Future Goers,
If you have committed to going overseas for 2 years to leverage your career to see the gospel go forth to all nations, I want you to know that I am so proud of you! It is scary, exciting, & takes a lot of trust in the Lord to get to this place! He is good, & has led you to be faithful & obedient to Him despite where in the world He is calling you to go & serve! I dare you to continue to step out in faith with Jesus & let Him show you the good works that He created you for & has prepared beforehand for you to walk into. I promise that you will not regret it. The Lord will provide all of your needs, He will satisfy the desires of your heart in a foreign land far from home, He will stretch your trust for Him & be your comforter, & He will grow you in your walk with Him in ways you will not be able to comprehend.
You will gain beautiful cultural, interpersonal, work, & life experience during this time that can not be replaced by any other job or masters program. The Lord meets each of us where we are & honors us in our obedience to go or to send. There are unique sets of challenges in both. I learned so much about myself & the things I enjoy through moving, living in a new culture, learning language, being a part of a team, building relationships, & traveling. All of the experience I gained over the last 2 years are now helping me enter back into life & ministry stateside. I now see the world through a different lens because I experienced Jesus in different cultures.
My advice to you would be to be malleable. Go into this journey ready to be molded by your Creator, He is an artist & He wants to shape you to become more like Him. Become flexible, eager to be interrupted by Him & the people you are serving, & seek His presence in the small things. In seasons of waiting, wrestle with the Lord for contentment of where He has placed you & what purpose He wants you to serve. Learn to rely on Him so deeply that you can expect & believe that He will move again because you can always call to mind His faithfulness. Jen Wilkin once wrote, “The heart cannot love what the mind does not know.” Try to learn so much about the people you are joining & the culture that you will be serving amongst, pray to the Lord to grow in your heart a love for the people you will encounter. Remember that He is with you, pray for Him to restore the gladness to your heart in the most challenging & lowest moments.
I know you have questions. WIll you have community? What if you miss out on your friends' weddings? Will your friends forget about you? How much is going to change in 2 years? Will I miss the opportunity to get into grad school? Elisabeth Elliot once wrote, “God has promised to supply all our needs. What we don’t have now, we don’t need now.” I can promise you this experience will be difficult, everyone and placement is different, but the Lord always provides abundantly more than we can ever think to ask or imagine. In times of doubt, He always gave me more joy, He led me & never left me astray. He will provide the right people in His timing & He will mold you for His glory & good.
In Christ,
Ruth