I don't have anything from you all, so I thought I'd ask:
How have you changed since you moved overseas? (Or if you work in your passport country, how has being in full-time ministry shaped who you are?) It might be hard to step back and take a look at yourself like that, or even to remember what was before, but it's an interesting question to think about. Share some of your thoughts about this with us!
(If you have a “Tuesday Topic” question, please email it to me at fylliska@gmail.com. Provide your blog address if you would like to be linked to, or specify if you would like to remain anonymous. Thanks!)
i think i've become a gentler, less judgmental and more thankful person. i've also become much less confident in my abilities, less adventurous and a lot more tired - physically, emotionally and spiritually.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Richelle. That sums it up very, very well. While I'm so grateful to have learned a thousand lessons of love & confidence in Him, I find myself wondering if the weariness will ever leave me. :)
ReplyDeleteYes to the above two comments! I would, however, add that I feel more open to ... you guessed it! CHANGE.
ReplyDeleteLess adventurous? I can understand that, but I think I've changed in the opposite direction. What would have scared me before, is just nothing to me now. I would say that I'm more adventurous. Definitely less confident in my own abilities, though!
ReplyDeleteProbably the biggest changes in me are that I'm more flexible, and I no longer plan in advance. That's a huge change for me; I used to want every step planned out before I started on any path. Although, to be fair, I don't know how much of that change is from ministry life and how much can be "blamed" on my husband. :-)
I'm more of an introvert now, but I value and seek relationships more.
when i say less adventurous, maybe that is i don't seek it... it seems to find me on its own without any help from me. i'll try things now that i never dreamed of trying before, but i don't seek them out. life is exciting enough without looking for the fireworks!
Deleteand that is an interesting question - is it because of the lifestyle, because of where we live, because i've become a mama, because i married the man i did... how do you ever identify and isolate a single factor, outside God, that has made a person into who/what they are?
Phyllis, I'm exactly as you described... like Richelle, I feel I've become less judgemental, more accepting, more thankful, less confident, and, yes, much more tired... and, like you, I feel I have become more flexible and more introverted. Since our change to becoming parents and moving to another country happened simultaneously, it is hard for me to discern which change of circumstances has changed which change of personality. The only other thing I would add is that I am more dependent on the Lord; I have to be!
DeleteThanks so much for this thread. It's helped me sort out some conflicting thoughts I'm having on why groups of people from my American culture overwhelm me. If I've traded 'good' social skills of relating in a shallow way to a larger group for more honest deeper relationships with a (much) smaller group, then that is a move in line with God's Word. The deepest of which being with the Father himself. If my culture considers that a lack of social skills , I'll take it. (Besides after 3 years I've got mad WAfrican skills. Haha ) I can see in the last 3 years God has taken away those shallow relationships and called out to me to rely on Him. The journey continues but I'm thankful for the ground that has been gained.
DeleteAny Sarah Masen fans out there finding that " the places that used to fit me cannot hold the things I've learned? " (lyrics from the song Painting Pictures of Egypt)
Thanks again, ladies.