Purpose

At 16 God called me to live abroad. Over the next 6 years I worked towards making that happen. God very clearly showed me exactly where in the world I was meant to go. Finally, 22 years old and fresh out of college, I boarded a plane all alone with the other side of the world as my destination.

I was doing it! I was going where He wanted me to go and doing what He had called me to do. Things definitely weren't perfect in my new "home", but I loved it. I loved my job, I loved my community, and I loved this new city I was living in. Despite the challenges it was everything I could have hoped for and through it I found my husband and made some incredible friends.

I had found my purpose in life: teaching and living in this country with these people.

But then things changed, suddenly and abruptly. Covid caused my husband and I to be sent back to America for what was supposed to be a few weeks but has now been over a year and a half. We discovered a tumor in my brain, I had surgery, we learned it was cancer, and we realized we would not be returning "home".

Heartbroken. Devastated. Angry. Sad.

I felt like my purpose was ripped away from me.

Now what?

What I worked towards for so long, gone. My normal for the last few years, gone. My apartment, gone. My job, gone. My purpose, gone.

Or so I thought...

What if 'purpose' isn't something you only have one of? What if you can have a different purpose for each season of life? What if the saying "when one door closes, another door opens" was right all along?

My purpose wasn't a lost cause after all, it was just changing and evolving for this next chapter in my life. I may not know yet what exactly that purpose is, but I know He has a plan and I think I am starting to see Him reveal it to me.

An American, in China, wearing a Canada shirt