Make the Most of Your Foreign Assignment - From The Upstream Collective
Shirley Ralston, over at Upstream Collective, has a compelling three-part blog series on marketplace ministry based on her own years of experience.
In part two, she unpacks the importance of evaluating your own worldview, integrating into local life, attending to your health, and engaging in ministry.
I used to struggle when someone would ask me what it was like living in the Middle East or Papua New Guinea. My reaction was akin to a deer in the headlights. There was so much to say: it was easy, it was hard; it was beautiful, it was ugly; it was filled with light, it was dark. Life abroad is a paradox. "I loved it" came just as easily as "I hated it." 1 Peter 4:12 and James 1:2 confirm that we can celebrate the wondrous, and we can persevere when life isn't pretty. As I recently heard in a sermon, “Some of the greatest breakthroughs come on the other side of persevering through tough times.” The one constant in our time overseas was the faithfulness of the Lord as he matured us and equipped us for ministry.
Our foreign assignments were a time of transformation for us as we lived immersed in two different cultures, and we came away from it with a defined ministry calling to attend to the needs of global workers. I encourage you to take the calculated risk and engage with what God is doing in the world as his redemptive plan marches forward. Rest assured that wherever he has placed you, he has kingdom work for you, and he will show you the work and grow you through it in ways you never thought possible.