Life Abundant & Free: Finding a Rich and Satisfying Life in Christ

By Rebekah Clearwater

This is a testimony of a girl who found Christ through the dark struggle of anorexia. She was 98 pounds, at the brink of disaster, literal bones, with no life to give. It was here she recognized her need for a Saviour. She discovered the only place left to run was to the foot of the cross—pleading for mercy.

My name is Rebekah Clearwater and this is my story. I am here to testify that Christ gives life. He heals. He restores. He breaks every chain!

He is the same yesterday, today, and forever… He saved me, and wants to do the same for you. Not only to give you salvation, but new life. A new identity. Christ's life to come alive in you!

Let us seek Him while He may be found (Isaiah 55:6, NKJV).

Journey with me and discover what it means to be a child of the Most High King. Come to know the completing love of a Father who is for you, who goes great lengths to call you His own, who not only knows you, but can be known. Begin to grasp your Father’s heart. Discover His precious promises.

His love for you, perfect. His plans for you, out of this world. The life He has for you, abundant and free!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Word Alive Press
• Release date: Feb 5, 2018
• ISBN: 9781486615582

Book preview

Author

Preface

She walked around hungry, searching for the measly scraps on the ground…yet she was the most precious daughter of the King. A princess indeed, treated like royalty!

He had given her the most costly treasure, Himself! All she’d ever need.

I think we all at some point in our lives live just like her. We forget the great wealth we have in Christ. We run from Him. We run from His grace, His love, His adoration, because we don’t think we deserve it. We go searching for another.

We do not know the value of knowing Christ.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 1:3–9)

We live as if we are poor, when really we’ve been given all the riches money can’t buy in Christ.

Would we dwell in His house all the days of our lives?

Would we sit at His feet and worship Him? Would we gaze upon His beauty? Would we feast on His word? Would we stay forever in His presence? Would we enjoy Him? Would we seek to know Him and be known by Him?

Would we abide in Him? It is then that we remember the truth…

All we need is found in Him.

Oh, how dearly He loves us.

We no longer look to what this world has to offer, because we are certain He has given us more than enough!

We are finally at rest.

And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. (John 6:35, NKJV)

My sister wrote these rich words in my birthday card the day I turned 25. It was a day I really needed them. I think you do, too.

There is great freedom in surrendering your will, or the world’s will, and running fearlessly after Christ!

My heart grieves for so many people who are followers of Christ but don’t know this life abundant they have been freely given. The life they have been called to. The life of abiding in Christ. The life of total dependence on Him. The life of surrender, leading to abundance. Instead we live defeated, and in despair.

I used to be that person. It burdens me when I see the number of people who don’t know the hope they have been given in Christ. The hope that lives inside of them! That was me—every day not even scratching at the surface of a full life. I was dead inside: lonely, depressed, hopeless, bound to myself, with literally nothing to give. Though I called myself a follower of Christ, I really didn’t know Christ. I lived the emptiest life imaginable. A life serving myself and myself alone. It was all about myself, about no other and I was kept in chains.

Why are there so many people in human culture who are driven, sad, unfulfilled, hopeless and lost? Because they are attempting to do something they were never created to do. You were not created to live for you and you alone. That will never be a happy existence. It will never be a fulfilling existence. You think it will but it will leave you empty because you cannot find fulfillment denying what you were created to be. It won’t happen.

The most satisfying, the most lovely, the most glorious, the most fulfilling, and the happiest life of deep abiding contentment is found in a life of love.

When your world tells you the way to be happy is to prioritize you, and be absorbed with you and put you first. Your world tells you a horrible lie. A dehumanizing lie.

We ought to love. It was what we were designed to do. It was what we were recreated in Christ Jesus to have the ability to do.2

Anorexia (My Journey)

It started out as a search for freedom…

I wanted to be free from my body.

I thought if I controlled it then I could finally be free of it.

But guess where it left me?

Empty.

Feeling worthless.

Far from alive.

And in chains to so much more than just it.

But I was not left hopeless…

Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. (Galatians 5:1)

Christ came.

We have a Savior!

He is alive.

He is on the throne.

Interceding on our behalf.

A King who reigns forever and ever.

He took our sin.

He took our shame.

He took all that we were enslaved to.

He bore it on the cross.

He set us free!

He gave us abundant life, life to the full!

We are on the winning team!

Trust in Him.

Choose to look to Him.

To the Son who sets you free.

Who tells you that you are loved.

Who tells you that you are worthy.

