Free at Last

I have been explaining the whole gospel for a month, which includes forgiveness and new life in Christ. The latter means that true believers are children of God. This week I will share the third part of the gospel, which is the disarming of Satan. “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil” (1 Jn. 3:8). Last week I saw God do that right in front of me. Angelique Esqueda wants everyone to hear her story as follows:

I suffered a lifetime of sexual, physical and verbal abuse. I lived off and on with mentally unstable parents who suffered from schizophrenia (Father) and Dissociative Identity Disorder (Mother). I was thrown into foster care, and tossed from one family to another. I struggled with rejection as each family complained that I was too difficult to handle. I entered my teens years rebelling and experimenting with drugs, witchcraft, and sex. Then I met my Savior at the age of 22. I committed my life to Him, and fought to turn my struggling marriage around. When I became a Christian, I turned away from my self-destructive behaviors, which was a real battle. I struggled with condemning, anxious, depressing, and every other kind of negative thoughts from dawn to dusk. I would even awake at night with my failures hanging over my head — a non-stop barrage of mental torment. I could not have any lasting relationships, because I believed everyone else had the same negative belief about me that I had about myself.

Ten years of marriage and four beautiful girls later, God arranged for me to meet with Dr. Neil T. Anderson. He led me through the Steps to Freedom in Christ. I knew this was my moment to let go of everything that had haunted me, but it was so much more than that. At the end of the session Dr. Neil asked me to close my eyes and tell him what I was experiencing mentally. I could hardly believe it, my mind was quiet! There were no more negative thoughts. The constant barrage of negative thinking that had haunted me for years suddenly ended. My head felt empty, and the room seemed lighter as though somebody had turned on another light. It was amazing and liberating! I never had such mental peace like that before. Just a few hours earlier I had believed that those “thoughts” were normal, and just something I had to put up with. It was an amazing thing to actually be free from them.

Thank you God for setting me free. I do not live in fear that those thoughts will return. Now I recognize them for what they are; spiritual oppression from the enemy. I know he wants me to believe his lies, but I will never willingly give him that opportunity again. I belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. I want people to know that there is true freedom to be experienced in Christ our Lord. God can be trusted.

Dr. Neil

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