liberating

I've been thinking a lot about freedom lately and being freed from the bondage we put ourselves in.  I always try to come up with a formula... if you pray this one way or you do a certain number of steps and then POOF you will be alleviated from all your hurt, your pain, and your fear.  Fortunately, life and relationship with God is not that bland.  But sometimes the pain or confusion is so deep that you want a formula, you want a law to make it easier, but Christ is complex and relationship with Him is deep and requires radical trust.  I think that when we try to simplify God and his plan or the way he works we are taking away His beauty and we are taking away the depth we are called into.

Since being here in The Hague I've been given a lot of opportunities to explore and do things on my own.  This is a huge step in faith and boldness for me, I've always been afraid to mess up or do something wrong so these experiences of conquering those fears has been liberating.

Today I took the tram downtown and shopped and walked around for a couple hours.  I was praying on the tram on the way downtown and I felt so much freedom being present in that moment and believing that Christ in me is enough.

Being still and present in these moments has been chain breaking...  Being able to walk around downtown and shop and interact and enjoy being by myself.
God is so good.

Every Thursday night the shops stay open later downtown. This past thursday Heather walked around and got drinks, it has been one of my favorite nights so far!