That's the name of the slim island that I spent my spring break on. It means freedom in Greek. I came back changed, completely. No I didn't change my career plans. No I didn't sell everything I own and move down there. I brought back all of me (except a hat but that's a long story), but I brought back a different me,
I gained so much on the trip that I feel like I robbed the Island of some of its natural resources. On the island of freedom, I found freedom.
I found freedom from plans.
I had a lot of amazing plans for my missions trip, God had better ones. I had scheduled my week, God has scheduled my life. I knew the people I wanted to impact, God had ones I needed to impact. I had expectations that I wanted to meet, God had one: Love and serve Him fully. The things that ended up blessing me the most were things that I would have never thought of: an unexpected seat mate, a bubbly roommate and a funny student.
But I almost missed all of those blessings.
I almost changed seats, I almost switched rooms, and I almost passed the student by.
When we take a second and look up from our plans that we clutch to so tightly we are finally able to see the amazing plans that God has playing out around us.
I found freedom from pride.
I had to learn that no matter how uncomfortable I was, I didn't have any right to put my comfort above someone else's. Yes, I had to do a ton of things that quite frankly I didn't enjoy. I had to face a few ridiculous fears, had to touch things I would have preferred to never see (let alone touch!) and I had to be in situations that I hated. But each time I survived. Why? Because I was able to look at the face of the person that I was trying to serve, and see them as Christ sees them: someone worth doing anything. I had to realize that I had no special privilege that allowed me to be comfortable while they suffered. If I had the power to ease their pain, I had the obligation to do so, no matter the cost. Constantly serving others makes you realize that your sole purpose in life is not just to make a great name for yourself, but to make His name Greater.
I found a lot of freedom on the island, but I never realized how exactly that freedom would change my life. But is has, because I learned that when freedom moves into your heart, the first thing it does is paint all of the walls bright yellow, changes the doorbell to laughter and lights the entire home all of the time. Freedom decorates with joy.
This joy has been something I've been trying to explain for weeks, but I just couldn't quite seem to put a name to the emotion. It's the toothy, eyes closed grin that stretches across my face. It's the laughter as I let go of all inhibition and truly enjoy life.
I found freedom, and I hope that others see it too. I hope it spills out in my excited waves, corny jokes and tight hugs. I hope that the freedom I found and the joy that it created is something that I can share with everyone. I want my faith to remain unshaken in the midst of trials and I want my hope to be anchored through the storm. I want my smile to remain even in the chaos, because I want to always live, laugh and love freely.
I want Eleuthera to not just be an island in the Bahamas, but the theme of my heart.
