Sarah left us this morning to go back to Paul’s Valley, and while we already miss her here, we wish her all the best. Sarah has been here as a HIM Worker since September 2009–nearly the entire time we’ve been here–so it’s really difficult to imagine working here for the next few months without her. But besides her giftedness for reaching out to people, her fearlessness in approaching people, and the way she was always on the ball, we’ll just miss her because she’s such a good friend.
Transitions can be awful, especially when they include having to say goodbye. And so Sarah will be in our prayers for a long while. The HIM Program is a 2-year practicum that builds a foundation for service and missions in the lives of its workers. We know that God will use her experiences here to serve her in the future. I don’t want to explain too much about her future plans, but her heart is leading her to use her gifts to help not-for-profit organizations, and we’re praying that she soon finds a great job that allows her to follow her passion–serving God and making this world a little bit better.
Sarah being finished with the HIM Program is a sign that our own work here as HIM Workers is coming to a close. Time–that infernal enemy!–is rushing on, and soon the baby will be here and then we’ll be packing and getting ready for this summer. Most people have heard by now that we’re planning to move back to the States for a few months before coming back to Germany and relocating in Leipzig, following the Lord’s calling to continue working to spread the Kingdom in eastern Germany. (Those who weren’t aware of this, we’re sorry we haven’t yet told you in person!) This means that while we’re meeting with our contacts here, preparing for the upcoming singing and LST campaigns, helping the Sullivans move and everything else that’s going on, we’re also trying to lay the groundwork for the future. And Sarah finishing up the HIM Program has kicked-started our own urgency, as our own tenure as HIM Workers hurdles to its end.
It feels a bit cheap to wax philosophic about anxiety for the future. Many people, I’m sure, feel a slight panic when they think about the upcoming months and years; still, we can anticipate moments so life-altering they seem apocalyptic (like parenthood) in terms of weeks. And everything about Leipzig remains vague and ambiguous.
I realized that I turned a post about Sarah into a navel-gazing post about our anxiety–anxiety that amounts at times to nothing more than a good, old-fashioned lack of faith. It’s time for us to trust in the creator and pray that his will be done in Sarah’s life and ours.
