The Day Father Bought Us Free

“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free.” — Galatians 5:1

Long ago, in a place called Maryland, a little girl named Amanda was born. In those sad days, Black families like hers were not free. They could be bought and sold, like a horse or a bag of grain, and they were made to work without any pay.

But Amanda had a wonderful father named Samuel Berry. He was strong, and he was patient, and he had one great dream — to make his whole family free.

So Samuel worked. All day he worked for the woman who owned him. Then, when the sun went down and other people slept, he worked some more. He made brooms. He wove mats out of corn husks. He burned lime. In harvest time he walked three or four miles after dark to work in the fields until one or two in the morning, then slept only an hour before starting all over again.

Penny by penny, year after year, he saved. First he bought his own freedom. Then he bought his wife. Then, one by one, he bought his children — until at last little Amanda was free too.

She was so small she could not even remember being a slave. But all her life she loved to say that God had set her free.

Do you see how hard Amanda’s father worked for the people he loved? Your heavenly Father worked even harder to make you free — He gave His own Son, Jesus. You did not earn it; it is His gift to you.

Dear God, thank You for loving me so much that You made a way to set me free. Help me to love others the way Amanda’s father loved his family. Amen.