Ahh freedom. I can see it now. The open road. The wind through your hair. Sweet Home Alabama playing on the radio. That’s what freedom is… right??
The word free has shown up in my life pretty frequently recently. As my World Race journey has continued on to India, I get to see and experience both freedom and confinement, and I get to see the beauty in each.
Durning my first month in India, I was in the town of Damchera in the state of Tripura. Tripura is a non-christian state located in north eastern India. My (old) team and I, along with another team from our squad called The Frontline, were living and working in a Christian private school called King of Kings English School. This awesome school quickly became a home to us when we arrived in early January.
Because of the difficult area we lived in and the fact that it is a non-Christian state, my group and I were often confined to the school campus. We were only allowed to leave when accompanied by a trusted local. The walls of the compound kept us safe from unpredictability that took place outside. At first, I viewed this confinement as chains. I yearned to go and explore the neighborhood we resided in and reach the people right outside of the walls. I wanted to go do the simple things like go get cookies or go clothes shopping at the market without having to find someone to take me or my squad-mates. But as my time in Damchera continued, I began to realize the beauty in staying on the school grounds. It gave me more freedom than anything else. It gave me freedom to dig into my squad-mates and love them on a different level than before. It allowed me to get to know my hosts and the students that live at the school. It gave me a free space to allow the Lord to speak into my life. It has given me the freedom to love and be loved by the people God puts into my path, even when I cannot go out and search for them all the time. Because of the thing I once viewed as walls that prevented me from breathing, I have been given a breath of fresh air.
Throughout my time in Damchera, I experienced freedom in worship and have been able to show others what that looks like also. On Friday January 27th, a group of five or so boys who live at the school were having a jam session. My squamates Jordan, Ximmy, and myself walked in to join them in worship. Somehow, within ten minutes, every child that lives at the school was in the room and we were teaching them new worship songs. We ended up showing them the song “I am Free” by Newsboys. We came up with motions on the spot and taught them the words and movements. One of my favorite lines of the song is in the chorus when they sing “I am free to dance. I am free to live for you!” As I was singing at the top of my lungs and dancing to the music, I found myself feeling more free than ever before. I embraced what it means to be free to dance and found new meaning to the words I am free to live for you. If you know me very well, you know that I love to dance. I love to have silly fun and that often comes off in the form of doing crazy dance moves such as your oh so casual dab, or the always classic Macarena. As I moved around the room, I was able to share a moment of worship that included dancing, singing, running, and truly living, with the students. I found a type of freedom that I have never truly experienced before. It was a type of communal worship that is so beautiful.
Because of these moments, I have been able to experience freedom in the little things as well as the big triumphs that take place. One example of this took place at our squad debrief at the beginning of February. Over the course of the world race, I had stopped walking in freedom and in its place, was a wall between the Lord and I. I knew He was there but I wasn’t feeling His presence like I had before. I walked into debrief expecting to have one-on-one conversations with people on the leadership team about how to get out of a spiritual rut and why I was in one in the first place. But, the Lord flipped my perspective when, during a session lead by my squad mentor, Sam, God told me to release the wall to him. He said that even though it was me that built the wall, the Lord was going to take it down for me if I would humble myself enough to give it to him. The only thing keeping the wall up, was my own pride and inability to see that by trying to tear it down on my own, all I was doing was building it taller and taller. Thankfully, God is good. And He is a God that will stand behind me and guide my hand to taking down any barrier that exists between Him and I, brick by brick. Since God told me this, I have been able to walk in so much freedom and a new type of intimacy with him that is better and sweeter than before.
As I walk in this newfound freedom, I encourage you to look into your own life. Are there walls up between you and God that He is trying to take down? Are there areas that you need to receive grace so that you can live a free life with Him? What areas can you celebrate already walking in freedom? God calls us to a free and abundant life. If you are in a place where you feel a wall being build between yourself and God, surrender it to Him. He will take your hand, tear down the wall, and escort you into a life of freedom.
ANNOUNCEMENTS// PRAYER REQUESTS
- I have a new team! This change took place at debrief. My new team is called TEAM OVERFLOW. We are a team of 6 girls and are so looking forward to spending this season of our lives together. Hannah Pauwels is our Team Leader and I am the treasurer. These girls are incredible women of God and I am so lucky to do life with them! I encourage you to check out their blogs!
- I am now in a town called Haflong in the state of Assam. Haflong is a small city in the mountains of northeast India. We are currently working in a school, teaching English, Science, History (which gets interesting given our little knowledge of Indian history), Math, and Bible. The students are so so sweet and always eager to learn while also eager to have fun! We are also working on building a new school by painting walls and filling in concrete.
- Team Overflow is paired up with an all mens team called The Forge. It is so fun to live and work alongside them and to see where the Lord is taking them as a group of men seeking God’s heart.
- I leave for Zambia at the end of this month! My time in India has been so sweet and has gone by just before my eyes. Wifi has been few and far between so I am sorry for the lack of blogging that has taken place over the last three months! We have so much to catch up on!
- I am 157 days into the World Race. WOWZERS!
