I continued to watch and film and take the occasional picture. I wanted to capture the memory, to be able to share it with others precisely how it was, to never forget this moment. But as I did so, I found my mind wandering…
Jesus understands our humanity. He understands our grief. He understands our pain. And instead of chastising us, He weeps with us for the brokenness of this world.
I dance around and around. I do a handstand. I stand on a chair. I jump off a chair. I make a paper airplane coated with love poetry and send it sailing. I recite Browning’s How Do I Love Thee? loudly…
It took time to wrap my mind around that one. Doesn’t everyone else have nightmares at least once a week about getting a huge pile of letters but not being able to read them?
At that moment, you realize you’re torn. You feel their unease because you’ve been there. You know you should reach out. But there’s another part of you that hesitates. You’re comfortable. You’re occupied. You’ve got friends…
I never expected the parting to be so hard. I never expected to still feel homesick every day three months later. I never expected my heart to feel as though it were trapped in another continent, another country, another home.
God grants us His grace to not only sustain us and enable us to journey well but for us to also extend that grace to others. Grace lights us up so that we can be the light of the world and share His love with even the most undeserving.
Although our emotions sometimes overwhelm us like a storm, they are a passing storm – not permanent – and they do not change the reality that we are loved by God and precious to Him.
As TCKs, we have a unique advantage for reaching out to foreigners. We know what it’s like to be a cultural misfit, to not quite fit in anywhere. God has given us the incredible gift of understanding what it’s like to be a sojourner. Likewise, He can develop in us the gift of compassion.
You may feel too young, untalented, inexperienced, timid, ill-equipped, underqualified, untrained, needy, or sinful to do whatever it is you think God wants you to do….But we serve a God who is so much bigger than you or me.
