Whenever I meet new people these days, I get asked lots of questions. All I have to do is open my mouth and they instantly know that I'm not from here. Most people seem to be extremely confused as to why I am here and how I got here. So they ask, and I tell the story of how am I here working as a nurse, and how my friends and family and church back home give financially to support me while I do this work. More questions usually follow, and one question, by far, gets asked the most... "Don't you miss your family?" Or this..."I can't believe your family let you move all the way to Africa!" And my least favorite statement... "I'm way too close to my family to ever leave home like you did."
While all of these nice people are well-meaning, sometimes their questions miss the whole point of following Christ. It isn't really about whether or not I miss my family or friends or culture. I think the more relevant question to be asked whenever I look at my family is "Why did God give them to me?" How do they fit into God's plan? Why are any of us given any good things in life? And what are we going to do about it?
The answer? Grace. Total undeserved grace. As followers of Christ, all of us have something in our lives that was God's pure and total grace to us. Even those with the toughest of lives have been shown grace by someone, at sometime, in some way. Even if your "only" grace was Christ's death on the cross, you have grace. None of us "deserve" the good life. God didn't have to give me a wonderfully supportive and understanding family, but by His grace, He did. He didn't have to show His love to me through them but He did. He didn't have to use my family to make me a well-rounded whole person, but because of His grace, he did. His grace is sufficient for me. I'm in Africa today, because my family "gets it." They know exactly why it is that I "had" to move, and why it is that God's calling on my life will always be greater than my love for them. Because they raised me that way! They raised me to understand that God's plans come first. They raised my siblings and I to follow God's will for our lives, no matter where that will might lead us, and foreign missions was always a possibility. Even if I never come home again, my family will say it was worth it.
But I'm not here to brag or to compare families. I'm here to find out exactly what is it that I'm supposed to do with the grace I've been given. And my answer? Give it away. Invest it. Use it. Model it. I've been shown grace to show grace.
So let me introduce you to the family that gives me grace to do what I do...
My Dad: why he is God's grace to me... because he has told me every single day of my life, that I am the most beautiful woman in the world (behind my mother of course), that I can do anything I want to do with my life, that he will always love me unconditionally no matter what, and that he supports my decisions 100%. All my life, I've never had to look any further than my Dad for a man to love me and support me. And now that I'm a grown woman, because of what he taught me, I will never have to look any further for the love of a man than Christ.
My Mom: Why she is God's grace to me... because she set out from day one that we were going to be a family that obeyed God's plans no matter what. Because of her very broken childhood, she insisted that there was another way possible and then proceeded to raise us that way. She treated parenting as a calling. It wasn't a chore, a burden or a hardship. It was a joy-filled purpose with an end-goal in mind. She took her job to raise five kids seriously and it was her number one priority every single day.
My brother Ben: why he is God's grace to me... because he is still in my life. After a serious childhood illness and a serious car wreck two years ago, God has kept him on this earth! And now... because he learned another language, married cross-culturally, works as an interpreter and pastors a deaf church. He models what it is like to truly live life with people who have often been marginalized, and now he calls them friends.
My brother Dan: why he is God's grace to me... because Dan is a deep well. Hardcore into outdoor sports and absolutely hilarious, he can make me pee in my pants with laughter. But mostly because he inspires me with his relentless pursuit of God, and because I know that he prays for me. Dan spends his days working with inter-city youth, building bicycles with young guys, and mentoring them along the way.
My sister Beth: why she is God's grace to me... because by grace she overcame. In her short thirteen years, she has overcome in-utero cocaine use, hepatitis, fetal alcohol syndrome, and now Chron's disease to be a perfectly normal kid. Beth wakes up with a song in her heart everyday. Happy to be alive, she floats through life without a care in the world. She loves unconditionally and could care less what you or anyone else thinks of her... and that will take her immensely far in the kingdom of God.
Sarah Faith my baby sister: why she is God's grace to me... because God literally gave her to us through adoption. Along with Beth, she was first-hand evidence of how we are given grace to show grace. And because from the day she was born at 1+pound, she fought for her life, despite all circumstances that pointed to another outcome. Winning that fight gave her a strong stubborn streak that keeps her competeting to this day, driving her to be the best. And because underneath that shy exterior is a bright flame of grace-filled purpose waiting to be understood.
And last, but not least, my grandparents: why they are God's grace to me... Because I knew my whole life that they loved to be with me. They hauled me and my siblings all over creation and back just to spend time with us three kids, and they considered it a privilege. And because they have evidenced their love for the Lord in serving others. They always set an example, and I will be forever grateful.
So now you know my grace and my responsibility to give grace. It's your turn.
What is it in your life that has been freely given to you? What do you have that is evidence of God's grace in your life? How will you use it?
And AMY my oldest sister: why she is God's grace to me...Because above all I know about my sister, she loves, freakin LOVES the Lord. As the leader of 4 siblings she consistently learned grace for others. She turned being an older sister into a beautiful duty as a nurse. And now continues to give grace to the broken and annoying(me). So much of my character has been refined by her guidance. So I miss you very much and can't wait to see you soon. Thanks for the shout outs!
AMEN! His grace is GOOOOD. He is so faithful, eh?