I've found freedom

It's been a long summer. A summer full of ups and downs. A summer of revelations, of shed tears, of pain, of joy, of happiness, of sadness. It has been a whirlwind of a summer. Full of emotion. Every emotion possible. It's been a hard summer, but it's been a wonderful summer. It's been a FREEING summer. The summer's not quite over. There's still a few weeks left before I go back to school, and honestly I'm glad there's only a few weeks left before I go back to a schedule. I'm glad I can finally go back to some kind of "normal" so to speak. But actually, nothing in my life is going to be normal. Everything has changed because I have changed.
When I left for South Dakota 10 weeks ago I was a person bound by my sin. I was fighting hard against the devil. When I came home from South Dakota almost six weeks ago I was broken. Nothing in my life was right. My heart was mangled into so many pieces. I could no longer fight. And so the healing began. I can not say that six weeks later I am completely healed, but I can say that six weeks later my heart has been put back together. I can say that I can smile, and praise God for what He has brought me to and through this summer. Not only this summer, but this year. It's been an interesting year. But it's in the past and I'm starting over new. My heart has been deeply penetrated by the healing hand of God, where he has placed his tender hand over my heart and spoke freedom into my soul.
Where there was once anger, bitterness, and darkness there is now joy and light. Where there were once callouses there is now a bandage holding my heart together with God's healing salve. My life will never be the same after this summer. God has rescued me, smiled on me, spoke deep into my soul, and said "be still my child, I am here".
I had a dream the other night. As weird as it would seem to most people it seemed completely real to me. I had a dream that God reached down in the form of Christ and literally placed His hands on me and took away the scars and bondage. He freed me. I fully believe that God literally came down into my dreams to show me that I am free. I am FREE. Because the God of the Universe loves me.
This past weekend I had a get away with my beautiful mother. She and I have a struggle getting along with each other. We have struggled most of my life to get along. Mainly from the time I hit the "teen" mark through my adult life, we have struggled. My prayer for her this summer was that she would come to know the Lord and truly find joy in Him. She hasn't yet, but God's working.
At the beginning of the summer I found one of her high school friends on facebook. She was one of my Mom's closest friends. They graduated together, and they had not heard from each other since. 38 years later they were able to contact each other, and this past weekend we met her in Charleston. My Mom was so excited and so happy, and I saw something in her eyes that was  different. We left Friday morning and drove the four hours to Charleston. Not once did we argue.

Friday after we arrived in Charleston we made our way to Downtown Charleston where we took a horse-buggy tour. It was so much fun. We learned about the history of Charleston. Now that I'm old enough to appreciate the history of Charleston, I enjoyed it a lot more.

Lets just say Friday night Mom and I were exhausted. We were old ladies that went to sleep very early.

Saturday morning we woke up and ate breakfast, and talked for a little bit, and then we drove about 20 mins away to Summerville where my Mom's friend's daughter and her family lives. We met them there and my Mom and Bev enjoyed great conversation catching up while Bev's daughter and I chatted as well. We then journeyed out to the harbor in Charleston where we had lunch (with four kids ranging 8-2). It was so beautiful seeing my Mom and her great High School friend talk about their high school days. I know it was a blessing for both of them...and my prayer is they will continue to keep in touch. 

Mom and I went down town again after we had lunch. Sunday morning we got up and came back home. We had a BEAUTIFUL weekend, and Mom even told me she truly enjoyed her time with me. And I could honestly say I enjoyed my time with her as well.

God is bringing healing :) It's beautiful.