Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you. (Galatians 5:1 MSG) Freedom is a decision before it ever becomes a feeling. It’s a posture of the heart, a declaration that I will no longer live chained to moments I can’t edit, change, or rewrite. The old gospel classic from Rev. Milton Brunson keeps humming in my spirit: “I am free… no longer bound… no more chains holding me.” Those lyrics still preach because they speak to the quiet places in us where emotional shackles try to hide. Last week, I engaged with someone who kept rehearsing an event that happened four years ago. Today, I noticed they were revisiting posts from that exact moment, almost as if time had stopped for them. What perplexed me was not the memory itself but how tightly they were holding it, as though FOMO became a freeze-frame. It was something I could not control then, and I cannot control it now. Yet in their mind, it seems I hold the missing piece to their unresolved puzzle. That stirred something in me. I never want to live that way, bound to a moment that no longer deserves authority in my present. I can acknowledge that I did not like how it felt when it happened, but I am not obligated to remain emotionally attached to it. Even more, I don’t need to hold people hostage to who they were back then. I can hold space for the possibility that they can grow, evolve, and show up differently. And with that same honesty, I can examine myself. Because maybe, just maybe, it was me, too. Maybe I needed to evolve. Maybe how I showed up played a role. That, too, is part of freedom: owning your reflection without shame, guilt, or defensiveness. “Freedom requires truth-telling: about others, about the moment, and most of all about yourself. Tell the truth—and walk free.” - Coach Dee ✍🏽 🖊 Journal Prompts: 1. What past moment still tries to claim more emotional space than it deserves, and why am I still holding it? 2. Where do I need to offer grace—to others or myself—so freedom can take the lead? 3. How can I show up differently today to reflect the growth I desire, not the story I’ve outgrown?