It's the end of another busy week. It's been an unusual week because we were having lessons with the DTS. The topic was a heavy one. Freedom in Christ.
Like in this picture*, our lives can be covered in padlocks, with the keys lost in the river below, and God wants to take them off. He's the only one with the master key. For me, personally, He did take one off on Friday morning, but it's not one most people would expect. Deliverance sessions have spooked me out for a while. I'm not sure if it's because I grew up in Africa, where "deliverance sessions" can happen on an almost weekly basis in local churches or because of my own experiences in different conferences I've been to. On Friday I was fully prepared, and had the intension, to walk out on the session if I thought I couldn't handle what was happening to the other students. However God had other ideas for me. One of the staff asked us to go forwards if we were apprehensive or scared about what might happen and kneel down. She then prayed, and asked us to hand our fears over. After I did this, I returned to the back of the room and sat down. The idea of leaving still flickered across my mind, even though the apprehension in my heart had gone. Then the staff member who'd prayed sat down next to me and prayed for me (some others prayed for me as well, but staying and being there was the biggest part for me). It was like a lock had been taken off my heart. God was in control, no matter what happened around me. He wanted me to concentrate on Him and not on what was happening around me. It was lifechanging. It was what I needed. To be honest, if I'd walked out I knew that a part of me would want to come back, yet if I stayed in the deliverance session, there was another part of me that wanted desperately to leave. I'm so glad I stayed!!!
*This photo was taken outside the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, on the bridge about the River Thames. You're probably knew about that famous bridge in Paris, over the Seine, and weren't of the few padlocks here in London.