Life is sort of a funny thing in how it takes you through times and seasons. It is no exaggeration when some people say they are not the same person they were in high school or when they got married many years ago. I am now stepping into a new life of work and mission where the bulk of what I am doing is in a classroom around people preparing for cross-cultural ministry. There are parts of that environment that I am enjoying but it is so incredibly different than frontline mission work. It feels like God has wired me for this and has been preparing me for this for a long time but this component of my life and work has always been something on the periphery. So much thinking these days. . . I like to use my brain but geez. . . 😊
Being around students who are preparing to serve cross-culturally for the rest of their lives is incredibly invigorating. Knowing that God has allowed me to walk through a lot of ups and downs to speak into this moment is just an awesome realization of God’s plan. That identity, as exciting as it seems right now, is temporal. There is another identity that we all have to hold to.
These life transitions really push us to stay anchored somewhere that isn’t all about us. I’m thinking of 2 Cor. 5 as a reminder that Jesus has turned me into a “new creation” making me an ambassador for him. Holding tightly to this new creation identity roots us and helps not to constantly feel like a wreck. Loved, cherished, forgiven, whole, new, worthy, heir – that is the identity that is more true than anything we know as kids of the King.
How has the virus thrown off your identity? Your sense of belonging? Your sense of normalcy? Christ is our firm foundation and .though kingdoms rise and fall, disasters come and go, God remains faithful to the end. Holding to that ongoing identity I have in Jesus in the midst of this very temporary new vocational identity. Maybe it isn’t work or geographical location for you that has left you grasping. Maybe you are going nuts trying to get your kid set up with online school or you are just extremely weary from the Covid fight. To all who are thirsty, there is a Well that never runs dry.
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