"Being" for God

Today Kate Irwin is our guest blogger.  Kate is currently living in Ethiopia working in the Grace Centre for Children and Families.  Thanks Kate for sharing with us today.

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Nicole asked me to consider writing something for this blog while I was still in Australia.  I have pondered on and off what to say.  Today, I sat in the Grace Centre office in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia and read an email from Nic with the results of Emily’s trip to the cardiologist and I was reminded again how hard it is to be so far away and how often I feel stuck between two worlds.

When I am here in Ethiopia I often think of Australia and wish I could be there, with family, with friends, a part of that world BUT when I am in Australia I think about this world in Ethiopia and long to be here where God has called me to be.  To find oneself never satisfied with where one is a sure way to drain the joy from life.

It reminds me of the story of the Rocketeer...

 I wonder, do you ever find yourself split between two worlds – in one place but looking at another?   Wishing you were in another place.  For me, just like the Rocketeer,  this is something that I struggle with on a sometimes daily basis.  I am learning (sometimes painfully slowly I am sure) to be in the place that God is calling me to be and to focus on the people I am with.  This does not mean that I forget people in Australia nor does it mean I stop communicating with those in Australia but it does mean making a conscious effort to value the people I am with and to BE with the people I am with.

Too often I find myself focusing on anyone and anything and any place other than the one I am in, the people I am with and the things I am doing.  Here, in a culture that is all about relationships and being with the people you are with, I am constantly challenged to be in the place God called me to be – focused on the people I am called to be with and to be thankful that I am here.

For me, this is a lesson that I need to learn over and over and over, but the joy that comes from being where God called me to be, focused on the people God called me to focus on, is a source of joy that knows no bounds. 

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 Written by Kate Irwin