Wow!!?? What more can I say but WOW??!! As of yesterday we have now been in the UK for four weeks. It is four weeks that has forever changed our lives. We are asking lots of questions and still doing things wrong. I am still shocked to be living here. Yesterday while I sat at my desk I had a strange feeling of being a million miles away from home. It was like my mind was just catching up to the fact that I now live in England. Over the last four weeks, many different emotions have come in waves like that. We have had high highs and low lows. You never know what is going to cause them or when it will happen, but they are guaranteed to come. They may not last long but they will come. It is not that we don’t want these emotions. It is more that emotions can be misleading and we don’t want to be led by emotions.
Another strange feeling we have experienced, while here, is the feeling of being out of place. Whether it is in the groceries or the parks or just walking the streets. Every day we find new things that are different to what we know from home. We now know the trunk of a car is a boot and the hood is a bonnet. A shovel is called a spade. Small chocolate chip cookies are not cookies, but biscuits. Although sometimes they are cookies especially if they are Maryland brand. Big soft cookies are always cookies. A stroller is a pushchair or a pram. Potato chips are called crisps and french fries, if they are fat, are chips but they are french fries if they are thin. Soccer is football not futbal. They always tease us that American football doesn’t make any sense because you always carry it with your hands and “besides it is just rugby with pads and only girls play rugby with pads.” (Are you confused yet?)
In all of the differences, we have found a place of familiarity and comfort. In all the places where we have felt lost and confused, there is place where we feel at home. These days, we find the most comfort in the presence of God. Whether it is in a Sunday service, a Harvest Group (home group), alone in our personal prayer time or a prayer meeting we find ourselves in God’s presence. When I find myself there, I am almost surprised by how familiar it feels. I have a new understanding to the scriptures…
“For I am the LORD, I do not change…” – Malachi 3:6a
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” – Hebrews 13:8
While these scriptures clearly speak about time, it is quite amazing to serve a God that doesn’t change geographically. It means I can travel 5000 miles away from home and find the same God who loves me the same as He continues to speak similar things in a similar way but a new location. It is the SAME God. He is doing something unique here but as His people seek to hear His voice, He if faithful to speak so that we hear. It has been our joy to find people that have a similar passion to know God and His presence. It is that passion to know God that has helped us realise how busy we were back home. I believe that one of the reasons God has brought us this far away from all that we know is because He wants to speak to us in a new way and He doesn’t want us so busy that we can’t hear Him. What a loving and caring God that would ask us to sell everything and move to a foreign land because He wants to teach us something. That may not sound like love, but what I know about God is that He does big things to get our attention when He has big plans for us. Which is why I am excited to have a renewed desire to be in God’s presence. It is His presence that has become our sustenance. It is His presence where we find Him waiting to speak to us. When He speaks I want to be open to listen and quick to act. I am so thankful that, because of the Holy Spirit, I can be in His presence constantly. That is why we have been living out what King David spoke about…
“Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me.” -Psalm 139:7-10
As I continue to get more familiar with our surroundings and the English culture, my prayer is that I keep hungry for His presence. It will be there that I find His hand waiting to lead me. It will be there that I will hear His voice. And above all, it will be there that I will deepen my relationship with Him. I want to know Him, listen to Him and be led by Him.
