So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. (John 8:36)

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. (2 Corinthians 3:17)

Where the spirit of the Lord is there is freedom. If you’re tired and you are thirsty, there is freedom. Freedom reigns in this place, showers of mercy and grace falling on ev’ry face. There is freedom. Jesus reigns in this place, showers of mercy and grace falling on ev’ry face. There is freedom. (song by Jason Upton)

As I hear the distant boom of fireworks at the Rose Bowl and we celebrate the freedom of our country, the Dias’ (and our friends) celebrate a huge freedom for my mom – freedom from the ICU into a single room in the oncology ward.

I keep thinking about how year after year people have begun to forget the true meanings of holidays, but my mom never has. She loves Fourth of July, she loves our country, and she appreciates our freedoms.

My mom has been a prisoner to the pain of her own body. Inside, she has been herself all along, but this pain has kept her captive. We pray that, as God heals, He will bring freedom – freedom of health and freedom of physical ability. As I lay in bed this morning enjoying a day off, I was thinking about how four friends lowered their lame friend on a mat to see Jesus because they believed Jesus could free him from his physical “prison.” Jesus knew what the man needed most, and instead of healing him, He forgave Him from the prison of sin – the true merciless prison. But Jesus didn’t stop there. He granted physical healing as well – physical freedom. (Mark 2)

As we celebrate Independence Day, we thank God for the freedoms that our country has. We thank God for the people who have fought for us and the people who continue to do so. We thank God for our liberties in this country, but we also thank Him for the liberty that He gave us through His Son Jesus. We are free from the chains of sin and of death. We are free from guilt. We are free from the sin that entangles us.

And, most of all tonight, we acknowledge that Jesus has already set my mom free from what she really needs – freedom from sin. And now we hope in expectation that Jesus will bring physical freedom to my mom – that she will be healed of the amyloid and feel free in her body …And that she will leave UCSF Medical Center “jumping and leaping and praising God.” (Acts 3:8)