How to Be Free from Your Past
by Drenda Keesee
What areas of your life have you not given over to God?
Can you truly say that you are completely dependent on Him?
For some time, I really struggled to give God my complete trust.
It’s not that I didn’t find Him completely trustworthy; it’s just that I wanted to maintain control until I was sure that I was sure that I was sure.
But that’s a big problem.
Because the principles for living in the Kingdom of God are completely based on…
…faith in Him and His Word and promises—they’re based on trust.
We have to let go in order to receive.
“Give, and it will be given to you” is one of the most basic teachings of Jesus (Luke 6:38), which is the opposite of what we learn in the earth cursed system. The earth curse won’t let up with its reminders and warnings to: “Hold on to your life. Fight for it. Don’t trust anyone with it. Look out for number one. Take, but don’t give.”
I tried that. The results were only loneliness and brokenness.
So, there I was newly saved and Jesus was telling me to give it all away—not so much money or possessions, although I would learn to trust Him with those as well—but my entire life.
He wanted my allegiance…my destiny…my love.
It wasn’t easy.
Sure, I knew He promised that He would never leave me or forsake me (Hebrews 13:5), but I was afraid of what would happen if I wasn’t able to stay committed to my part of the “agreement.” You know, taking a shower or bath doesn’t keep you from getting dirty again. So, what then? What if I failed Him? Would He still love me?
I was afraid to let go because, if I did, and then I failed, how miserable would the failure be? How low would I sink if I had finally found love and then lost it?
I set out feverishly to learn all I could about the new Kingdom God brought me into and the obedience it required, so I wouldn’t get booted out into the cold darkness (my distorted perception, not His character). Even though He promised to never send me away, I still had to grow in my faith in Him and His promises to experience true freedom.
In fact, I watched over my shoulder for constant reassurances that He was still there. Despite my slip ups, the times I was disobedient, or the times I dishonored Him with my actions, He was still there, waiting for me to come back home. Even when I wasn’t faithful to Him, He was always faithful to me (2 Timothy 2:13).
Over time, my confidence in Christ grew, and for the first time in my life, I felt free—really free! With this freedom came the inner strength to challenge wrong attitudes, fears, and selfishness.
As a child of God, you’ve already received forgiveness for your past and redemption from the earth curse. Give it up. Let go. Trust God with your entire life. Really seek His Kingdom and you’ll find your confidence in Him and His promises will grow. Then, you’ll experience true freedom.
~Drenda
ps…Are you looking for a good church? Be sure and listen on Saturday evening or catch the 3 services on Sunday for Faith Life Church!
Drenda Keesee’s contagious zeal and humorous personal experiences help make her ministry of spiritual, emotional, and relational wholeness one that will bless your life and spark a new fire in your spirit.
A wife of over 30 years and a mother of five children, Drenda has ministered at churches, seminars, and conferences, and through the mediums of television and radio, for more than 20 years.
Her books, The New Vintage Family, Better Than You Think, and She Gets It are available wherever books are sold. In these heartfelt books, Drenda shares her personal journey and the life lessons that have brought her to where she is today, as well as practical answers that all people need to live a joyful life.
Drenda and her husband Gary founded Faith Life Now, a ministry designed to spread the message of freedom in the areas of finances, faith, marriage, and family. Tune in for their weekly messages here. Faith Life Now hosts conferences worldwide and sponsors both Fixing the Money Thing, which Drenda co-hosts with her husband Gary and Drenda.
Through their own life experiences, the Keesee’s have found the principles from God’s Word to be powerful and effective. At one point, Drenda was a young, suicidal feminist with no hope of ever being “good enough” for her own standards of perfection. She never wanted the “inconvenience” of a husband or children, and she was on her own path to success. But the stress of trying to achieve perfection and perform for love left her broken and used. She had success, but it was nothing compared to the pain and loneliness it had also brought.
That’s when God got a hold of her heart. It was there—at her lowest point—that she found the One who accepted and loved her, faults and all. Since that transformation, Drenda has had a passion to reach women who find themselves where she once was.
She married Gary after attending college, and there she found herself in a personal boot camp of sorts. She says, “I cried and told God, ‘I can do anything but be a wife and mother.’” She committed to learning how to do it God’s way. Through the many years of raising their children and struggling to make ends meet, Drenda learned from their mistakes. “I didn’t know how to be a wife and mother, but God saved our marriage, taught us how to parent our children for success, showed us how to have financial success, and then the irony of all ironies, He called us to ministry.” It’s truly because of these life experiences that Drenda can now share so many insightful principles for people who are now going through the same struggles.
