Finding True Freedom

Good morning, Victorious Living family! Woo! Christy Overton Johnson here, and I am coming to you today from Lake Christy. And this is a place, I'll show you, we'll go on a little walk and I'll show you a place at the lake that my father and mother built for me. I know that sounds crazy, and I will tell you, when I was younger, I had no idea that that was a unique thing. I just knew I was water skiing, and that's what I did. I learned to water ski at age 4, started competing at age 5, and turned pro. I actually entered the open women's division at age 10, and then turned pro at 13. And so, when I was 10 years old, my dad knew he could see where this career was going, and he also had a marine water sports mail order business called Overton's, and so it needed a training site, it needed a place to test equipment, and all that kind of thing. So, this place was built. And today, I'm out walking, it's really early, y'all have me bed-head and no brush teeth, no nothing. But as you can tell, it is humid where I live, and it's sunny today. But I am out with my dogs, and I'm going to see if I can somehow, I don't know, it's not going to let me turn this camera around, so what I'm going to do is I'm going to turn around, and there's three of them. The fourth one, Ellie, has just gone off and left her master. Patches! Patches! Come here! Hey! Patch! None of them listen to me, and especially when they get out in this open field where there's no boundaries. Okay, here comes, here comes the one good one, Cruiser. There's Ash, and there's Patches still.

Okay, so yesterday, Patches had a petrified, dead, I don't even know what to explain it was, squirrel. First I thought it was a stick because it was so stiff, then I thought it was a snake that we had killed out here a while back. I don't do snakes. The only kind of good snake for me is a dead one, and we had a snake visit us during a kid's ski event right in the middle of it, about a three and a half footer, looking nasty, and you should have seen those kids. So anyway, I thought that's what, because we threw it over here in the woods, I thought that's what Patches had, but it was a squirrel with teeth and little nails, and he was dead. Patches didn't get him. But each day, I am following these guys somewhere. We go out in the mornings, and we're out in this just area where they can run, and let me tell you, when they get that freedom, they are off to the races. And I don't know if you can see Patches, let me see if I can get closer, Patches is covered in filth. Patches used to be all white, but Patches is half white right now. Come here, Patch, yeah, what have you been in? What have you been in? Huh? And this is, this is Asher. Asher ain't got a brain. Anyway, so, okay, let's see where I was going. So where I was going with this was one, to take you on an adventure, but two, you know, I didn't like people telling me what to do growing up, and you probably didn't either. I don't know that anybody says, oh, mommy, daddy, tell me what to do, I want to do whatever you say. I didn't look at the Bible and say, yippee, I get to obey all these rules, that's what it looked like to me, rules, and it scared me. And so, over the years, though, I realized a very important thing, and that is that God's

Word is not meant to restrict me, it's meant to give me freedom. And so, the freedom that comes from God's Word, the Bible says, if you look, it says this in James, I believe, if you look into the law of liberty, it gives liberty. And Galatians talks about, too, like you had freedom, and now you're yoked again to this world and you're stumbling. Well, God's Word, when we look into the Word of God. and we study it and we apply it, it brings freedom. And that freedom doesn't mean you go run out and you do whatever you want to do. It means it protects you. It's freedom to live in the plans and purposes, the good plans and purposes that God has for you. And those scared me. I will be so honest, they scared me for so long. I thought God is going to just restrict me, restrict me, and it's going to be so boring. And I didn't realize he had this whole plan for my life that I would absolutely love. And if you told me when I was a little girl, that plan would have included going to prisons all over the country. And y'all, one of our teammates went to Mexico last week and was in all these different, some of the most dangerous prisons. This little petite lady, she's on the cover of our latest magazine, Julie Seals. Make sure you go check. Our magazine is out, so issue two, so make sure you go ask your chaplain about it. And if y'all don't get Victorious Living, ask your chaplain about it and make sure that we send it, we can send it with or without staples. So if you're in jail, we have non-staple versions. So we'd love to do that. Anyway, this woman, Julie, walked into these dangerous prisons and was able to tell about the freedom. And I never knew that this is what God was going to call me to. If you told me that, I would have been scared to death as a young girl. Or when I was in the height of my water ski career, and I would say, you're gonna have me leave being a world champion to go into prisons? I don't think so. In fact, I had a friend went to prison, and he was there seven years before I even, let's go for a while, before I even remembered him. And so prison was not on my, prison was not on my list, but God knew that it would be a place where he would combine everything that would bring me joy. People, telling, teaching, telling the good news, encouraging people.

