Our children have not had the privilege of having their grandparents come to soccer games or birthday parties, and I have not had the convenience of having built-in babysitters!! However, the Lord has blessed us with people who have loved and invested in our children’s lives. God has been faithful to answer our specific prayers in regard to this very important area.
I am pretty sure that many, if not most, of you find yourselves geographically far from family. Let me be a source of encouragement for you:
- God can provide you and your children with Godly people to be your surrogate family. Ask Him.
- Your children can still be close to your parents without living close by. Be intentional about building and continuing those relationships through e-mail, mail, photos, stories, visits, etc. (We would spend our vacation time visiting family. This year will be one of few times my husband and I will actually have a vacation that does not take us to family!!
- You will become more sensitive to those who live in your area who also do not have family close by. Oh, what a ministry that can be for you.
- Our children are grown now, and one of their favorite memories is when we would have people (who also did not have family nearby) over to our house Christmas Eve. It became an evening of celebrating Jesus' birthday....complete with birthday cake (there was one candle for each person present). All the children were responsible for portraying the Christmas story any way they wanted!
Now, our children and grandchildren do not live near-by. Oh, how I miss missing so much. And oh how I pray for God to continue to provide people to mentor, disciple and love on those precious ones. And oh how I know, even though we are miles apart, I am still a very important part of their lives.
How have you coped with living far from family?
2 comments:
Living far away is something that has never gotten any easier. In fact, when my daughter was born, it got a lot harder . . . Thankfully, my family has been pretty supportive through the years and God has always given us wonderful friends as support. The churches we have served have also been understanding and supportive to give us time with family . . . The internet helps, but there is nothing like receiving a good, old fashioned letter via snail mail. I think it truly shows that thought and real effort went into the thought!
When we first started in ministry we were near our family. But then the Lord moved us first 10 hours away and then 21 hours away before moving us here to TN where we are again 10 hours away from our family. And while we missed our family when we moved it was the best thing that ever happened to us because it taught us to lean on God and not our family when times got tough. We have made some great friends along the way in the churches that we have served in. At our last church there was a family that adopted us and we spent all of the holidays with them when we could not be with our own family. Really isn't that what the "family of God" should be about?
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