Sanctification: Your Road to Freedom

By: Sara Nicole Tynan

I created and planned a mental health conference—called Rise—that launched in October of 2022. At the same time, my one-year-old son was struggling with some physical health issues. I had a lot on my plate and felt alone. I did not have a good handle on managing my stress. So I turned to marijuana. It was something I had experimented with during my dark days at college as a way of “playing with the cool kids.” I had a handful of people in my life who used marijuana to help with various physical and mental health issues. I read about the benefits of CBD and THC for anxiety and assumed this was a tool that God wanted me to use.

Rise

Whenever the planning got stressful I would grab my pipe and tune the world out. The problem was I also tuned my family out during these “high times.” The irony was that the mental health conference required a partnership with an incredible group that stands for substance abuse prevention. We had frequent Zoom calls to go over the plans for the big day in October. The moment I closed my laptop I would run to the bathroom to grab my pipe and smoke my troubles away.

The Rise conference was a huge success. It was something that was SO needed and we are now in year three. I felt the need to take a step back so that I could better manage my stress. I handed the baton to an incredible group of people who stand for mental health improvement and substance abuse prevention.

When I was younger, I was diagnosed with bipolar and insomnia. After years of battling with a variety of medications, therapy, self-harm, and suicidal ideation, I was able to receive freedom, by way of healing, shortly after trying to take my life when I was 21. It was an incredible story of God’s glory. With the doctor’s help, I was able to get off all medications for mental illnesses. That was 13 years ago. God is good.

God Convicted Me

Here’s where God begins to place a conviction in my heart. I heard Him say (shortly after the completion of the first year of Rise) “Sara Nicole, you have trusted me to heal your mind in the past. You have surrendered your medical needs to me. Why can’t you surrender the weed?”

In August of 2022 (just 3 short months before Rise happened) I attended a church I had never been to. During the altar call a lady came up to me from the back of the building. She said, “I don’t know you, but I saw you from across the room and God told me that FREEDOM is coming for you.” I fell to my knees and wept, asking the Holy Spirit to come into my body and my life. I began to seek Him with a fire I had never experienced before.

A Year From Now

In January of 2023, my pastor preached a series called “A Year from Now.” It was all about how when you look back a year from now, will you be proud of the progress you have made in your life? At the end of his sermon, he brought out an empty baptismal trough. We each had a piece of paper to write down something to surrender to the Lord. I wrote down “weed.” We tossed our papers into the empty basin and he poured dirt over the top to symbolize death. We must DIE to ourselves SO THAT we can RISE again with NEW life. I have been cannabis free ever since!

I have also received freedom from alcohol consumption but that is a different story for a different day. What I want you to know is that there is freedom in surrender.

My Old Life is Gone

“This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun.”
2 Corinthians 5:17 NLT

When we look at this verse, we are told of the hope and freedom that comes from belonging to Christ.

We belong to Christ

We become new in Him

Our old life is GONE New life begins

Reflection

In what ways can you become more like Christ? What is it that He wants you to surrender to him today?

Prayer

God, thank you for this opportunity to learn more about how we can become like you. I ask that you would sanctify us and cleanse us SO THAT we may be made new. Amen. 

Meet Sara Nicole

God brought healing to Sara’s mental health and freedom to her life. Now it’s her mission to share tools like scripture, sobriety, stretching and more SO THAT she can encourage anxious, Jesus believing mommas how to find balance mentally, physically and spiritually. She encourages others to confidently cling to the promises God has yet to fulfill.  Connect with her at Saranicoletynan.com, or on Instagram. Her book So That can be found here.

@saranicoletynan

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