The Freedom You Find When You Leave Things Behind

 

We are home safe and sound and BLESSED!

During our July mission trip, we tried to have a few morning devotionals as a group. One morning our group leader played the song “Things We Leave Behind” by Michael Card. I will share some of the lyrics with you, but encourage you to listen to the song by clicking on this link.

The chorus goes as follows:

Every heart needs to be set free,
from possessions
that hold it so tight
'Cause freedom's not found in the things that we own,
It's the power
to do what is right

[…]

We can't imagine the freedom we find
from the things we leave behind

Well, I don’t think the “things” we found in Africa can be contained in one blog post… however; Nick and I have decided that we don’t want these “findings” to wane as we return to our “American” life. So, August 1^st we started our personal “experimental mutiny against excess”, inspired by my cousins Dawn and Derek Zitko who lent us the book “7” by Jen Hatmaker.

“7 is the true story of how Jen took seven months, identified seven areas of excess, and made seven simple choices to fight back against the modern-day diseases of greed, materialism, and overindulgence.” (http://jenhatmaker.com/)

We are going to take the next seven months and seven areas of excess… but make ten simple choices to continue to be set free from possessions that hold us so tight..

“'Cause when we say 'no'
to the things of the world
we open our hearts
to the love of the Lord and
it's hard to imagine
the freedom we find
from the things we leave behind”

This month we are “leaving behind” all items of clothing aside from the 10 simple choices we made. Here are the ten clothing items I will be wearing for the next 30 days.

For those of you who “traveled” with us on our July Mission Trip to Masindi, Uganda – the trip doesn’t stop here. Now we have the challenge of bringing two different lifestyles and cultures together- keeping God in the center!