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FREE ME TO LIVE uses a number of key object lessons to assist the user in learning the lesson at hand.

Inside FREE ME TO LIVE, you will find these key object lessons:

My Lifeline  - charting your positive and negative life events starting with your childhood, teen years and adult life. The goal of this worksheet is to help define where pain actually began in your life.

How I Want to Feel Drawing -  How I Feel drawing - Used to allow the participant to express their inner most feelings. The two drawings allows them to use the creative side of their brain to express their feelings. How I feel is most revealing. 

This drawing was done by a 45 year old man. His history of childhood abuse and terror led to abuse at the hands of his high school friends. Because of the history of abuse, he turned to homosexuality while in college and then the army. As a 45 year old man, he saw himself as a raging monster. When asked to draw how he felt, this is the portrait he penned. His "How I Want to Feel" was a black page with a tiny white circle in the middle. He explained that all he ever sees is darkness. But, if it would be possible, he hoped that he might see a tiny glimmer of light starting to shine through.

Using these two drawings will reveal much about a person. Often, when they first visit your support group, they may be so locked in denial that they will tell you they don't think they need help. But, as they do their drawings, the photos tell a much different story. The "How I Want to Feel" drawing also shows you their understanding of hope or  the lack thereof.

Another object lesson using art is the APPLE TREE WORKSHEET. The participant is asked to draw an apple tree.  Hand out construction paper and crayons. The participants start to laugh about their drawings. It is a light-hearted exercise that further helps break through denial. Once they each finish their drawings, have them count their apples. Remember, you did not tell them how many apples to place on the tree.  Having them draw this abstract apple tree uses the creative side of the brain. While the logical side will tell you they don't have any problems, the drawings tell us a much different story. The counting of the apples results in a number. This number is historically very significant.  Ask the participants to pray about what this number means to them.  Example: one woman had 17 apples on the tree and 3 apples on the ground.  On the ground was a broken limb. She had presented to the facilitator at the start of the support group that she only had one abortion. As the tree was drawn, she admitted that she had her first abortion at age 17 which was the year she was raped. The other two apples on the ground signified to her the other two abortions she had experienced but not admitted. When asked what the limb on the ground signified, she told of her divorce that had followed her first abortion. These art-based worksheets help break through denial and assist the group facilitator in better understanding the client's deeper needs.

MY OFFENDERS LIST/BITTERNESS BAG:  This object lesson consists of a list  the participant creates listing every offender and specific accounts of what the offender did. The Bitterness Bag is a black hand-made bag with a drawstring top. The draw string needs to be about 3 feet long to allow the participant to "hang" the bag around their neck. Inside the Bitterness Bag goes small garden stones. I prefer white garden stones because they are clean and easy to write on. Once the participant has his/her MY OFFENDERS LIST compiled, during the "Letting Go" phase III, they transfer each offender to a stone and place it in their Bitterness Bag. During recovery weekend retreats, the Bitterness Bag is passed out on Friday evening. They wear them to bed and through breakfast the next morning. Then, they are given the instruction to take each stone out of their bag and pray forgiveness for that individual. As they agree with God about who that person is, they are to model God's throwing our sin over His shoulder as far as the East is from the Rest. As they empty their bag, they sense the amazing release that forgiving others brings.

MY IDOLS: This object lesson is a worksheet that is used with a prayer of renunciation. Identifying their idols (anything that is more important than God in their life) The prayer, found in the course workbook leads them through a prayer of deliverance and renunciation of thoughts, words and deeds that have allowed idols in their life.

MY CHAINS OF BONDAGE:  This object lesson is a worksheet and drawing. The worksheet shows a generic outline of a male and female body. The drawing is to show the "Chains" or "yokes" either they have put upon themselves through sinful choices or things others have put upon them (expectations of others or sinful choices of others). Seeing the chains helps them to understand their need for recovery. It assists them in admitting addictions they may be suffering such as lust of the flesh, pornography, food, self-mutulation and more. One woman's chains drawing showed heavy chains wrapped around her. Tape over her eyes, ears and mouth. Her hands bound. Her feet were in a concrete block.

HIDDEN THINGS OF SHAME: This object lesson uses helium balloons. We hand out  balloons. The assignment is to pray "Search me O God" to uncover any hidden things of shame. Words, thoughts or deeds that are so shameful that no one knows about them. This exercise is tied to the abortion victim's core feeling that they can't forgive their own self. It helps them address self-blame. 

MY MEMORIAL:  This object lesson is all about grief-loss. Those who have lost a baby to abortion, miscarriage or who have lost their childhood to abuse or a life due to addictions have the need to grieve their losses. Women who have terminated a pregnancy have an interrupted mothering instinct that needs to be restored. Using simple Heritage Dolls (hand-made handkerchief dolls), each participant is given the doll to hold as they talk about their lost babies. The grief-loss memorial service is most helpful in closing the recovery process.  It is the high point of the course.

Each exercise, each object lesson is designed to enhance the recovery process through an experience-based amplification of the course ideas.

These object lessons are unique to FREE ME TO LIVE. These object lessons work!

Can you see why this course is so effective?