Seeing Christ in the Loneliness of Repatriation
The cuckoo clock on the wall chimed the hour. A quiet house usually brought me comfort, but not today. Alone with my anxious thoughts, I began to despair about the season of life I was in…
The cuckoo clock on the wall chimed the hour. A quiet house usually brought me comfort, but not today. Alone with my anxious thoughts, I began to despair about the season of life I was in…
I felt lost without many of the identity markers that had defined me for so much of my life. Missionary kid. Foreigner…
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…
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.
I fell headlong into the trap of making a “devil” of any change – whether good or bad. I fought tooth and nail to keep things within reasonable parameters of “normal,” whatever “normal” meant for me.
One day, everything came crashing down. My dad was attacked and almost died while we were on the field, and we had to return to the US for advanced medical care. I felt lost, broken, and aimless. I realized then that I was not serving God; I was living only to serve myself …
The unexpected situation – no matter how surprising and undesirable it is – is expected by God.
Change creates so much upheaval. It can leave you feeling lonely and out of place as the “new kid.” It can leave you feeling frustrated and angry because your life seems to be spinning out of control.
We live in a world of changes. A move to another house is a shift in our physical home and neighbourhood. Whereas, a move to another country is a shift in more than just a physical home and neighbourhood. …
Sorting out clothes and belongings, getting rid of those that I don’t need, keeping a few to remind myself of a country, and seeing cardboard waiting to be taped and formed into boxes. It is an all too familiar process I go through many times …