Skip to main content

One Year Down

Posted on Tuesday, November 6, 2018

Has it really already been a year? Wowzer.

And this year has been hard! Not that life in your home country isn’t, but at least one can usually go grocery shopping without needing a dictionary. I’m not complaining, each new challenge is an opportunity for growth and for God to show His power and be glorified, but I don’t want to sugar-coat this either. It’s tough. And there are growing pains as I work to become the person God designed me to be.

Yesterday, I came across a verse in 2nd Corinthians about sorrow. Paul is reflecting on the reaction his first letter, a reprimand, caused among the Corinthians. It brought them sorrow, but Paul explains that he’s not sorry about that, “For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow,” (2nd Corinthians 7:10).

Google defines sorrow as: “a feeling of deep distress caused by loss, disappointment, or other misfortune suffered by oneself or others.” Its synonyms include: sadness, unhappiness, despondency, depression, dejection, gloom, melancholy, heartache, and grief.

Over the past year, I’ve had moments of sadness, depression, and melancholy; moments of sorrow. And although I didn’t always turn to God first, I got to Him eventually, with some help and reminders from friends and colleagues.

And that’s one of the lessons I’m over here to learn. There’s a joke among workers that we’re the dense ones God has to send thousands of miles away to learn the same lessons that the rest of y’all can learn at home.

At home I was far less disposed to turn to God when I was in need. I had many friends and a loving family always at my disposal. I still have those people, but it’s a little harder to get ahold of them from 10 time zones away.

Don’t get me wrong, my colleagues and new friends here are wonderful people and very supportive, and – as it must be – they are also the ones speaking truth and doing the reprimanding, and occasionally causing the sorrow, just like Paul for the Corinthians.

But each reprimand, each sorrow, is an opportunity to draw closer to God, to strengthen that most important of relationships, and grow (hopefully) in maturity and wisdom. And the joys far outweigh the sorrows.

So, along with The Croods I say, “Still alive!” at the end of this first year.

[ Goer login ]

© 2023 GoCorps. All rights reserved.
Website design and development by Hawkeye Design Group