Ministry in the Philippines has taught me a lot. My host family has taught me the true meaning of unconditional love and comfort. Our evangelism ministry has pushed me past my comfort zone and allowed me to truly understand the importance of prayer and evangelism. The children have taught me pure joy regardless of the circumstance. The way Filipinos love Jesus has taught me that we serve the same God everywhere in the world. Most importantly, in the Philippines, God has taught me that friendship is universal and that no language barrier can keep us from making life long relationships with people around the world.
With that being said, saying goodbye is extremely difficult. We must feel all the feelings, the hard ones, the painful ones, the vulnerable ones along with the joyous ones. This is hard. I came on the World Race with expectations that the Lord has exceeded beyond anything I could ever imagine. I never knew that I could become so close with people across the world. God took a family of 4 and made me a part of that family. There were so many times that I felt like I was home. Now I have to leave this place that I call home. Harder than I ever thought it would be. Jesus had to say goodbye to a lot of people, which shows how important goodbyes are.
Matthew 20:17-19
“17 Now Jesus was going up to Jerusalem. On the way, he took the Twelve aside and said to them, 18 “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death 19 and will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!”
How difficult it was for Jesus to say goodbye to his friends. But, we need to get good at saying goodbye. Any loss is to be felt deeply because it expands our ability to love. When we accept that heartbreak is just part of being a human, it actually makes the heart grow stronger. And then we are able to love one another to our fullest. If we are able to do all of these things we are able to spread the love of God throughout the world, knowing that goodbyes are going to come, but having a heart to withstand the heartbreak. When we say a difficult goodbye, we have finally loved to our fullest and the way Jesus loves because we are heartbroken. Only then will we truly know we have gave our all to God’s children.
God has completely changed my heart this month. I have learned that loving people with everything I have is going to mean that the goodbye is hard, but planting the seeds of the Lord and watching them bear good fruit is something that I wouldn’t change for anything. Even if that means that my heart is going to hurt for a while.
Thank you Philippines for breaking my heart, because in the end I know I gave you my best. Jesus is going to love you so well. I can’t wait to watch you grow.
Until next time my friends.
Hannah
