Out of Bondage into Freedom in the Safe Place
(From the meditations of JoJo as she works through her abuse issues on her own with the help of Jesus.)
Where am I? What am I hearing? I am in a swirling dust storm that blows particles of earth into my eyes. My eyes, stinging from the constant assault of debris from the past hurled airborne onto my path, are swollen and reddened by this ever present cloud of irritation. I rub my hurting eyes, but this only inflames them all the more. Some days this dust storm is worse than others. There are days when I can just function “above it”, and then, there are days when the crosswinds are so strong that I am knocked to and fro and can only say, “Jesus, save me!” Today has been the latter of the two.
It has been a “blustery day” and a “dirty air quality” day. The funny thing is that in spite of all this I hear Jesus telling me to JUST GET UP AND WALK OUT OF MY PRISION. I can see the doors are open and I am just sitting there under guard of a nasty entity, but I am no longer chained to him. I can hear Jesus calling me out clearly. I just continue to sit there wondering what I should do. Which voice should I heed? There is the old and the familiar voice of torment, the one I know so well. It continues to say the things that I have always heard and believed, but then, there is the voice of Jesus, who speaks words of freedom and deliverance, calling out to me to “come and follow Him”.
This voice burns in my spirit and I take courage that I am not alone anymore in this dungeon. He is with me now and I can follow Him to safety, if I choose to. So what do I do? I make a run for it to Jesus! He is true to His word and takes me with Him to a secret place where nothing evil can come. There are many others there, some I recognize and some I don’t. There is a lovely rose arbor there with the most beautiful and fragrant of roses trained up its face and a great white gazebo that is situated in the center of this great garden. It is an English garden—one that is designed to look as if nature was left to choose the planting sites for all its varied and colorful members by chance and not design. The seeds just scattered to the wind fell where they landed, they took root and flourished. But this garden was designed that way by the great gardener. In truth, everything there was planned with the upmost planning and meticulously fertilized, watered and pruned to a state of perfection. This is all done by command of Jesus, who sought to make a wonderful place of quiet and peace for me and all the others. I can see the great care that was taken just for me to enjoy this great work of art.
I can hear the laughter and joy of the others as they dance and sing their own little songs of thanksgiving and love for this one who loves us so much He has made a choice to come here and enjoy all the smells and sights of His creation with us. I find myself joining in with all the others in this dance of liberation. I find myself overtaken with the love of Jesus who smiles as He watches us frolic like sweet little lambs in His garden. I find myself running to Him as he stands there with open arms welcoming me with His big strong arms in a great embrace. In the distance where the joyous sounds have wafted are others who long to come along and be here with us. They sit and wait asking themselves, each in his or her own way, “Can I really leave?” “Will Jesus keep me safe?”. The answer, of course, is “Yes!” and can be readily heard on the wind. They too gather up courage to make a bolt for liberty. The evil spirits that guard them get nervous as they know that Jesus is here to stay and that their lies have and are being fully exposed next to the absolute truth of God’s word, the Bible. As these inmates hear scripture after scripture, they gather new strength and vigor for their escape. They become courageous and bold. Then, they run for it! Their shouts of triumph can be heard for miles. They too are met, each one, with the loving embrace of Jesus. They too enter into rest and learn to lie on the grass and look up at the puffy white wisps of cloud in the skies. They find shapes and forms that make them giggle and burst into delightful laughter as they gaze at teapots and carousel horses in the heavens. This goes on and on and will not stop until everyone is safe and the dark phantoms of the past are forever banished away from me…me! Yes, me, JoJo.! This is JOJO land!
