This week, I’ve had many people ask about my experience living in the South Pacific for the last two years. I most likely responded with a few words:
“Amazing,” “Powerful,” “Life-changing.” “Tough, but rewarding.” All of these words and statements are
true.
And then comes the next sentence. The time when the person expects me to expand
on the first sentence. Why was it influential? Difficult?
Rewarding even though stressful? My
response, the next sentence, is incredibly hard to formulate. How can I truly summarize the immense joys
and hurts of the last two years into a few sentences?
I could start to talk about the amazing things I’ve
experienced:
-Teaching
students to record 21 worship songs in a local recording studio
-Traveling
to 6 different countries in Asia/Australia
-Leading
student trips for teaching and service, as well as a worship conference and a Model UN
conference
-Seeing a
worship program grow immensely at my school
-Meeting
people and forming friendships from all over the world
-Influencing
the lives of amazing students from grades K-12
-Growing
much deeper in my personal relationship with God
-Sharing
the Good News in a second language, and having people understand
-Understanding
God’s call on my life in a powerful way
-And so
many more!
But I would be missing a piece of my story if I didn’t
include the difficult times. After all,
no experience is only positive or only negative. I would need to share these harder situations
too:
-Seeing a
community of like-minded Christian workers struggle to be a community
-Struggling
to pick up extra responsibilities as teachers leave school
-Missing
home for key life events (sister’s college graduation, Grandma’s 80th
birthday
party, a funeral of my student teaching mentor)
-Loosing
trust in the leadership placed in front of me
-Watching
close friends move away
-Battling
weariness and apathy in myself, other teachers, and students
-Feeling
lonely and stressed by cultural differences
-And so
many more!
And as I consider all of these experiences, I realize it is
impossible to synthesize all of these life events into a few sentences. I want to share the positive things, because
there were so many, while also painting a realistic picture of the difficulties
that abound on this field. Serving in a
different country has made me feel some of the greatest joy and deepest sorrow
I have ever experienced.
So if you truly want to know how this experience has
influenced me, I am happy to talk. I
would love to share how I have changed and matured and how God has continued to
write His story through my life over the last two years. I would encourage you to think about how you
can influence others with His love. I
would share the pictures of the people and places I’ve experienced. I would ask you to pray for the rebuilding
that my community will go through in the upcoming years. There is so much to talk about.
But there is no way to talk about it in only a few
sentences. Maybe after the wounds heal
and the experience becomes a distant memory, I will have a greater
understanding and have a few sentence summary.
Just know that this all takes time. A few sentence conversation will never be
enough to share all that God has brought me through these last two years.
That being said, if you have an hour of time to spare, at
any stop throughout my journey of the next few months, it would be a joy to sit
down and share my life from the last two years with you. It has truly been a life-changing experience,
and I am thankful for all of the situations that have formed me to who I am
today. Just know that I have a lot of talking to do.
And if my second sentence doesn’t come right away, I promise
I will eventually have a second sentence.
It just takes time.
Luke Forshey
June 1, 2017
Beautifully said, Luke. Following God's call is never easy, but living in his will is always worth whatever it costs as he reveals himself to us in new ways. Blessings to you.
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