I've always loved to help people move forward in life. And I get strength from others. I enjoy being around others in those settings and where it's just talking about the Lord. And God knew that. He knew that he could take all my skiing and he could help people with it. The ideas of getting up and moving forward. But if you told me that as a young child, I wouldn't have trusted God's plan. And I would have thought, that's not gonna be freedom. That's going to be restricting. That's gonna be scary. That's gonna be boring. That's gonna suck all the fun out of my life. And it was the complete opposite. You know, when I didn't want God's plan, when I didn't stay close to the master, I would get in the muck. And some of y'all gotten in the muck where you came out of a situation and it was all over you. It led you places in muck that you never dreamed that you would go. And you know, the cool thing, the amazing thing, is we have a God that will get in that muck with us and pull us out and clean us off. And that's what I'm getting ready to do. I guess they're taking a break. I'm getting ready to go back. And I gotta wash these guys because this one rolls in all the goose poop. Hell yeah. I got one that's gone off on her own, Ellie, and she'll come back in about an hour. And this one eats nasty stuff, rolls in nasty stuff. This one was just eating poop. Yeah. And so they get into things because they don't want to listen. Things that seem fun for a minute, but when he's going after the snake that's not dead, it's not good. It's not good. And so my point in all of this is, look at me, I'm scratching my ear, there's bugs out here, is look into the law of freedom. Look into the Word of God. If you can come to a place where you'll say, God, I'm just going to take my hands off. I'm going to set my feet still. I'm going to be still for a minute. I'm going to quit running from you or towards things. And I'm just going to sit and I'm going to listen. And I'm going to trust you. You won't experience the freedom that God has for you until you trust Him. Until you come to a place where you're like, God, I trust you. I trust you, I trust you, I trust you.

You may not even know Him yet, but take it from me. I wouldn't do this. I don't have to do this. I do this. I come on here. I go into prisons. I spend countless hours, and we've spent millions on that magazine. Why? Because I know, I know that you can have everything that the world would give you. You can have everything. Fame, finances, all the things. Material things. You can go anywhere in the world you want, and you have all that freedom, and still be locked up in here. And I know a lot of you are wanting that freedom. The freedom that comes with opening up a gate and let me out so I can run. But where are you gonna run to? And where is it gonna lead you? Is it gonna lead you to the muck? Is it gonna lead you to the dead things in life? Is it gonna lead you to the poop where you roll in it and you're eating it? The things of this world, the Bible says, is filth. It's just filth. And it's gonna lead you to dead places.

It's gonna lead you back to prison. But if you find, even right now, that place of security, that place of freedom, that place of trust in Christ, and you walk with him, you'll always be safe. That doesn't mean you won't go through hard times. That means, though, that you are under the shelter of the Almighty, it says in Psalms 91. And when you abide there, that means you stay there. You don't run off. And listen, I don't always stay there. I can get so going at 100 miles per hour that I just do my thing, and it leads me to exhaustion or filth or something. But if we look into the word of God, and if we draw close to God, who is our God in life, who has a plan that he knows is going to awaken you. I was awakened when God sent me to prison. I was awakened when I get to go into those prisons and meet you, your brothers and sisters in Christ, and people who are there, and that may not even be my brother and sister in Christ, but they're there, and they're hungry, and they're searching. And I get to go, and I get to meet them, and I get to be there, and I become alive because the things God has put in me become awakened. But that didn't happen until I was willing to walk with him and not just run out into the world doing my own thing. And I tried my own thing.

