"Freedom! Freedom! I can't move.
Freedom, cut me loose. Singin' Freedom.
Freedom! Where are you?
Cause I need freedom too!"
- Beyonce Knowles
Okay, so I didn’t really go to jail in Honduras but house arrest is a fair assessment. We are not allowed to leave the house without the Pastor – SPOILER ALERT: the Pastor never leaves- or after dark. The children’s ministry is at our host’s home and next door. The other ministry we help with is a couple blocks away but it’s only for three hours then back to the house. It is understandable that it is for our safety that we don’t venture far but restlessness sets in quickly when we can’t even go for a walk alone during the day.
ack home I was able to do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. I loved the independence and freedom in my life. Going to the grocery store was never a privilege, it was a given. This is the exact opposite of what I am experiencing in Honduras. To be a bit dramatic, at times it feels as if I have been completely stripped of my freedom. I want to explore a brand new place yet I have to put my desires aside and embrace what I have been given – house arrest.
And “house arrest” is the best thing that could have happened to me in month one of the World Race. While we haven’t had much freedom, our hosts have been amazing. Literally, all they do is serve us, feed us, and love us extremely well! They have servant hearts and have created an opportunity for us to learn from them how to serve well for the months to come and back home.
The lack of freedom has also given me time. And in this time God has began to change the flame in my heart for Him and taken it a step closer to a fire. Time has completely opened my eyes to how much I am still independent from God. Time has allowed me to create space for the Lord to move. Time has given me an opportunity to move God from the back burner to my favorite burner the front left (to all of you that adult – you know you have a favorite stove burner too!) Time has helped me realize that the Greatest Commandment comes before the Great Commission. Time continues to open my heart to receive God’s love.
“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”
2 Corinthians 3:17
