Breaking Chains Hurts; Trusting God Sets You Free

Bondage isn't always loud. Sometimes it hides in good intentions, silent fears, and quiet deals we made with shame.

Click here to listen to this devotional written and narrated by Dr. Gladys Childs.

So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

—John 8:36, ESV

Why Freedom Can Feel Unsafe

You asked God to break the chains, but no one told you it would also break your balance. You expected peace but got whiplash. Now you're free but feel unsafe, as if you're falling. It hurts to break chains.

Trusting God sets us free, but that freedom often comes wrapped in uncertainty. It calls us to leave what’s familiar before we see where we’re headed. However, real freedom in Christ might not feel freeing at first. It usually begins with the painful unraveling of what once held us together, even if what held us was a prison.

Not All Chains Look Like Chains: Recognizing Hidden Bondage

Bondage isn't always loud. Sometimes it hides in good intentions, silent fears, and quiet deals we made with shame. We stay in toxic patterns because they're predictable, and we cling to what controls us because it feels familiar. We obey fear because it convinces us it's safer than faith.

Regardless, Jesus didn't bleed out on a cross so we could live safely. He came to set us free. “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1, NIV).

Our Savior didn't only unlock the door; He shattered the prison.

Still, many of us sit inside, staring at freedom like it's a threat instead of a gift. Freedom requires letting go—letting go of the identity we built on applause, the crutches we leaned on instead of Christ, and the illusion of control. It also requires trusting God, who sees the whole story, because trusting Him sets us free, even when our circumstances haven’t changed yet.

Trusting God Sets Us Free: Even When It Feels Like Falling

Sometimes, letting go feels like falling. We unravel from the inside out and feel untethered, even unsafe. Here's the paradox: the most terrifying place for our bodies is often the safest place for our souls. That's where freedom lives—in the tension between surrender and security, release and redemption.

“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36, ESV). We’re not only free from sin. We’re also free to walk differently, live unchained from the past, stop managing everyone's perception of us, stop running from our weaknesses, and stand in His strength.

Freedom in Christ isn't the absence of weight; it's the presence of wings. True freedom in Christ is experiencing a stronger God, not lighter burdens. It is endurance instead of escape, and power in the middle of it instead of the silence of the struggle. God never meant us to survive a prison and then stay loyal to it.

So, if you're in the middle of the mess, don't panic. Your disorientation might mean something unhealthy is finally breaking off rather than something is wrong. Keep going. Stand in the truth, even when your feelings haven't caught up. Saturate your mind with Scripture, even when your heart still wrestles. Open your hands, even when it feels like a loss.

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Corinthians 3:17, NIV). Where He is, freedom is, and He's in you. So, the chains don't get the final say, the shame doesn't get to keep naming you, and the past doesn't get to own your future—not anymore.

What's one chain that's held your identity hostage? Name it and draw it into the light. Let God unfasten it. Drop it in the comments and then declare: “This may feel like falling, but I trust the hands I'm falling into.” If you can't say it yet, whisper it anyway. That's where the shift begins.

When everything inside you wants to grab hold again, remember that trusting God sets you free. Freedom in Christ isn't the absence of weight; it's the presence of wings. They are wings that remember how to fly after years of captivity, tremble but rise, and carry you home. Let that be the anthem that carries you into the future.

Connect with Dr. Gladys Childs

https://www.gladyschilds.com/

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