FROM BONDAGE TO FREEDOM

ABANDON- to leave (a place or desire) empty or uninhabited, without intending to return. give up completely (a course of action, a practice, or a way of thinking).

Yes you saw that right our team name is ABANDON! This is the name our whole team prayed for and we all knew that it wasn’t just a name, it meant a little bit more than that. We all experienced freedom when we shared with each other the struggles and sin we had to ABANDON, we realized that we weren’t alone in this journey, that we were brought together to show the world that when we ABANDON our past and put it in Gods hands change happens, so here is why we are team abandon. 

You see, each and every one of us on team ABANDON, had to ABANDON something in our lives to go on the world race. The word abandon means to leave something, to give something up completely. Each and every person on team ABANDON realized that at one point in their walk with Jesus that they had to leave behind something, maybe it was something small or many things, we all realized that living for Jesus meant abandoning everything we wanted, desired, or put #1 before Jesus. Many of us had to ABANDON the comfort of our home, bed, our normal routine to come on the world race and let me tell you, leaving the comfort of something for Jesus is always worth it. 

As I was preparing to come on the world race I had to come to a conclusion that I needed to ABANDON things in my life that came before Jesus. I had to ABANDON my porn addiction, my pride, my goal to always please people, anything that was not glorifying God and calling me closer to him, I had to let go of my pride and lay it all down at the feet of Jesus. I can’t be a disciple of Jesus if I was living a double life.

These addictions in my life seemed really good to me in the moment. I was so good at making it seem like life was good at the outside, I was really good at fixing myself and making myself dress and seen presentable. I was living life good, trying to make life seem great as I was a young christian girl, but on the inside I was so broken, I was so lonely and missing so much joy. I was missing out on true joy and freedom that God gave to me, because I thought that my sin was so much better than Jesus.

You see I can’t live a double life, hiding from God and still live for Him. If I was hiding things from God and so scared to share with him, that meant I cared more about myself Than God, I was still a slave to sin and a slave to the enemy. Until you give up that one thing you seem to Love more than jesus, life will not change, it will just stay the same.

When you meet Jesus your life should change, you have just met the son of God , the man that died on the cross for every bad thing you have ever done, for every hurt, pain, and regret. You are no longer a slave to sin, a slave to your past, or anything. Your citizenship is founded in christ, not in our world. So life should change, everything should change, your attitude, how you live your life should change. You have just meant freedom! When I decided to give up my addiction, my life changed, my worth was no longer founded in myself, the world, or my sin, it was founded in God. I experienced freedom from fear, sin, shame, I no longer hated myself for what I did, I was free and joy became my song! I still can’t believe that the same God I left and forgot about, I kept things from, and forsake, is madly in love with me and is chasing after me.

Friend’s when you keep in that one deep dark sin, or your hurts and pain, shame will become your hiding place, not Jesus. The devil has a hold of you, and makes you think that you’re alone and that nobody cares, but let me share with you my story of redemption. I let go of trying to have it all together, trying to seem perfect and fell apart, but God picked me up from the ground and build me up his way. God saved me even though I feel so far from him, He holds me in his arms and calls me daughter, I gave him everything and in return He loves and calls me home and I get to live in eternity with him.

 “ My only desire for the rest of my life is to live it with a heart of reckless abandon for the Lord.

Jesus makes a radical promise, that if we give our lives over to Him, he will give us a better life than we could have on our own. Jesus came so that we could have life and have it to the full. To gain this full life, we have to give over everything we think gives us a full life now. We trade our emptiness for the fullness of Christ. We trade the broken things of this world for eternal life with him. We give up the things that leave us empty for things that bring us a fullness we cannot contain.

Friends, I don’t know a lot of things, but I do know that, you don’t have to hide anymore, you don’t have to have it all together. Come as you are to Jesus and he will love you more than you will ever know. God sees you and will never leave you no matter how far you may go. God is for you not against you, He is madly is love with you, waiting for you to come back to Him. I am also for you and if you have a prayer request or praise report, please shoot me a text message, I would love to pray for you, and walk beside you in the hardships and victories. My number is 515-393-1538 

Isn’t it such an incredible truth that God loved us enough to die for us, oh dang this is good news! I am so pumped to serve with team ABANDON and glorify God with all we do. Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to read this blog, it means the world to me, I love you heaps!!

Until next time,  – KAITLYN