Belonging

Last year my husband and I sold or gave away half of our possessions and moved from the area where we had lived all our lives to a retirement centre hundreds of miles away. Even though we knew the Holy Spirit was present through the whole process, the move was still a traumatic and exhausting ordeal. We had become like strangers in a foreign land.

Last Sunday, however, God’s faithfulness enveloped me in joy —I realised we were no longer displaced! Through the year our apprehension of new surroundings has been eclipsed by a sense of belonging among loving neighbours and a vibrant church eager to have new hands and feet to help serve in the name of Jesus Christ. The endless sea of unfamiliar faces is now generously dotted with identifiable smiles of recognition. Concerns about old age and diminished health are met with encouragement and new coping skills.

Today, filled with thanksgiving and courage and God’s help, we are considering passing on what we have been given. We intend to answer yes to the call to invite two college-aged foreign exchange students into our lives to help them make the journey from being strangers to belonging. Each day we anticipate a new sign of God’s faithfulness.