Walking in Freedom
It is truly hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that today is the 217th day on the World Race and that we have less than 90 days now until we finish. Where has the time gone??
I heard the Race was like a time warp. Sure enough, I am living it. The days seem very very long and thinking about the amount of time you have left can be overwhelming. Then a week/month will fly by.
One thing I have learned from these 217 days is that there is a big difference between being free and walking in Freedom. The moment I put my faith in Jesus and surrendered my life to him back in 2010, I was freed from all of the sin, struggles, and darkness I was living in. While I was set free from it all, learning to walk that freedom out in my daily life was still a struggle.
The Bible says “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” but learning to walk in that freedom takes a different focus and mindset.
Last year around this time I began to realize that I still carried a lot of shame and guilt from things of my past. I was still trapped by shackles and condemnation from things I had done. This ultimately was one of the main reason I chose to give up my comfortable life back in the United States and go on the World Race.
I know God has to bring us back to those places of hurt, darkness, and sin that I lived in for so many years in order for us to walk in freedom on the other side. I also knew this was going to take some work but the freedom on the other side made it worth it to me.
Before the Race, I put the Race on a petistool and thought I was going to get to about month 2 and completely be this different person and be walking in complete freedom from everything I have ever struggled with in my life. I thought it would all be this glamorous journey around the world and God would just peacefully change my life and everything would just be perfect. I would just ride off into the sunset as this perfect missionary who is walking in complete freedom with no problems whatsoever.
It’s almost like I wanted to win a gold medal without actually running the Race.
Ha! Well as I sit here 217 days in, God has shown me that this is a process. I am not where I want to be but I am much closer to it than I was back in January. Day by day He shows me a little bit more of who I am and the freedom I have in Christ. Day by day he is ripping those shackles off that I have carried for so long. Day by Day He is showing me what it means to be a son and a child of God.
Once we start to see ourselves as Sons and Daughters, every thing changes. All those lies we have let the enemy speak into our lives become irrelevant in the perfect Love of the Father. We are children of the King. What a glorious thing it is. I wake up every day and choose to only concern myself with what my Father says about me not what the world or the enemy tries to say about me. He has set me free. It is time to start walking in it. My identity was and always is in Christ.
Last night I had the privilege of sharing my testimony and what I have learned in 8 months on the Race in front of my entire squad, some other mission teams staying here, and the staff here.
Most of you who know me know my testimony and that my life has been far from perfect. I have been through a lot of darkness in my life. But through all the darkness I was living in and running from God, He never stopped loving me and pursuing me.
It is never easy to open up and share things that you aren’t very proud of from your past. But there is something very powerful about being vulnerable with others and God uses this in mighty and powerful ways to reach others who may still trapped in that darkness.
We get to do this weekly on the Race and this should be no different in our daily lives.
There is also something so amazing about seeing a group of 35 people who are beginning to walk in freedom that God wants us to all walk in. Each night we here testimony after testimony from each person sharing what the Race has taught them so far, and the change in everyone from the beginning of the Race is so evident. We have gone through many pains and struggles over the year but to see all of that being turned to joy, dancing, and laughter now is nothing short of amazing.
God is moving mountains in E Squad y’all!
Ryan
