FREE!

by Janelle Sykora

I am so blessed and so free! I would like to share what the Lord did for me this past spring. He truly liberated me! Praise God!

Ever since I was young, I have struggled with fears. Oh, how I longed for peace! I remember not sleeping well…and oh, the struggles! Often I went to my parents for help. If only I could be free to be at rest, and to rejoice in the Lord! Free to live, and enjoy each new day with the strength and peace of God!

I was saved when I was thirteen. I remember how desperate I was for relief and help. I cried out to the Lord. How I needed Him! I had always loved Him dearly and thought that I had been saved when I was nine. I realized that this was not the case, because I had no power over fear. I had no victory. Also, I listened to a tape about salvation, and felt that I was not saved. I remember wondering if even the Lord could help me…I felt like a hopeless case! But the Lord, in His mercy, came down and saved my soul on February 18th, 1996.

Slowly, after that point in my life, I began to experience victory. Praise God! Yet, it still was not always so. Fear always tried to come back, and it often did. Although I had the Lord’s hope, and the Holy Spirit to encourage me, I could never seem to really cut the Giant of Fear’s head off. He kept popping up to torment me…for fear hath torment! I remember wondering, “Will I ever be totally free? Is that even possible?” I thought that perhaps as I matured I would grow out of it. Maybe it was not realistic to become totally free from my fears all at once.

Time continued on. My love for our Lord was so strong. How He delighted me! Still, fears were right at my door. I was very up and down. Oh, how I longed for lasting relief.

I was married to my beloved Steve on August 31st, 2002. The Lord had so clearly led us together. I was so happy! But even in our married life together, I still struggled. Sometimes I would wake Steve up in the night to pray for me or to quote Scripture to me. He helped me many times to find peace again, yet more fears always cropped up. Would it ever end? Yes! It would and has! Oh glory! I almost cannot believe it, but I do! Oh, the wonderful freedom I now have—and always will! Praise be to God!

One Sunday morning after a hard night, Steve and I were talking. Oh, how I wanted never to fear again! I was so weary of it, and had done all I knew to free myself, but to no lasting effect. Sure, I could do well for a time, but it seemed that fear was my master! Looking back, I realized how I had lived under fear. What a tormenting master! Steve told me that morning that I really could have lasting peace. He reminded me of his own personal testimony, and how the things he once struggled with were completely gone, just as though he had never struggled! And this had been the ever brightening case since he was fifteen! I began to cry, with a little spark of unbelieving joy. My tears were tears of relief! It reminded me of a person who was drowning and who was thrown a lifeline. Could this really be for me?

We have a greenhouse and Steve had to go and care for the plants before breakfast that morning. While he was gone, I prayed! I asked the Lord to witness the truth of lasting freedom and peace to my heart through His voice and His Word. I leafed through Steve’s Bible, looking here and there. The story of Jesus healing the blind man jumped out at me…I too needed my eyes opened, that I might see this truth! Then, I saw the story of when Christ raised Lazarus from the dead…His sickness was not unto death, “But for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.” (John 11:4) I thought of my fears…the Lord wanted to use them to glorify Himself! They were not there to ruin me, but that Christ might be glorified! But, could I really put a stake down in these truths? I read then, “Hope maketh not ashamed.” The Lord continued to confirm this truth to me. My eyes began to open to the fact that if I asked God for lasting freedom in faith, I would be able to know with surety that I was free. Faith rose up in my heart. I asked Him to free me. I told Him that I had been afraid so much of my life, and I wanted to be free! AND OH! GLORY! GLORY! I REALLY AM! Christ cut the giant’s head off for good, for I could not! What a wonderful Lord!

“How great the joy that thou has brought! Oh, far exceeding hope or thought! Jesus, my Lord, I thee adore; Oh, make me love thee more and more.”

Steve came home and we talked and greatly rejoiced! Praise the Lord! What joy! Steve and I rejoiced in our little kitchen together and sang, “I was in Sin’s Prison.” “Then the door swung open, Jesus said to me, I have signed your pardon! Now you may go FREE!”

It’s so new! Oh! Everything is so bright and wonderful! “For God hath not given us a spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” (2 Tim. 1:7) “But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” (Proverbs 4:18)

Now I am FREE! Freer than ever! Free to be a wife…Free to enjoy every moment! Free to sleep sweetly at night! “Things that once were wild alarms, cannot now disturb my rest; closed in everlasting arms, pillowed on the loving breast!”

Words cannot say how happy I am! When I called my family and told them, Mama and Daddy were so blessed. We all greatly rejoice that the Lord has so mercifully set me FREE!

“The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, because He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the LORD.” Luke 4:18-19

“This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.” Luke 4:21

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