Adventures in Eleuthera Part 1 : Choosing Faith + Freedom

Early yesterday morning, before the sun came up, I came home.   I kissed faces farewell, wiped goodbye tears from my eyes numerous times, and finally boarded the tiny plane that would take me from Eleuthera, Bahamas back to the good ole US of A.

I have always loved flying, but this time, my stomach churned and my heart raced.

I just didn’t want to leave.

The island of Eleuthera stretches itself lengthwise for almost 110 miles, while it’s width can be measured as less than a mile in some places.  This long, thin strip of land holds so much life within it.  Teal waters pour onto pink sprinkled sand beaches, and one can’t help but fall in love with the simplicity of how life is lived.  No one is ever late on island time and everything is most always received with a “No problem“.

Once you step into the island sun, you’re quickly greeted by the very heart of the island: it’s people.  Brown faces and white smiles find themselves tucked on street corners and small towns that dot the length of this tropical paradise.

If you’re not careful, it’ll all take your breath away.

When you place yourself on the tiniest piece of land, in the middle of one of the vastest oceans, and give yourself 10 days to focus on everything but yourself, something invigorating happens. It’s as if the dust is finally allowed to settle inside your soul and you’re able to see what really matters.  Nothing can hold you down unless you let it.

Maybe it’s just me, but I need that every now and then.  I need to be reminded that life isn’t about my job, my goals, my business, my appearance, my income, my closet, my hardships, or my ambitions.

Life just isn’t about me.

There is so much more than me out there.

I think when we give ourselves the freedom to think outside of ourselves, something incredible is allowed to happen.

We give ourselves the chance to really live.

Those things that consume our thought process do a lot more damage than good.  We fixate on them, don’t we?  I’m quite sure that the opposite of faith isn’t unbelief.  It’s worry.  Worry can become an obsession if we’re not careful…  And faith… well, faith can’t survive if we don’t give it a chance to thrive.

Faith is believing in what we don’t see.

And worry is fixating on what we don’t know.

Those two mentalities just can’t be friends in the same thought process.

Before faith is anything, it’s a choice.

We have the choice to choose it…. and we can choose it daily.

I’m so very thankful that missions trips are just as much for the people ministering as much as it is for the people being ministered to.  

Because, when it’s all said and done, the work of God transforms anyone who is willing to choose to let it.

More on that later 😉

What are you choosing?

xo

AnnaFilly