I tried education. I will tell you something, but don't send me a case. Let me tell you something. I thought everything in life had to be about what you can do, what you can achieve. So I became a world champion. I was a world record holder for 18 years in water skiing. And then I was like, oh, I've got to accumulate things. So I would just, you know, actually, I've never been someone that's got to have a lot of things, but I did like nice things. And I thought, okay, well, that car or that was gonna make me happy, but it didn't. I'm still traveling all over the world. It was interesting, but it didn't feel peace being on ESPN. Oh, and then I'm, you know, I'm gonna go get my education because that's gonna make me somebody. And so I get, you know, my AA and then my BA in marketing. And then I go on, oh, I need to go to law school so I can be a lawyer and I go get my law degree. And I passed the Florida bar, which I'm not a licensed attorney anymore. So don't send me nothing. But what do I have for that? I've got some accolades to hang on a wall, trophies to put on a shelf, but they didn't bring me the things that I thought. I was putting those things in my path. I was searching those things,

thinking that I had to be somebody and I really, it wasn't who God meant for me to be. He wasn't having me be a lawyer. He was gonna have me. I never practiced a day in my life. I became a minister and I will tell you that's where I came alive. I'm not saying God's gonna have you go be a minister where your whole life is just centered around ministry. Well, actually, that's not true. But I mean, like as a nonprofit and all of that and going in and speaking and all of that, but you are called, your freedom and your awakening will come when you start. Bible says we were created to do. do good things, and you overcome evil with good. And so when you do good things, that's what you were created to do, that's where that freedom comes in. That's where all of a sudden you become awakened. And when you're studying the word and you're walking, when it says forgive, and you forgive, like you don't run off in the woods and roll in the filth of unforgiveness, you forgive and God all of a sudden awakens you and you have freedom. You're not bound up to bitterness and hate and revenge that leads you nowhere but to the poop pile, okay? So we're talking about freedom today. I didn't know what we were gonna talk about,

I just knew I was supposed to come on. And the dogs are actually staying with me right now. They must know you're on, they must wanna be on some camera. They're exhausted. Let's see, let's see if we can walk up here to the pavilion. You know, when I was water skiing, I wanna show you up here. There are, our lake has islands at the end, at the end of the lake. And the reason the islands are there is in the lakes, you know, it's small enough, it's just built for water skiing and for competitive water skiing, not for you just to go all over the place. There's a course. And this lake, if you were to not stay in the course, if you were not to stay on track around the islands, we would even have buoys set out so that we knew how to go around that island. Because if you had a novice driver and they got a little bit too close to shore or a little too close to the island, they were gonna go around. And we had someone launch the entire boat, come around the island, not paying attention, and ended up completely out of the water. That was years ago. So the islands are there to keep the backwash of the water. The boat from coming back down the course.

It's a protection. The islands are there to protect the water, the waves coming back down. And so when I go around the island as a skier, I'm always taught to stay behind the boat. Well, that don't sound no fun, does it? But here's the thing. If I get outside the boat's wake, in that turn, that tight turn, I'm going to hit rocks. And I have friends that are paralyzed, water skiers, because they got into that shallow water around an island. I had another friend, broke her neck. Shallow water around the island, wasn't in the right place. Got a little bit outside. And so my point is, even around that island, when I'm told, stay here, stay here. Because if you stay here, you'll be safe in the wakes, in the center of the boat's wakes. If you get on the inside, you're going to sink. You're going to hit the island. You're on the outside, you're going to hit the rocks. So the safest place for you as you're following God, it's not just, let me go run my own course. Let me go do my own thing. It is, God, I'm going to follow you. I'm going to stay in the center of your wakes. Because I can tell you this, when I was water skiing, let's say we were out at the river and it's so rough and it's so windy.

