Every year families celebrate by decorating their homes with flags and bunting, marching in parades, and enjoying BBQ cookouts with friends and family filled with all kinds of delicious summer foods like hotdogs, hamburgers, watermelon, strawberries, corn on the cob, popsicles, and homemade apple pie. Then as the sun sinks low and the night sky begins to settle in, families begin lining up on beaches and lawns, and sitting on beach chairs, patio chairs, and park benches or in cars atop high hills to watch as beautiful firework displays light up the sky. Every family has their own traditions, but for the most part we all celebrate just as John Adams predicted we would, because freedom from oppression is a precious thing and it ought to be remembered and celebrated. 

Oppression can come from many sources. Yes, it can come from outside circumstances and from those who want to oppress us. However, it can also come from within, from the feelings that can overtake us at times in life. Either way it can figuratively and quite literally tie you up and weigh you down leaving you seemingly helpless to do anything else. Oppression is the very opposite of freedom. 

As a parent of a child with special needs, I know allot about the oppression that can come from living in a state of fear. When my kids were little, at times I’d feel anxious. But, when Abbey was diagnosed with Autism, the fear of not finding the right treatments, doctors, therapies, and schools; or of not being able to make things better for her absolutely consumed me. I was completely tied up in knots and weighed down by it for years.

Then ten years ago, when our daughter was going through a crisis, the fear of not knowing how we were going to “fix it” became so overwhelming that I could not break free from it and instead I broke down. It was July  4^th of 2011. We had taken Abbey swimming that day hoping to get out some of her extra energy, but it hadn’t worked so this meant that I would be going to my parents with our son for dinner, while Eric would be staying at home with Abbey to keep her calm and safe from self-injury. It was complete and utter chaos. 

My parents reached out to our church for prayer. At some point I ended up in their bedroom away from where my son could see or hear me. Once there I fell on my knees and began crying out in a prayer filled with utter desperation and anguish. Suddenly in the midst of my begging and bargaining for Him to make things right, I knew that God was saying to me, “Be still and know that I am God”, and a peace immediately came over me. It was a peace that I had never felt before. It made no earthly sense. Here we were and our circumstances had not changed, yet I felt an incredible peace wash over me. It was the peace of God. Philippians 4:7 says, “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” 

In that instant I finally felt freedom from the fear that had oppressed me for years! Our circumstances did not change overnight, but I knew now that when hard times came, I only needed to remember that God was with me and that He would see me through. Now every year when July 4^th comes around, I not only remember the freedom we have as a country, but also the freedom I have in Christ. This truly is my Independence Day.