Run Away.

Ever feel like you want to run away from it all?

I do on many occasions. Maybe more times than I can count as of late.

The reasons are always different. Sometimes good. Like the desire to travel, or to be a part of what God is doing on a global scale. Sometimes circumstances just feel too overwhelming, relationships with people are getting tougher, or I feel burnt out.

I know of a student right now who has pretty good reason to run away. Life at home feels like a daily hell. Things got so bad recently that they tried to escape home by throwing a mattress out of a second story window so they could jump out of their room, land on the ground, and run away.

In the present moment, there are multiple authority figures in play handling the situation. Issues are being worked on. But regardless of the efforts to try and create a healthy environment for this individual, things at home remain tumultuous.

My heart breaks for this student, because I remember a past filled with a tough home environment, and it was no fault of 1 individual, but a perfect storm of stress, anxiety, and fear all working together. I was as much a contributor to my rough home life as anyone else, because when you live in poverty and in isolation from healthy community, all you know is pain, hopelessness, and stress.

I also know of many friends my own age, including myself, that are experiencing times of painful growth. Reality is setting in, God has character issues to work out with us internally, the world around us feels increasingly more like a cage. Life feels like a daily hell.

Though different, both circumstances involve feelings of hopelessness, frustration, fear, and a desire to escape.

I want this student, and so many like them that I know, to be able to escape from the hellish environment they face daily. But more then anything I want them to know their worth as a human being, and the power that lies in the love of Jesus. I want to see them out of unhealthy places, and into ones where they are shown this love firsthand by the community around them.

I want this for my friends who want to escape as well. I want to see healthy community form that keeps them accountable to maturing as people and engaging in their weakness. I desire to see growth in myself and those around me, the kind of growth that can only happen by facing our fears and the places we avoid, by letting Jesus walk through the dark places with us into maturity.

My point is that running away isnt always an option. Whether its a student in an awful home environment that has no where else to go, or friends that can go, but God is having them stick around to face up to their weaknesses.

Life can feel like hell. Period.

We all want to escape sometimes. God has much more for us than we could ever hope for or imagine in times of fear. God has a plan to redeem this student's life as he did mine, God has a plan to grow us in maturity and character so that we wont be lacking anything as his followers.

The point is that God has a plan. There is hope, no matter what we are up against, there is hope.

"We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm & secure." - Hebrews 6:19