Recently, while talking with some friends about ministry, I had an epiphany. I have never quite been able to explain why, though I have an amazing church family and earthly family, for a very long time now the thought of staying in my hometown and never leaving has been something that makes my skin crawl. I've known, for what seems like forever, that this is not where I am supposed to stay. I realize this is not a "typical" feeling for most people..as a matter of fact, most would think me crazy for even making that statement.
However, I have finally figured out how to explain it...It's like, when God calls you to a certain place, He puts a certain restlessness within you. As long as I am not where He has called me, I will never feel complete peace. While I have a burden for the people in my hometown, my burden for the people where I am called is even stronger. I now realize that God gave me this uncomfortable feeling a long time ago so I could never let myself get too comfortable outside of His perfect will.
Recently I got to talk with an awesome young lady. Her and her husband just within the last year received their calling to the foreign missions field. She told me how, while in the deciding process as to where to go for their first trip, she saw a man from a certain very unfamiliar country praying over her husband and though "NO LORD!!!"..Sure enough...sometime soon they will be headed to that place on their first missions trip. I was thankful though that she shared this with me, because I was able to encourage her that wherever God leads them; that place will feel like home. No matter how different the culture, how distant the place...if that's where God calls them, He'll give them peace.
Lately I have been watching videos from some mission training sessions I was privileged to take while staying in Estonia on the Next Step Program. One day Bro. Lynden Shalm talked about how his wife hadn't traveled outside of the U.S. very much at all, and yet, when they reached the land of their calling, before they had landed, while looking out the window, his wife said that she "felt like she'd come home." She had never been there, yet God had already put something in her heart in advance that she already had a love for those people.
So, I've came to the conclusion that yes, home is indeed where the heart is. One's heart will always be with their family, but one must also follow God's heart...and God's heart may lead you anywhere.
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