Freely Speaking Audio Devotion

Welcome to Freely Speaking, an OHSOFREE devotional ministry where we share our hearts and trust God for transformation.

Today, Shandyn Paul shares about the freedom found in surrender to the Lord.

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Corinthians 3:17 NIV).

My mom loves old hymns. As a child, I listened to her sing as I stood beside her in the church pews.

My parents divorced when I was a baby. My mom and I rarely talk about their marriage or him, but she shared a glimpse as we sat across from each other one sunny morning. She shared that my dad was baptized—a part of his story I didn't know. She said they sang the hymn, “I Surrender All,” as he walked to the front of the church. After their divorce, my mom said she couldn't bear to hear the song. She'd been raised in a very strict faith and had heaped mountains of expectations on him the day he surrendered. When my dad failed to meet those expectations, the marriage slowly crumbled.

My mom was raised on the mission field, while my dad grew up on military bases. Their upbringings were vastly different. They were an unlikely pair from the get-go, which I suspect is what attracted them to each other.

I, too, grew up with a black-and-white faith. I constantly felt the need to do all the right things and lived in a state of shame and regret when I made mistakes. Shame became my shackles, and I constantly feared that I would never measure up. I've spent much of my adult life trying to find freedom.

In today’s focus verse, Paul shares that where the Lord is, freedom is found.

My mom now says the day my dad walked to the front of the church in surrender, she believes he truly had surrendered.

My views have also shifted and matured. I can see that freedom is not a one-time offering. Freedom is a continual invitation to surrender not to our shackles but to the only One who can truly set us free. So, I will choose to surrender again and again.

Friend, I can assure you that there will always be freedom when we surrender. Do you sometimes have to renew that surrender to feel His gift of freedom again?

Thank you for joining us today. If you would like to learn more about OhSoFree Ministries, please visit us at www.ohsofreeministries.com/