Jesus Tells us that we are in the world, but not of it. We are aliens here. This is true. The way that I think is not the way the world around me thinks...and some days, I just long to be home. I know that while I am here, Christ asks me to go and make disciples, and I do, but that is hard sometimes.

When you "make disciples" you become family. When you "make a disciple" you are bound to them for life...and then, sometimes, God calls them to go somewhere else, and they must obey.

Since I have come to Christ, I have temporarily lost many a sister or brother to God's call, and although I rejoice for them that the have been called to go, and that they have responded in obedience, a piece of my heart breaks every time that they leave. The redeeming thought is that we know we will ultimately all be together again... and change is good, it means that you are alive (but it also can hurt and leave you feeling loss).

I know that God is good and these feeling will pass, but for the moment, I am mourning the movement of a sister and my heart is breaking. I am excited to see what God is going to do in her life. I see how yielded she is to Him and I realize that she must obey, but she is family, we have been through so much together that I am on the verge of tears as I write here. They are melancholy tears; happy ones for her ministry and maturing relationship with the Lord, and sad ones for our friendship and the ministry which we had been in together.

Part of being "in" the world, but not "of" the world, is that we don't live life by our own direction, we must follow the direction of God. When God first called Abraham his name was Abram and he lived in Ur, an important city of the ancient world. God told him to "go from your country, your people and your father's household to the land I will show you." - Genesis 12:1

And "Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy five years old when he set out for Harran. He took his wife Sari, his nephew Lot, all the possessions he had acquired, and set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there." - Genesis 12:4-5

As Abram followed the instruction of the Lord, his name was changed to Abraham, he was given an incredible ministry and blessed in his old age with being the father of a mighty nation. Along the way he made many mistakes, but all along he "believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness." (Genesis 15:6) When we "believe God", we too set out for new lands.

Just like Abram, God asks many of us to launch out into unknown territory, sometimes alone, sometimes with our immediate family. So we go, albeit imperfectly, and we often must leave beloved friends and family behind when we do.

It is a blessing to be called, and although I have lost friends to pastoring their own churches, retirement, moving to another home church, ministries that aren't my calling, and moving to Tennessee or Hawaii for example...I have also had the blessing of walking with them and becoming sisters and brothers in the family of Christ.

This morning I am still feeling the stretching and twisting that comes from change...I pray for my sister's walk with the Lord and for the great plans that He has for her, but I am saddened for my own personal loss. At least she isn't moving to Hawaii (lol) but I have always felt an easy, down to earth, sisterly love for her and so I am saddened.

God has a plan for all of us and seasons of life when we, like Abram, need to move on. I have left many places during my journey, and as I prepare for my trip to Malawi, I secretly know deep down somewhere in my spirit, that I too will be asked to launch out into new territory as a result of this trip.

Being comfortable feels good, but it really isn't experiencing the fullness of what God has for us. If Abraham had stayed in Ur with the Chaldeans, he would have had an average good life (the scripture says that he had a family and he had many possessions)...but instead he "believed God" and became the father of a mighty nation which ultimately ushered in the birth of the Messiah who came to save the world.

When we realize the scope of what God wants to do with our lives and the lives of those that we love in the body of Christ...when we believe that we (and they) can change the world if we follow God's promptings...it makes it easier to say goodbye. After all, it really isn't goodbye if you are part of God's family...it is more like; "until we meet again".

To all of the most loved people who have walked closely with me and helped me to become the woman of God that I currently am..."Thank you". I cannot wait until we are all together and I can hear our voices mingling as we worship the one true God forever...That's totally worth waiting for!...Until we meet again <3...Love you all :)