Innocent Light

As God’s people we are often called to a new adventure for the good of His kingdom.  As a kid who grew up in church I have watched many people whom I love get “called” to something new.  It’s almost always far away; a different state or in many cases a different country.  I’ve also seen people pack up and move not necessarily because it was a call by God, but because it was the right decision for their family at the time.   As a child I didn’t always understand why people had to leave, but as an adult I understand. 

Since Daniel and I have been married we have watched a handful of people “move on”.  Some to serve missionary stints in other countries, some to take their family to a more stable environment than SoCal can offer.  A few years ago we were sitting in church one Sunday morning as our Pastor called up a young couple for the congregation to pray for them and commission them onto their missionary stint in South America.  As they walked up, the people in the congregation began to “boo”.  Witnessing this caused pain within our souls.  We knew why people were booing, this young couple would be greatly missed, people were sad to have to say goodbye.  But it pained us to watch the body of Christ act so unsupportive of what God was doing in their lives. 

Over this last year we have witnessed this in the lives of some dear friends as well.  They have been making plans to move their family to another state and all their friends have been doing is complaining.  It has gotten so bad that they now have had to make pleas on facebook for people to not sabotage viewings of their home.  It breaks my heart to the point that I get teary eyed just thinking about it. 

I don’t understand why we as the body of Christ can’t show support to one another as He takes His people onto new adventures. 

As Daniel and I prepare to move to another state we have experienced much of this opposition (and it got much worse when I got pregnant).  We researched all over at schools and found one we loved, one that had everything we were looking for.  I could write a whole post on how God orchestrated Daniel getting accepted (it was a long shot).  My husband is finally achieving his dream of completing a graduate degree.  And yet people are complaining about us moving and especially for “taking the baby”.  Don’t get me wrong there are plenty of people in support of our venture, but most of those people don’t live near us and we have a long distance relationship anyways.

It truly hurts us every time we hear someone say to us “I’m hoping you change your mind”.  I would much rather hear “how can we support you in this transition”.

As I was thinking about this last night, I was praying for all our friends who are in transition with their families.  I was praying that the hearts of family and friends would turn from opposition to support, that the body of Christ would rally around one another and rejoice in what God is doing in the lives of his people.  Sure we will miss our family and friends, but it doesn’t mean we can’t be excited with them for their new adventures.  Join me.