My twin sister left the United States in the fall of 2017 to live a missional life in the Middle East– one of the most spiritually dark places in the world. She had told me a few years prior that she had felt the Lord calling her to be a missionary, and while I felt so excited for her and expectant of what the Lord would do through her, it also began a season of mourning in my heart. Mourning not being in the same time zone to share life experiences in real-time, not being able to spend our 20s together and figuring out what it looks like to be full-grown adults in the real world, mourning not being able to understand her day-to-day life because it would’ve looked somewhat similar to mine, etc. I had a trusting peace in the Lord that this is what He was calling her to, but I was also having heart palpitations for weeks leading up to her leaving due to underlying stress.
I kept wondering, “Will life ever feel ‘normal’ again? Will we ever live in the same city or even the same continent again?” I could envision a future where she came back after a few years while also envisioning a future where she stayed overseas for decades of our lives. I can imagine, in some way, that this is how God’s people felt when they were exiled and then discovered that it would be seventy years before God would gather them all together and to Himself again. Now, by God’s deep kindness, I did not have to wait seventy years for my sister to feel called back to the United States, but I did have to wait seven. I can only imagine how seventy years felt for the Israelites.
Ezekiel 34:16 states, “I will seek the lost and bring back the strays; I will bandage the injured and strengthen the sick, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them—with judgment!”
In this Scripture, God is promising them that He will not forget about and leave His people, but rather, He would seek them out as the True Shepherd. He would find the strays, heal the wounded, and strengthen the hurting.
Have you ever felt like God is out of reach? That you are too far gone, or too deep into a hard season for the Lord to be able to bring you out of it? Scripture shows us that God is always there, ready (yet sometimes, waiting) to swoop in and rescue us. Do you believe that? Do you believe He can rescue you from whatever situation you have found or will find yourself in?
It’s not that I felt like I needed the Lord to rescue my sister and bring her home–I wanted my sister to stay overseas however long she felt the Lord’s leading to stay there, and I supported that wholeheartedly—but I desired for the day that the Lord would gather us together to live in the same city again. I trusted in the Lord to use her life for His glory, and it was clear that was His plan for her as He sunk her roots deep into Middle Eastern soil, or should I say, sand.
I wish I had read that piece of Scripture from Ezekiel before my sister left to go overseas so that I might be reminded of how He can gather His people back together. However, just as God rooted her in the Middle East, He rooted me in Texas. He used my sister’s absence to strengthen my relationship with Him. I was given the time and space to disciple young women, and I was stretched and pruned in ways only He can accomplish. What was once a time of mourning, turned into seven years of growth, of living missionally—for both of us—just from two very different places.
I pray that if you find yourself in a difficult season right now, that you look to the Lord and be reminded that He promises never to leave you. You may find that you have waited longer than you would’ve ever chosen for yourself, but when He answers your prayer, there’s nothing that compares to how He responds. He’s always on time. My sister has been back in the states for the last year, and while it took a bit to get used to being integrated into each other’s lives again, it’s been the sweetest answer to a lot of hopes and prayers that someday the Lord would gather us back together. I’m so grateful He did.
