_For Such a Time as This

Welcome to the topical blog we have named Esther.

My name is Gabriella, and I will be one of the writers, one of the women who will share about a journey that is as complex as it is simple. With as much transparency as I (we) can muster, may I (we) have the privilege to share with you our freedom stories.

Initially, my freedom path began with deliverance from food addiction. However, I quickly (or not so quickly as it turns out) began to discover that I had far more important issues in life than simply my relationship with food.

Don’t get me wrong. The idolatry, binging, dieting and overall perversion with food was real and taking up way too much room in my life. At the height of my addiction, I weighed around 347 pounds.

As you can tell, food and eating can be a big problem. But so was dieting, the elevation that I had given the scale in my life and my perception of what my body should look like. I was also dealing with pride, rejection and shame. Lust in general was a problem, including a past history of sexual immorality.

Over time, I have learned many lessons. I have made many mistakes. For example, I thought my scale mishaps were losses of freedom and that my struggle with food choices was evidence of backsliding.

One integral lesson I (we) have learned is this: Getting free and staying free are two different things.

Traveling to the Promised Land is different than the work it takes to live in the Promised Land. It is important to glorify God on the mountain and in the valley.

I wish I could tell you as soon as God brought deliverance into our lives, we floated on cloud and never had another trouble in that area. The truth is freedom is free, and it is also hard work.

Not by power or strength, but by the Holy Spirit of God go I. And yet it is still hard.

"Success is not a gleaming shiny mountain. It's a pile of mistakes that you're standing on instead of buried under" - Dave Ramsey

Freedom is a process; I don’t know many who have been set free and then never struggled again.

Often, we get free just so that we can run into the work of the Holy Spirit Who reveals to us the root causes of our bondage. Then another journey continues.

• There is backsliding, stumbling, falling down, and getting back up.

• There is fighting, standing our ground and being still and KNOWING that HE is God.

Proverbs 24:16, NIV

“For though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again, but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes.”

One thing I know is that the Lord is with us each step of the way. He holds us up in His righteous right hand.

Let’s come together and share our testimonies.

May we show you how God has worked miraculously in our lives.

May we describe how He has guided us through and brought us out.

May we share and be transparent and boldly proclaim that we do not have our freedom journeys all figured out.

In the natural, it can sometimes look like we have it all together. Sometimes it looks like we are failing. Success and failure are in the eye of the beholder.

But FAITH! This is what stands.

For the Word of God says:

• Who the Son sets free is free indeed! - John 8:36

• For we have been called to freedom and will not use liberty or freedom as an opportunity for the flesh! -Galations 5:13

• It is for freedom that Christ has set us free! - Galations 5:1

He is with us every step of the way, and more importantly, He knows every step, every struggle, every up and every down. He continues to work in us to will and to do His good purpose regardless of the bondage we face.

Little by little, the LORD sets us free. Then we learn to stay free by the power of the Holy Spirit in us. The Promised Land is not a destination but a process, a place where life in Christ happens.

We believe that the testimony of Jesus in our lives can and will speak to you, regardless of where you are on your journey to freedom.

If you need freedom…

We have been there bound and failing, not even sure how we as believers could be caught up with idolatry, addiction, and bondage.

If God has delivered you and you are excited, happy, and full of life, but wonder, what now…

We have been there, too; we have experienced deliverance, healing, joy and the power of God in our lives also.

If you received deliverance, walked in freedom, and are struggling to stay free, to live free, to not backslide or to return from a relapse…

We have been there, too.

If you don’t know Jesus as your personal savior and have never accepted Christ…

Yup, you got it! We had a life before Christ, too. We were baby Christians, and we are still learning. The more we learn, the more we see how much we don’t know.

Come and see our God! Join us as we learn victory in the process of living free in Christ!