There is something that happens when we allow the light of the Holy Spirit within us to come out of us and define the reality that we live in. we were created for freedom- that’s the first thing that God told Adam in the garden of eden- “you are free to eat from any fruit in the garden…” he didn’t start with what he couldn’t do, he started with what he could but then he gave boundaries to the freedom because freedom without guidelines always leads to destruction. God wants us to be free to live the life of abundance and joy and impact that he has called us to but we have to step out of darkness- the absence of God, and into the light the full inescapable presence of God where we don’t have to be perfect but we are consistently seeking the heart of the father and using his abundant grace to live free from the shackles of shame and fear that seek to bind the children of God and prevent them from walking out their destiny in Christ.

Uprooting is the uncomfortable process of removing all the problematic people, patterns, practices, that are at the core of our hearts due to trauma, repeated sin, or simply miseducation. It doesn't automatically happen when you believe in Jesus. It is a deliberate and intentional process that you must choose. God has helped me to go through this process and I'm sharing it with you because uprooting is the key to freedom. It is necessary for us to walk in our God Given destiny.   You can plant all the good seeds you want to and the tree might even grow but if there are rotten roots that have already corrupted the soil, there NEEDS to be an uprooting. There are seeds of false principles, beliefs, and ideas that society, our upbringing, or our bad decisions have planted in our hearts before we found Christ. The devil is betting on the lazy Christian who will settle for salvation when they were destined for freedom. Salvation comes by grace and grace alone but healing and freedom require you to work out that salvation with fear and trembling so that you can uproot those toxic ideas that lie at the foundation of your faith.

So what happens next? What do you do after you can finally see the full extent of your brokenness and the fundamentally sinful mindsets at the root of so many issues in your life? How do you find freedom? In Chapter 5 I discuss what it looks like to get to the point of no return where you discover that although faith is free, freedom is something you fight for daily by killing your idols and focusing on the beauty of the Gospel.

During the process of discovering intimacy with God, He showed me what was really at the root of my insecurity and pain. Salvation is a powerful thing but oftentimes we find ourselves saved but still bound when we don’t intentionally seek an intimate relationship with God. Once I understood the root of my brokenness, I saw that I needed to focus on God until he was the only thing in my view. I needed to seek after him until I had no choice but to see the whole world through Christ-colored lenses. Through him, everything can be seen so much more clearly, including me. This is because God is not opaque. He is light and he illuminates every space He’s in. So, when we let Him into the depths of our problems and pain, He really gets to the root and heals us from the inside out. The first root God revealed was my pride.

To be Prodigal is to be lavish, reckless, or wasteful. While I may not have been prodigal with my resources, like many young people, I was prodigal with my opportunity to have a relationship with God. Because I thought of salvation as a one-time event instead of a life-long process, when certain things started to go wrong in my life, when I still had toxic behaviors, shame, loneliness, depression, anxiety, I accepted my brokenness as how things had to be instead of tracing the root of my issue to my lack of relationship with God. I thought I was home so I never realized that I was far from my father. It was only when I saw how far away I was that I could allow God's lavish, reckless grace to bring me back home. The prodigal daughter encountered the prodigal God.

There is a way that silence protects shame and shame keeps you in a place of bondage mentally even after you've been set free in reality. the devil isn't so worried about your salvation as long as he can count on your silence. As long as you don't become vocal enough and honest enough to set anyone else free, you're not a threat to the enemy. In order to truly be free, you must come out of hiding, you must speak because at that moment when your truth finds agreement with the true and living God, you begin to step out of darkness and into the light

Join me as we take a trip down memory lane to where my story begins in childhood. It is during those times when we need to go backward in order to move forward that our memory becomes a powerful helper instead of just a painful reminder. In Chapter 1, I identify the seeds that were planted in a season when I didn’t know how to guard my heart. It was only when I identified the origin of my pain, shame, and broken worldview that I was empowered to surrender them to God. When we understand the starting point of the darkness we can learn how to let in the light.

On season one of the light point podcast, you will hear my story of overcoming insecurity, finding identity, and discovering intimacy with Christ. I figured if I want other people to share their stories I should take the first step of vulnerability. Thank you for joining me in the light.