After my first year out of college, I remember telling my friends that were getting ready to graduate that the first year away from everything I had known for the past four years was the year I cried the most in my life. It was such a drastic change from everything I had come to know and love - friends, community, way of life. It was all stripped away. And it was hard. It was very hard.
But this year might have that year beat.
Charlotte shared this blog that really touched my heart. The author gets it. She knows what its like to leave what you know, and live where the Lord has called. I want to share a pretty lengthy snipit of this blog by Patty Stallings becuase it's just that good.
The cost is real.
The endless goodbyes. The missed birthdays and holidays. The wedding vows said outside our hearing. The eulogies spoken without us in the pew. The fellowship and friendship circles that go on without us.
The cost is so very real.
We say goodbye to a lifestyle, to routines and rythms, to familiarity.
We say goodbye to favorite places that evoke memories and a sense of belonging and comfort, fun, and togetherness.
We say goodbye to shared experiences, those everyday moments when inside jokes are born, secret smiles are shared, knowing looks are passed between sisters and friends.
We miss out on those little conversations mostly about nothing that create a whole lot of something between two people.
We miss our best friend or sister's bad hair days, and for a while, we'll have to live on the fumes of the fragrance of a life-giving friendship that dwells in a different corner of the planet.
The cost is real.
Somewhere in the midst of your goodbyes is a sacrifice that you and God have wrestled over. You laid your Isaac on the altar and there was no ram in the thicket to rescue and return your sacrifice. Your "yes" stands. Your sacrifice accepted. And not just accepted, but rejoiced in, delighted over, honored by Jesus.
So, as you tearfully separate from your support system,
as you walk to the car hand in hand with your loved one,
as you hug your nieces and nephews a little tighter,
as you promise your fiancé you'll be back in ten months,
YOU ARE DECLARING THE WORTH OF THE ONE WHO CALLS YOU.
I am trusting our Father to step in with heavier doses of His grace and peace and comfort. And I'm remembering He delights in my willingness to pay the very real cost of following Him to faraway places.
The sacrifices we make do not go unnoticed. "God is not unjust; He will not forget your work and the love you have shown Him as you have helped His people and continue to help them." Hebrews 6:10
Did you catch that? We show God our love for Him as we serve others. Our willingness to lay all else aside for His name's sake is take very seriously by God. He takes note and makes crazy promises to those who obey His call.
Your "Yes" courageously and beautifully declares His worth.
In every goodbye you and I whisper, we loudly and clearly declare His worth.
I wanted to share this with you because it really touched my heart. I don't mean to toot my own horn. That isn't my intention at all. In fact, I think that this can very easily apply to you as well. When you say "yes" to the Lord - whether it be serving at church on Sundays, volunteering during the week at the homeless shelter, working with a group of people you wouldn't necessarily chose to work with - you, too, are beautifully and boldy declaring His worth.
As hard as it was to say goodbye this last time, it is also hard for me to think about leaving this place. Ideally, my two worlds would come together. It would be perfect. I guess I'll just have to wait for heaven. And I can't wait for you all to meet each other!
