There’s a lot of Hallmark Channel playing in the house lately.
I guess it’s just that time of year.
You know the how those movies go: a single, career-obsessed woman is sent to a small town on an errand by her boss that will hopefully lead to a promotion, but then she meets the ironically attractive inn keeper. She falls in love with him and decides that she wants to stay in the small town and help him save the inn. By the end, she realizes that she had found a new home, a new love, and a new life because after all, “home is where the heart is.”
Folks, I wrote that paragraph with a smile because although I did not experience romantic love this year (just to clear up any would-be rumors), this story line seems all too familiar to me.
I was a single, career-obsessed woman. I loved and hated my job all in the same breath. My students were my great love, and career success was my main objective. Each day, I looked up from my lesson plans and stack of papers to grade, and I saw myself surrounded by passionate, driven people. However, as the days passed, I also realized that even though I was doing fulfilling work, I did not feel full. My nose was so far into my lesson plans that I was missing out on all the other things life had to offer, and the cup I’d been pouring from was running on empty.
My love for my students was making me miss out on the greatest love of all, and I think that’s the thing that I hated, so when God spoke, I listened. When He asked me to walk away from a promotion I had spent my career working towards, I did it.
He’s the boss, you know.
And you know what? Because of God’s goodness, I had a wildly incredible year.
I fell in love over and over again with Jesus and the people I met around the globe. Experience was a great teacher, and as my feet rest back on American soil, I am overflowing with new wisdom about the world and my place within it even though I have many uncertainties about the future. Joy abounds in my soul, despite the struggles of “readjusting” to America, because my memory is teeming with beautiful adventures and remarkable people. My perspective has shifted dramatically, and so has the course of my life and my hope for the future.
All this because of a simple “yes.”
Yes to new life.
Yes to a greater love.
Yes to redefining success.
Yes to a new concept of home.
So, Hallmark, if “home is where the heart is,” I guess I have a lot of homes.
I have a home on Nias Island, Indonesia with over 30 students and leaders, where I taught English and learned how to be brave and courageous.
I have a home in Serenje, Zambia with one of the most loving families I’ve ever met, where I learned to use my voice for the Kingdom and trust God more deeply.
I have a home in Ohio because I’m forever a Buckeye, and it’s the place that many of my family members call “home.”
I have a home in the Mississippi Delta, where I learned to teach and in Nashville, Tennessee where I learned how to love it and how to let it go.
And I have so many more homes. Too many to write here.
Where is my next home? I don’t know, yet. I step more closely to it each day. Though it’s off in the distance, and I can’t see it clearly, I know that it’s there. But friends, if foreshadowing is any indication, and it usually is, it will be a home full of joy, laughter, and warmth, of purpose, growth, and wisdom, and, most importantly, it will be full of Jesus.
Until the Whole World Hears,
Mia
PS – I’ve really enjoyed sharing my year with you, and I will probably post a few more updates on this blog as I transition into my next season! If you don’t mind, please leave me a comment about one great experience from your life in 2018. I have been able to tell you so much about my experiences, but I would like to have a small window into your life to celebrate with you. And as always, click the subscribe button if you want to hear more about what’s next for me.
