Andrea O. Freeman

He holds all of creation together…… (Colossians 1:17) And just like that, 2018 is behind me and 2019 is suddenly right before me. I spent some much needed time over the holiday break considering where my heart, my mind, my focus is and how I need to enter this new year. I chose to disconnect from social media just prior to the holidays, and as I have done this before in years past, weighed carefully how I want to commit my time going forward. Life is stressful to some degree at all times, not just some of the time, but ALL of the time. How do we handle this? How to cope? What do we do to find our way into a healthier state of mind, and sustain it life long? For me, it’s my faith in Christ, and healthy habits I have adopted over the years that keep me balanced. When I am off-balance, it definitely shows. I’m grouchy, short-tempered, emotional, go on a tangent about whatever mess appears to be right in front of me and proceed to push everyone out of my way to get it done myse...

"Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20 NLT) The Mission hasn’t changed, but how we carry it out must in some ways adapt. I had a conversation with my Dad over the holiday break, about the condition of some of our churches right here in our own community and the reality that how we do church is shifting in our culture. It’s shifting, and yet, many churches and more specifically many denominations are still doing it the same way it has always been done. I am personally witnessing this evolving process as my older 2 children are experiencing their faith journey. My oldest, Rylee, is 21 now and a senior at Missouri State University. She has in the past year found her place in a fairly new church in our community. Unlike myself at he...

"Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” (Lamentations 3:22-24 NIV) “How are you?” When somebody asks you this on any given day, what’s your first response? I think for most of us it is often the same, standard answer such as, “Fine”, “Good”, “Ok”. It’s not the norm to get an enthusiastic response. Most of us are so busy, just working our way through the daily grind. We get into this habitual rhythm of life, and it can become a rut if we are not careful. Before we know it, we are calloused, fatigued and comfortable in a less than flourishing mode. Last night my son Bailey and I had a talk, he shared about how he is struggling with how to respond to the question, when someone asks, “How are you?” I think it’s easy for many to assume as they hear what he is up to with his music and theate...

I wonder on most days if I have been a good enough example of the love and light of Christ in this world. I confess, some days my inner voice grunts and pipes up, “What kind of question is that?! Of course you have! Who on earth has ever made you feel anything less?” Hm. Isn’t that the question? Who on this earth has made me feel as if I have to ask that question and provide a satisfactory answer? Truth? I am hardest on myself of anyone. I think a lot of people are, but most aren’t willing to admit it. I see how busy, well connected and engrossed in life so many people are-and I remember a time when I felt somehow I had to keep up with that. What I learned to accept as my own and “good enough” over time, was just that-my own. My justification for me was and has always been Christ-but that didn't come naturally until later in life. To compare myself or feel pressure to measure up to anyone else in this life, is not at all what He intends for me. Here is where I find my...

Search me, God, and know my heart; (Psalm 139:23 NIV) I was impressed in my heart today by my devotional study-to know our God, and to be fully known by Him. I was asked to look back at the moment in the Garden after Adam and Eve sinned. They hid from God. When the time came, God searched for them, called out to them. But here is the line from my devotional that struck me: God didn’t ask what they had done , He wanted to know where they were ? I can recall a very difficult season in my life, sometime between my freshman and sophomore years of college. I was not happy and I was contemplating whether or not to even continue my studies, or perhaps transfer. I was paired with an Advisor who did little more than schedule my classes and took very little personal interest in me, and I was finding immense dissatisfaction with some of my courses and the professor I was matched with for my group vocal studies was over the top and very demanding. As a musician, I was disappointed...

I waited patiently for the Lord; He turned to me and heard my cry. Psalm 40:1 I had a chance to spend some much needed gal pal time with a friend this week, and we found ourselves at a certain point talking about the things that seem to be most pervasive in our hometown community. Things that are genuinely concerning in terms of family dynamics, the high percentage of domestic violence and particularly women who have been in incredibly abusive situations. When you see the high numbers for our area in terms of women in shelters, children in foster care, man, it’s incredibly heartbreaking! We talked about situations we have both been in personally that were abusive, whether it was verbal and/or physical, it was entirely unhealthy and dysfunctional. Thankfully, we both have testimony today of how we chose to remove ourselves from that, and God provided healing and restoration. We chose to stop the cycle, and now we can both encourage other women who may be in an abusive relations...

Sometimes the pace we set for ourselves and the path we carve through the day’s to-do list, well, it doesn’t always go quite as planned. I’m learning as I get older, this is often times a gift. It is God’s way of humbling us to start with Him as our focus, everything else is secondary. It can be particularly jarring for some of us when our pride is a bit dented by what threw us off from a particular goal. A vision. A dream. A hope. What is our response when suddenly we find ourselves thrown off balance by something? Or someone? The only One who fully knows our heart’s intent is God. There is not a human being in your life that can see and know and grasp fully your heart’s intent. Our best aim is to pray for God’s presence to go before us and prevail in the hearts that are on the receiving end of our intent. It is inevitable when misunderstanding and assumption take root, and suddenly we are questioning how it got to this point. What a powerful and comforting thing to ha...