On saying goodbye...
It seems really different to be saying goodbye now in Belgium, mainly I think because I don't no if I'll ever see some of these people again. I mean, I hope I'll be coming back to visit fairly often next year, (although anything could happen.) But when I left the UK, I knew that I would eventually (God willing) be going back, "for good".
It's just got me wondering about how attached I am to England, and whether I am in fact too attached? Am I willing to give it up for God, if He asked me to move somewhere else. Someone once said to me, before we moved the 300ish miles to Devon when I was fourteen, that God would be willing to send you to the other side of the world, for just one person. It's easier I feel, to think about giving up the UK to go to be a missionary somewhere 'exotic' like Africa, or in a jungle somewhere. (And I don't mean that to sound flippant or to dismiss how hard it must be to work in places like those) But I wonder how willing I would be to give up the comforts of the UK, to move back to Belgium permenantly. Or to France. Or to any other European country, to work in cities with 'westerners'?
I think I probably need to refocus, to "set my mind on things above" (Col 3), on Heaven and on the fact that my real home is there, and nowhere on earth. I am a citizen of Heaven, and whilst on earth I am but moving from one outpost to another.
So so good and true. It's a perspective that is difficult to cling to. :( It's neat that you shared this, cause I recently read (in light of missions) Colossians 3..."Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving."
ReplyDeleteLove that. Whatever you do, wherever we are. :) And you're doing that, Miriam! I'm excited to see where He's going to lead you.
It is hard to let go, but if you ask yourself why? Is it because of the friends you have made over here in England, you family, or just because you grew up here. But on the other hand, you may not get another chance to go over to Belgium, or any other place. So follow your heart, take risks, if you never try, you'll never know what you can achieve. But if you do then you could be surpised/amazed at what you do achieve.
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