If I stayed in the center of the boat's wake, the boat was plowing the way and it was calming out the water. And there was a spot there behind the boat where I was safe. So when I'd go and get all on the outside and the turns and things where I risked being in trouble. Oh, I was going to see if I could find the island. Let's see here. I'm going to cry. We'll go up here to the pavilion. All right, so what we got here? What have we talked about? I don't know. Cruiser, what have we talked about? What have we talked about, big boy? So we've talked about looking into the law that gives you liberty and trusting that it is going to bring you freedom. And trust me, you want the freedom that God gives, not the freedom that the world gives. And the best thing that you can do right now is to find that place of freedom while you're locked up. Because when you get out into, when you get out, all right, you got to see this. There they go. When you get out into the world, there's going to be so many offerings. There's going to be so many things, places where you just want to just run into.

And if you're not careful, He's getting ready to get over his head, see? If you're not careful, you'll get right over your head and you'll be back. And nobody wants that. Your kids don't want that. You don't want that. And there is a course that God has prepared for you to run. And when you find it in him, you will find the freedom that you have always been searching for. Thank you for watching today. I love you guys. And I'll try to look a little better next time. At least you can't smell my breath, right? But yeah, let me pray for you. Father God, I just thank you in the mighty name of Jesus that you have given us freedom in Jesus Christ. That he died, it says in the word of God, to purchase our freedom. And when we walk in your freedom, Lord, we just have everything that we need. If we seek first your kingdom and your righteousness, everything that we need and even our heart's desires will be given to us, it says in Matthew. So Father, I thank you. I pray that you would lead my brothers and sisters today into a place of freedom, a place where their souls are awakened, that even right now while they're locked up, that they can be free.

And Lord, as they are able to go into those big spaces of the world, that they will stay close to you so that they do not end up, God, into the filth of this world and that I'll do the same. Father, I love you and I praise you for this day and thank you for your name that's above all names, the name of Jesus, amen. Listen, if you don't know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, I encourage you to give your life to him today. Give your life to him. It's where you're gonna find freedom. Just say, Jesus, I thank you for what you did on the cross. Thank you for dying for my sin. I receive it today. I receive your gift of salvation today. I believe that you are the son of God and I believe that you came to this earth not just to give me an example, but to save my life and to give me freedom. Today, I decide to walk with you, amen. Listen, it's not the exact words that you say. It is you coming to a place where you bow your heart and you say, God, I'm yours. And when you say, God, I'm yours, he will take you to that place of freedom, a place where you've longed to be your entire life. God bless you, my friend. Please don't forget to watch the videos at the end, not the end of the videos, the slides,

at the end, they tell you how to connect with other parts of our ministry. Things like, oh, Lordy, our correspondence outreach, our care line that you can reach out to Mr. Pat, who's our pastor on staff. Listen, you have to call on your dime, have to call during business hours. The leave is eight to five on Monday to Friday, and we can't take collect calls. Just know that Mr. Pat will pray with you. We can't do legal advice, we can't contact people, can't do any of those things, but he can listen and he can pray. We appreciate the calls that we get, those that are really calling for support. Thank you. Also know that your family can call for support and prayer as well. We love you guys. Don't forget to write to us in Spanish or English. Please don't forget to pass these on to friends. Tell your chaplain about us, and we love to come and do events in places across the country, but we also love to make sure our magazine is in all the facilities that it can be, because we know that those stories of hope bring life. Finally, if you're watching this on Pando, be sure to click the PDF that's available. There's a study guide, and you can take those study guides

and you can do them as a personal study or get with a group and watch the video and dive into the study together. There's some scripture in there and give you a deep dive. All right, I love you. Have a great day. Bye. Thank you for watching our broadcast. Are you an incarcerated brother or sister who needs encouragement? Write to us at Victorious Living Correspondents, PO Box 2751 Greenville, North Carolina, 27836, or email us at hope at vlmag.org. To view Victorious Living Magazine in its entirety, please have your chaplain contact us at 352-478-2098, or email us through our website at vlmag.org. We are happy to provide. our victorious living magazine free of charge in bulk with or without staples.