Free people free people. Katie Hill, our SQA told my squad mate Kenna and I this at TC on day 1 and it has stuck with me ever since. I don’t remember what provoked Katie into telling us, but she said that a very common saying at AIM is free people free people. I thought that was so cool, and at the time I thought I was probably a pretty free person; now I think maybe God was saying that to me through her because He knew I wasn’t truly believing that I could and should be free.
It’s really easy to not allow yourself freedom, to live in bondage and fear, because what does freedom actually look like? what does it taste like? what does it smell and feel like? I think I would be so bold as to say there are too many people on this earth that don’t know. Walking in freedom means facing a lot of demons, almost always more than once. It means walking into what God says He loves about you and believing Him. Believing that our Abba is our Papa, our Lord, our Almighty, our Dad, our sweet Father; and that He, the Creator of all things, is enthralled by us, and chooses us, every. dang. day.
Today in Bogotá, we got the literally incredible opportunity to go to Colegio Nuevo Horizonte, a public school, to talk about God, help teach English, and share our testimonies because the English teacher is a believer. Abba is so flippin cool. A few weeks ago when we found out we would be doing this at schools, my squad leaders told me not to volunteer myself to share my testimony first. They told me I didn’t have to volunteer for all things first just because I’m team leader, so when we went to schools last week, I didn’t volunteer, and I think God had a reason for that. This week, when we found out we were going to a public school, I felt this pull on my heart to share a part of my story with the 9th graders we would be hanging out with.
Before I started to share about some of my life, I got terrified. What if these kids don’t believe that I’m different, what if my team, my friends, my family I’ve created start to think that I’m no different, that my story isn’t important? I began to worry, and my sweet friend Carly looked at me and all she had to say was “Mack, don’t be ashamed of your story, these kids need to hear it.”
My fear was gone. She was right.
I stood up in front of those kids and I told a part of my life that I’ve only really told to my college housemates, dearest friends, and the people who came to AWAKE at Whitworth the night I shared my testimony. I truly believe God was saying what those sweet 9th grade boys and girls needed to hear through me today.
And every time I share a piece of my story that is hard, I feel myself becoming more free, I feel the bondage loosening around my heart, I feel the love of my sweet Abba a little bit sweeter.
I’m reminded that free people free people. I’m reminded that sometimes being a free person means choosing to walk into that freedom with faith and joy. I’m reminded that I am no longer a slave to the flesh of the person I used to be. I’m no longer a slave to the things I was once a slave to. And the funny thing is, to be free, more often than not we need to die (sounds pretty counter-productive if you ask me); die to self, die to the world, to expectations, to shame, to performance, to people pleasing, to thinking we can do it all and have it all together all at the same dang time all the dang time.
When we die to self, die to our past, and look to our Abba, He shows us the sweetness of freedom and He walks us into that freedom, and one of the very best parts is, He empowers us to free others. Because free people free people.
After today, I couldn’t help but smile at the freedom I felt after sharing just a part of my life with the students here. Every time I share my story, it loses power over me and I walk into more freedom; but my story doesn’t lose its importance, it doesn’t lose its power to move others, it doesn’t lose its urgency, it just loses its hold on me.
Who knows, maybe one day in the months to come Abba will ask me to step into the boldness (and honestly, the terror) of sharing some of my story here for all of you, because maybe some of you need to be encouraged to be free too.
Because free people free people. free people free people.
