Returning Home

Whether it's from a week long mission's trip or many years of living abroad, returning home is never easy. And for a number of different reasons. "Reverse culture shock" is often one of the culprits; and for me it is always a culture shock to return to culture of American Christianity in relation to the Christianity that I see and experience abroad. No matter how much I try to to prepare myself, it never ceases to catch hold of me. 

Another reason returning home can be so hard is because of the passion that you develop while abroad (I've noticed this can even happen at weekend conferences). You often come back wanting to change the world right away and it's easy to get overwhelmed or discouraged. I am getting better at preparing myself for all the adjusting and knowing that I need to make efforts not to lose that passion. 

But the hardest thing about returning home, to me, is telling people about my time there. Everyone asks about your trip, but for the most part people don't actually want to hear about it. They like hearing that it was great and maybe about the food or an experience or two, but the topic often gets changed after a minute or two. Sometimes though, I find it even harder to talk about my time with the people that genuinely want to know. Where do I start? How much do I share? What is the best way to convey what God was/is teaching me (if I can even put it into words)? What about my experience will best impact them? 

One thing that I have taken from my time in Ethiopia has been a widened perspective of who God is. Genesis 1: 27 says, "So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them." We can catch a glimpse of who God is by looking at ourselves and the people around us. But as a young white woman from small town Pennsylvania it is very easy for me to picture the image of God as myself and those I am surrounded by. But each new place I go to and each new culture that I am exposed to widens my image of who God is. I am just not made in God's image, but the man sitting in the corporate office in New York is made in God's image. The young single mom in Nicaragua, washing her clothing in the river is made in God's image. The old drunk man asleep on the side of the road in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia is made in God's image. Just as the young malnourished child in an orphanage in Asia is also made in God's image. The more people I meet and learn their stories the more my love for my God has grown-How creative, how wonderful and how loving of a God He is!

Through that God has been teaching me more of his heart. In Ethiopia, it was as if God was saying to me, "See Lauren? See all of the beautiful people, created in my image? I love each and every one of them so much!" I was able to see God's love for ALL of the nations through my experience, and His desire for them to all know and experience His love. More than ever I have seen the importance of have a global mindset and loving ALL people as God has called HIS people to do. Sometimes we don't know a specific call that God has created us for, but God does layout some very clear callings already for us in the bible. Matthew 28: 19-20 says, "Therefore go and make disciples of ALL nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.." That is a call to His people, to Christians. We are called not just to share Jesus and love those right around us-but to do this for all God's people! Even though for each of us, our individual walks look different and we live out that call differently, God has reiterated to me the importance of missions and prayer for ALL of the world.

So as I settled in back home, my heart and mind is overwhelmed with all that I heard and saw. But God is working. He is working in the teachers at the International School, in the children attending the school, in the missionaries serving in Ethiopia, and the missionaries all around the world. God is working in the children and the adults who are being reached by those missionaries. And God wants to continue is work in you and in me! The love that God has for each of us is indescribable! And every single one of us can play a role in the call and purpose that He has given to us. I know for sure that I will never be the same. And as I continue to process everything I cling to Him and what he is going to do next in me and through me!

"I have taken you from the ends of the earth and called you from its most distant places. I said to you, 'You are my servant. I've chosen you; I haven't rejected you. Don't be afraid, because I am with you. Don't be intimidated; I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will support you with my victorious right hand...Don't  be afraid; I will help you." Isaiah 41:9-10, 13b