Who tells you that you are precious in His sight.

Absolutely stunning, my love…

There is no flaw in you!

Know that you are beautiful…

He made you that way.

And He doesn’t make mistakes.

Uniquely, you.

Choose to hear only Him.

Give Him permission to be your mirror.

To tell you just who you are.

And who He is making you to be.

Allow Him to complete His perfect work in you.

Don’t resist it.

The more we surrender, the more we will realize we have lost nothing, but gained everything.

You’re an overcomer in Christ!

Dwell on eternity.

This is but for a moment.

This picture you saw of yourself that brought so much anxiety. That made you hate your body all over again. And made you feel disgusted in yourself, thinking how in the world could you have let yourself get to this place…fat, again.

Remember it’s just a picture.

It has no power over you, unless you allow it to.

Take ownership.

It is you who allows these thoughts to seep in, to ruin you.

To mess with you, and to deceive you into believing a lie about who you are.

Choose to look to Christ.

Think of Him.

Dwell on Him.

Thank Him for the health He has given you.

Thank Him for the fat on your body, because right from the start, in the garden, He called fat good.

Thank Him for the freedom you have.

For exactly where you are at right now.

Thank Him that you do have a choice in how you respond.

Extend grace to yourself.

Hide yourself in Him.

Remember, all that matters is what He thinks of you!

Not even what you think of you…

Your love for yourself will never be perfect.

His is.

We are met by perfect love.

A love that covers all.

It’s a love that drives out all fear.

Focus on godly goals.

Seek treasures in heaven.

All this is temporary.

You are an eternal being.

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. (Matthew 6:33)

Stand on His promises.

Seek to know Him.

The One you’re about to spend eternity with.

Claim the liberty He has given you.

Declare that you are not a victim.

Enslaved to nothing.

You’ve been set free.

Thank you, Jesus!

Through my journey from anorexia, God revealed to me maybe one of the greatest truths I will ever come to know. I was in the bitter end of my eating disorder, 98 pounds, hopeless, depressed, lonely, lost, contemplating ending my life itself. I had no reason to go on.

In that very moment the song Called Me Higher by All Sons and Daughters was playing over my laptop speakers. As I listened to the lyrics, the Lord spoke and it changed my life. I remember tears streaming down my cheeks as I recognized that I had given in to myself. That my life meant so much more than what I had thought. That I had a real calling I had not begun to live out. I was living a life where all I thought about was myself. And in the case of my eating disorder, the food I ate or did not eat. I thought about my awful life, and about the victim I believed I was. I felt helpless and I had nothing to give to others. I was an empty pit.

I wallowed in those thoughts for far too long. But by God’s grace I finally was able to begin speaking truth into my life. I recognized He has called me higher. And He didn’t show me this truth to make me feel bad or allow myself to be full of condemnation. He showed me truth to bring deliverance in my life where deliverance didn’t even seem possible—to change me from the inside out.

But Jesus looked at them and said, With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible. (Mark 10:27)

That day, I decided it was critical for me to make a change. To act! I repented and I surrendered my life again to the Lord. I told Him I needed Him. That I can’t do this life on my own.

I prayed, God, I want to, but I can’t. I know you can, and I choose to rest in the fact that only you can.

I have come alive in the revelation of this truth: He has called me to a life higher than me. To a greater calling—a heavenly calling. I have to say, the times I feel most alive is when I’m able to share truth with another person. When I get to teach someone that in Christ they are worthy. It brings me such joy to reveal the Father’s love for them, that He delights in them. I burst with life when I get the opportunity to encourage another sister or brother in Christ.

I began writing only in the last five years. I came to a place in my life where journaling became a necessary practice. I found I was able to get my thoughts out more efficiently on paper, and the Lord would always use it to teach me, and help me see what was really going on in my heart. I also found in writing, much like in the Psalms, that my lament, confusion, or doubt always ended in hope. It always came back to the hope I have in Christ, who He is, my sovereign King. He always got the glory! Writing would take me from discouragement to encouragement and leave me with an ability to behold Him with fresh eyes.

I saw His faithfulness through writing, and wanted to stir others up, so I started a blog. Through my journey with anorexia I had found many blogs on eating disorders, but few centered solely on Christ. I wanted to edify my sisters in Christ, and remind them of the precious daughters of the King that they are: beautiful in His sight.

And then began my journey to the writing of this book. When the Lord puts something on my heart, He makes it known. He brought me to a place where I was certain this was the next task I was to be obedient