The Goodbyes and The Hellos

     As missionaries, we live our lives on both sides of the ocean. We tell people that we have a "divided heart" - when we are Stateside, we miss our family and friends in Portugal, and when we are in Portugal, we miss our family and friends in the States. While we consider it a great blessing to have loved ones in both locations, it is not an easy thing to know we will always be missing out on life events and fellowship in one place or the other. As much as we do our best to stay connected, there is an inevitable distance that happens in relationships when we are not in one place full-time. As a missionary colleague recently shared with me, "The train keeps rolling along when you get off, and others are at a different location when you get back on." Still, we are grateful for technology and for the connection that loving someone brings - we are never far apart when we are joined at the heart.

      Yet without a goodbye, there can be no hello. Part of life, although difficult, is saying goodbye to a loved one, only comforted by the fact that if we are both believers, we will one day see them again in heaven, never to have to say goodbye again.

     Please pray for our hearts as we say goodbye to those here that God has given us to love - goodbye to the saints, whom we will see again "here, there, or in the air", and also goodbye to those that we have no assurance we will ever see again, as they are not yet believers. May God be glorified in all things, as we continue to walk…..
By God's Grace Alone.

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