E-Connected Archive - April 2011
THE COST OF SENDING OTHERS OUT
This month we're beginning the first in a 3 month series focusing on COST.
No one said working in the Muslim world was going to be easy, but what are the challenges and costs that Frontiers workers are dealing with on a daily basis? And what are the costs faced by those who send others out? Be inspired to pray and to give everything to see God’s kingdom come among Muslims.
Note: The article below was written by Ken, a church leader, dad and grandad to a family who served with Frontiers in the Middle East for seven years.
There is a cost for those whose families go abroad. For us, the long periods of not being able to see our daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren was part of the challenge. Tears became an annual event when it was time to leave after our Christmas visit. |
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We were also anxious about their future, their schooling and their emotional and general welfare. This anxiety started even before they left England! There was also the sense that not only were they leaving but they were going into an unknown and unfamiliar world to us. A distance and difference that would throw up emotional pinch points to navigate. The times when I discovered that my daughter and grandson were both unwell I found particularly difficult. I was unable to be there for them.
Although there was a cost there were also many highlights and rich experiences from which we all benefited. A love for and appreciation of the Arab world and culture that we didn’t expect, holidays together, catching up times, surprises, struggles and fun with the language. The seven years were an emotional roller coaster that certainly had highs as well as lows.
The fact that I was proud of them and wanted them to obey the call of God that they had on their lives softened the sense of loss; we simply wanted them to succeed.
An additional benefit for us came from meeting and interacting with many of our children’s friends and colleagues from their time overseas. We have been challenged by their dedication, faithfulness, commitment and spiritual maturity; it has been an honour to meet such people.
“The whole seven years experience has enriched all of our lives. But it didn’t come without a cost. A cost for our children who went and a cost for us who stayed.”