MY EYES ARE OPENED; I'VE BEEN SET FREE!!

I guess you could say that God has always been a part of my life. I attended Sunday School and Bible School regularly with my siblings...my mother saw fit that we stayed in church. It seemed as if I was at the altar a lot and when I knelt down to pray and ask forgiveness, my mind was already on the things I had to do when I got home. Pants and shorts were the first thing to go..I have torn up more pants than I can remember. I got rid of jewelry, makeup, and anything else that I had learned would "send me to hell".   I was determined to line up and become what God would have me become so that I could enter into my Heavenly Home. Being raised in what would be called a "judgmental" environment, I very carefully tried to control my ways so I would not be told that I was "backslidden" or hear, "I thought you were a Christian!" ( In case you haven't noticed, there are lots of "I's" in my last few sentences)....Living life in chains, trying to line up to what people said...and I stress people.  The problem?? I never once looked to the Bible and my Savior to see what He required of me. In fact, had I studied the Bible as I should have, instead of just reading my regular "chapter a night" at bedtime I would have seen the Truth...the real Truth! What I believed at the time and what the Bible teaches are two different things.
As you can probably imagine from what I have told you, my life as a young girl trying to live a Christian life was miserable. Doing what I was told to do with no scripture to back it up would become very confusing to me. Where was the joy??  the freedom???  When you are so concerned with trying to line up to someone else's way of life, there is no joy! Thus came the discouragement, followed by the backsliding, and on and on and on.
I guess most of my life, I have desired God, but felt I could not live up to such high standards. As an adult, I gave my life once more to the Lord, but was determined to go only by scriptures and listen to only what God has to tell me..not people. I began seeking out and reading the scriptures for Truth...real Truth!  It didn't take long for me to figure out that I had the whole story wrong. Never in the scriptures did I find all of the things that I was raised to believe would get me to Heaven.  And what I did find just blew me away! God expects us to give our all to Him...totally, completely to rest in Him. He will take care of the rest. When we ask God to forgive us for our sins we have committed, we can rest assured that He will lead us in the right path. Jesus did not go to the cross to condemn us and to make us into robots that moved at His command. He died to give us freedom and eternal life. All we have to do is give our all to Him and be as close to Him as we possibly can!
My chains fell off! I realized that serving God is freedom, not bondage..Christ gave His life so we could be free!
As an adult, I see churches that are so strict that you are looked down on for wearing pants, or rings, or cutting your hair. I see Christians who are so cold since they gave their life to God, but were the friendliest people before they got saved. Oh, don't get me wrong...they still go through the "motions" but for the most part are so judgmental and stuck up that you have to struggle to get a smile out of them.
On the other hand, there are churches who accept anything and the only change you see in people's life is that they sit in church on Sunday morning. The rest of their life is exactly the same. They may feel they are as close to God without truly turning all over to Him.
So with all of this I say..read the scriptures...take time out of your day to seek out the real truth! We will be judged by the scriptures and by what God reveals to us only. You will find such a freedom as you start to open up the real plan of salvation! We should all take the "what would Jesus do?" motto seriously. If before we act, we stop and think of how it affects others, we would truly see a difference in our life.
Some people say that God doesn't hear a sinners prayer and that I believe..but I know that Jesus is here to intercede for us and walks among us hear on earth. He heard my prayer when I was still a sinner and healed me of fibromyalgia, when I wasn't expecting it. After healing me, He asked me to follow Him and I have. When you read and learn of the life of Jesus, you will see that this is exactly how He did it in the new testament. He healed with love, drawing others to Him!  He is the great physician, both physically and spiritually. Thank you, God!
Serving God is a privilege! Although I do not deserve anything that He has given me, I am so thankful that He saw fit to give me the opportunity to live for Him!