Rebecca - Update 1: My Hopes for This Summer

My prayer request for this trip as I was getting ready for it was for me to have the confidence and freedom to serve the Lord. Galatians 3:15 is a verse that I’ve been meditating a lot on and one I have come to see interconnect with so many other parts of my life. I know that the Lord is calling me to be free - because I am free in him.

My life before coming here was one filled with so much darkness, captivity, and hopelessness (and the list could keep going) - I was a slave to my past. Being here though has changed the trajectory of my life completely and it’s aligned me to the will of God. Part of His will (not just for me) is to find that freedom in him. Not to continue self-indulging (our own anxieties, worldly pettiness, etc.) but in the freedom we need to serve each other in love. This verse [Col. 3:15] has just spoken so deeply to me and in so many ways. It's taught me that in order to serve with that freedom I first have to believe I've obtained it, and I have! Sometimes we get so swept into things (life is just life) that we can forget about the freedom we have in Christ, but that's when faith comes into play - choosing to rejoice when circumstances are dark, choosing to be grateful even when the world around you feels like it is collapsing. That's freedom. Even more - to serve one another in love, to not only rise up from those moments within, but to then choose to serve your brother and sister. That’s freedom. I just pray I can choose it every day and continue to have the confidence in knowing that it’s been given to me in Christ. I can tell you of so many people who I’ve seen live in that freedom.