lord is really interested in healing the wounds of our past, bringing truth to the lies that we have come into agreement with, so that we can live free. Does that mean we will not face hard times? The truth is, that if we live in a fallen sinful world and bad things happen to good people. Does that mean that God is heartless and uncaring? Absolutely not! I don't have all the answers, but one thing I do know for sure, is that God gave His one and only son, to die a horrible death, to cover our sins, so that He could have a relationship with us and that we would have salvation. That doesn't sound to uncaring to me. I can't say I would give up my child for anyone in this world.
This scripture has allowed me to give up control to my heavenly Father. That I don't have to waste my energy or emotional well being in having the solution to mine or anyone elses issues. That He knows the end of life to the begging of life, Alpha and Omega, and He knows all. It is not our place to carry burdens. He is a loving Father and will never push His will on us, so He will let us carry them. But when we are ready to give our burdens to Him, He is loving enough to take them off our shoulders. Even when we walk through the valley times in life, He is always there, like a Shepard and his sheep. He will protect us, but in the process we need to seek Him so at the end of our valley time journey, no matter how it turns out, we come away with knowing Him more.
Living free, is living in complete faith and trust...are you ready?

Just a thought....