Rebekah Lyons, Author of You Are Free
Do you remember a time in your life when you felt truly free? That’s the question Rebekah Lyons, author and co-founder of Q Ideas, wants women to consider before reading her newest book, “You Are Free: Be Who You Already Are.”
“I have met so many women over the years with a sense of resignation and discouragement and even a lostness as to what true freedom means,” she said. “So many of us feel burdened by a sense of not being true to who we are and to what God put in us from the beginning, and that was something I wrestled with as well.”
In the book, Lyons shares the experiences that helped her to overcome this lostness and to find the freedom to fully step into God’s plan for her life. With a kind and honest voice, she invites women to consider the areas in their lives where they aren’t free, to confess those areas of brokenness, and to trust in the promises of God to bring freedom and deliverance.
We interview Lyons below to find out more about the book and its message.
Rebekah Lyons, Author of You Are Free
What are some of the most common barriers to freedom?
Fear, to me, is the biggest one, and it takes on lots of different forms. We’re afraid that we’re too much or too little, for instance. Or we’re afraid that we’ll be overbearing or underwhelming. And I think what we’re most afraid of is that if we take a risk, we will fail – so we’d rather just remain comfortable and safe, even if we’re miserable in our current context.
What I’m finding, though, is that fear is overcome by vision and inspiration and hearing other people’s stories of lost-ness. We can shrivel under the negativity of the world and grieve our losses, or we can release all of the things that have broken our hearts so that we can once again be filled with joy, hope, confidence and all the other things that freedom offers.
You write about experiencing supernatural healing in the book. In what ways has sharing this experience impacted others?
I had full-on panic attacks during the first two years I lived in Manhattan, and they were so debilitating that it was all I could do to cry out to God. During one attack I said, “Are you there, God? Do you care? Save me. Help me,” and I became flooded with peace. There are moments like that when God just sweeps us into his love, and that perfect love casts out all fear. I think a lot of people are unsure if there’s a God who is all-powerful and who cares about their innermost pain, but I believe he just wants to know if he’s welcome. He’s a gentleman so he never forces himself on us; we have to be honest about our pain and invite him into our brokenness.
The more I’ve shared that message, the more I’ve seen women experience the same power that rescues, redeems and restores. And all of their stories are different, but each one is powerful because they show that God makes himself available to everyone who asks.
How do you find freedom in the chaos of everyday life?
There’s not a specific formula for freedom, but there’s a verse of Scripture that says, “Be still and know that I am God.” We all have a lot going on, but every moment is important – even the moments of stillness. The moments of mindfulness are just as important as the business strategy meetings.
I used to never be a morning person, but the morning has become a sacred time to me. The quiet stillness centers me and tunes me into what is true. It’s not unusual for me to wake at five and crave a quiet house where I can light a candle and grab a journal. I’ve made my writing practice an ongoing dialogue with God, so the morning has become our time of conversation. I’ll also read and pray during this time. I’m in a season where I’m raising teenagers and they’re going through so much right now (puberty is only the beginning of it!), so I love praying for each of them individually and having focused time to give to them. I’ve learned that the Lord prompts me with what to say for them because he loves them more than I do and he has their futures in his hands in ways I’ll never see before it unfolds. My trust in that helps inform and guide me as a mother to know how to love them well and give them what they need for that day.
As a mother, how do you encourage and teach your children to be free?
With the teens’ hormones changing as quickly as they are, along with the relational dynamic of all of their friendships, there are definitely a lot of challenges. Plus, if kids are on social media too much, they never actually process their real feelings and thoughts; they just respond or react to whatever they’re seeing. So, my kids have very limited digital engagement because I want them to be able to use their brains and engage with people by looking them in the eye and having real conversations – as opposed to texting their friends who are sitting right next to them.
Last night I tucked my daughter in and asked her to write out a list of all her hopes and dreams for who she will become as a young woman. I sat with her as she processed them, and she talked about a lot of the same things I want for myself – she wrote words like confident, brave, kind, loyal, generous, grateful. Then we placed her name in front of all of those things, and I’m encouraging her to start documenting when she has those things – to write, “I have joy today” or, “I have courage” – because doing so will help remind her that that’s who she already is.
I’m hopeful that I’m able to help shape her little heart to believe that she embodies all those things that God put in her, and they’re not going anywhere. That’s the whole purpose of the book. When we look at ourselves, I want us to see ourselves how God sees us – and he sees all those things; we’re the ones who get in the way and deny those things.