My Chains are Gone

Yesterday, we had the privilege of worshiping with my parents at their home church.  While we love our home church and family, we are always encouraged by visiting other churches with all the privileges of being a guest.  Sometimes, just being free to worship without the mind clutter of duties and responsibilities  allows me to focus more on praising my Lord.  We sang this Chris Tomlin song yesterday and it really blessed me so much.

Here is the chorus:

"My Chains are gone, I've been set free.

My God, My Savior has ransomed me.

And like a flood, His mercy rains,

Unending love, amazing grace."

As I truly reflected on these words, it rang so true in my heart.  I am free.  I am free.  The chains of my past sins, regrets, and hurts are broken.  There is a freedom in Christ that cannot be obtained in this world- there is nothing comparable to the absolute freedom in Christ!

We are free and it cost us nothing, but it cost God much.  We were ransomed and our value was so high that it cost God his own Son.  My mother's heart can't even tally that deep a sacrifice.  In that instant that Jesus declared, "It is finished," mercy like rain poured over all of mankind cleansing us from marrow to skin and all within.  We are pure because he ransomed us . 

We are loved.  We are free..... but only if we choose to be.

There are chains, sadly, that I choose to keep.  Insecurities, questions, guilt, and longings that seem to never go away are but a few of the chains we keep by choice.  Sometimes, we just need to be reminded that we are free.  We are free.  Let God remove your voluntary chains, if He paid the ransom for you, He has a much greater plan for you.

"My chains are gone, I've been set free."

Saying Goodbye.

I grew up in the small Texas town of Dublin. If you were to drive through the town, you might not think much of it. We had two stoplights, a Dairy Queen, Duncan drug store, and Johnson's store. It is really a "Mayberry" like town with loving, friendly people who are willing to work hard to make a living for their family. I was blessed to have it etched in the background of my childhood... true, real, rural upbringing.

Dublin has had two sources of great pride- our once a year St. Patrick's Day festivities and our Dublin Dr. Pepper bottling plant which produced the only pure cane sugar version of Dr. Pepper for over 100 years.

I have always loved Dr. Pepper and it is honestly the only soda that I would drink. My husband even had to commit to Dr. Pepper to seal the deal with me before we married... (you have to have your priorities right). It, however, has always been more than just a soda to me... it is part of my upbringing, my childhood, my core. Dublin Dr. Pepper was, for many of us, vital.... we didn't have the best parks, best movie theaters, tons of restaurants, countless shopping options, but we did have OUR Dr. Pepper. People would come from hours away just to get what we could have daily. Suddenly, we were honored and special to live in such a place. Even to this day, when I take a sweet sip of a Dublin Dr. Pepper.... ahhh.... I am home again.

On Wednesday, January 11, Dublin Dr. Pepper lost its court battle to expand its territory with a new licensing agreement with the Dr. Pepper Snapple group. Faced with increasing costs to produce the Dublin Dr. Pepper, the owners had to sell out and let it go. When I heard the news, I felt such a grief kin to losing a dear friend. Suddenly, a light of pride was gone and I could do nothing about it. You see, the Dr. Pepper Snapple group will gain a mere 1% of profit from this decision, but our town will lose so much more. It feels like such a punch in the gut for hard working, small- town Americans just trying to make ends meet. Even more than that, it crushes a town that just wanted to continue to hold on to its tradition and pride.

I will be praying for the 14 families that lost their jobs yesterday and for all of us that lost a part of ourselves when the last bottle clanged off the line yesterday. Goodbye, dear friend.