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By Casey Grey
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---WARNING--- This post (and all future posts) will be very different than previous posts ;) If you're from Canada, you may remember the Freedom 55 ad campaigns. The insurance company running the ads was attempting to alert Canadians what it would take to retire by the age of 55. I remember seeing those ads and saying to myself "freedom 35 is what I'm aiming for!" Things started off well and in my young naive mind I was well on my way. I started my career at the young age of 17. I met my beautiful wife, Natasha, at the age of 19. I bought my first house at 20. I proposed to Natasha at 21. I bought a second house at 23. I started my business at 24 while Natasha was doing her Masters in clinical psychology. Natasha and I got married and started building our dream home at 26. We had our son when I was 27. Life was looking good! At least from the outside... Although I looked successful on the outside, I did not feel successful. Debt was pilling up and every day I felt more and more like a slave. Freedom 35 was no longer in site and once I turned 35 we were right in the thick of the pandemic and not only was I not financially free, I was now locked down as well. We had to close down another business we had started and the debt spiral continued. I was on my knees but trying to hide it from my wife. There was no need for both of us to be stressed so I carried the burden myself. So let's back up a little. What is freedom? For me it was doing what I want, when I want, wherever I want, with whoever I want, however I want. That's the financial freedom the world is trying to sell to us everyday. I remember being at a personal development event that was held by a very well know person. There were hundreds of people there. At one point in the event, all the men, including me, were yelling freedom. The music was blasting and the ground was shaking. It was a powerful experience. It was like the men yelling "FREEDOM" in the Braveheart movie and running into war. I came out of that event on fire but it did not last very long. What I have come to know is the freedom I was chasing is not freedom at all. It's a trick. It's a lie. It's a trap. As long as your freedom is tied to some "thing", you are always trying to get more or you are trying to hold on to what you have because once you loose that thing, you will loose your freedom. True freedom can never be lost once you have it. True freedom lifts you of the burdens you are carrying on your shoulders. True freedom is not achieved, it is received. How do I know this to be true? I am experiencing it in my life right now. I can honestly say that I feel more free today than I did yesterday, last month or last year. My freedom grows every single day no matter what happens in my life. How did I receive this freedom? I made one simple decision. A commitment that changed my life. The last blog post I wrote was about surrendering. I know in my heart that I had to surrender. To let go of the control. I had one thing wrong though. I was surrendering to the wrong thing. The decision that changed my life was to surrender and commit my life to Jesus. If you're an atheist or don't believe in Jesus, don't stop reading yet. That's what the enemy wants you to do. I know exactly where you're at because I was there before as well. Just a couple more minutes. I promise the end will be worth it. I remember saying when I was a kid, "I wish there was a a guide the life." The truth is that there is and it's called the Bible. It's not some religious book like I originally thought. The more I study it and the more I put the things I learn into practice, the better my life gets and the more free I become. Now don't get me wrong. This is not some prosperity thing. I still have to deal with all sorts of struggles, pains and so-called bad things. The difference is that I'm free from the burden of carrying all those burdens on my shoulders all by myself. God will carry as much as I want to give him and I'm giving him more and more every day. I'm no longer a slave. I'm not a slave to money. I'm not a slave to stuff. I'm not a slave to my business. I'm not a slave to anybody. I'm a servant of God and servants are cared and provided for. If I'm a servant, I'm not in control though? How is that freedom? If you're trying to control everything in your life, how's it going for you? If it's anything like my life, probably not very well. Control does not equal freedom. If it did, once you lost control, you would loose your freedom. Which I'm guessing happens every day. The truth is that God's plan is always going to be better than our plans. We just have to get out of our own way, surrender and commit to Him. I know this to be true because He was working in my life before I believed in Him. Remember that freedom 35 dream I had? I achieved it and I didn't even realize it until I sat down to write this. The reason I wrote this is because Pastor Doug Millar asked me to share my testimony at church after sharing a little bit of my story with him. I achieved freedom 35 because at the age of 35 is when I decided to surrender and commit my life to Jesus. God's plan was way better than my plan (and I can share dozens of stories proving this). If you have read this through to the end, I'm guessing you're either already a believer or you're searching for something. If you're searching, I'm praying for you. I'm praying you see the light and start the feel the freedom that I now have. You are one decision away from freedom. All you need to do is accept Jesus into your life. If you're not sure how to do that, please reach out to me. We can do it together. If you want to watch the testimony I shared at church, you can watch it here. It's around the 15:30 mark of the video. 
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