Re-entry.
Returns are never quite what they seem. I feel more like a foreigner at home than I do 9,000+ miles away. I suppose that’s what five weeks or more abroad will do to a person. Strip away the allure of the first world and leave you longing for something more, or less for that matter.
This trip across the pond I had the privilege of climbing Kilimanjaro again, twice. Not exactly your typical vacation by definition, but an opportunity I simply couldn’t pass up.
Settling into the second climb it was clear that once up wasn’t enough, and not just to summit, but for the Lord and I to actually get into what he brought me to Africa for. Someone once told me that when the Lord wants to teach you something He takes you on a trip. Little did I know that something would be a lot of undoing of bad habits, transforming my mind and speaking out against insecurities that had built up in my heart over the past year. I suppose you could say that God wanted to continue the good works he had begun in me. I, on the other hand, found myself ridden with doubt, fighting to believe that God is a good God who desires to give His children good gifts. Lord help my unbelief.
Through it all, I found comfort in three truths:
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- What the Lord saves us for is far greater than what he saves us from.
- There is freedom in limits.
- Proverbs 16:9
There is an ironic sense of liberation that comes from accepting the fact that we’re not invincible. I had to let go of the idea that what I do defines who I am, and only then could I fully love and honor God’s design for my life. It made the summit atop ‘Uhuru Peak’, translated ‘Freedom Peak’ in English, a gift to receive, rather than a reason to be adorned.
Having had a taste of true freedom sheds a new light on what life back home looks like, but I remember to take heart, because with every end comes a new beginning.
High-ho and away we go!
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