Resilience

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” James 1:17

…change

Our family will have lived in three countries during the course of one year, none of them being our “passport” country. Talk about change. Sure, these changes provide wonderful opportunities that many people only dream about. We’ve ridden a cable car to the top of the Alps, wandered around medieval castles, and walked the path where the Berlin Wall once stood. We’ve attended a wonderful training course, taught Good News Clubs in towns that have no gospel witness, and provided web-sites where untold numbers of people, both children and adults, can investigate Christianity on an on-going basis. Wow! Experiences beyond our imagination await us in Cameroon.

…resilience or rupture

But with these opportunities comes an incredible amount of change, myriad good-byes, and untold grief. I recently reread lots of good advice about dealing with transitions for “third culture kids”. It’s filled with practical pointers on how to say good-bye and create an atmosphere to positively deal with all these changes. One article talks about “nurturing resilient children” and I wonder how can I raise resilient kids when I wonder if am resilient enough to make this next move? Webster’s defines resiliency as “the ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change, the capability of a strained body to recover its size and shape after deformation caused especially by compressive stress” and resilient as “capable of withstanding shock without permanent deformation or rupture, elastic.” Am I capable of withstanding the shock of yet another move or will I be deformed or rupture? Will my children recover their shape after this kind of stress? Are we as a family able to adjust easily to change?

…shifting shadows

Isn’t it good that God does not change? In all of our change, I read in James that God gives good and perfect gifts. He does not change like shifting shadows, or like the number of daylight hours in Estonia. He remains the same in all our changing circumstances. It is only in this truth that we move forward hopefully in spite of all the dismal predictions for people who face repeated change. He who was faithful to my parents when they served in Indonesia, who was our provider when we had no money to buy groceries, who was our companion in years of serving here, practically as the sole missionaries, will be faithful yet again. Yes, I will do my part to act on all the great advice given by those who have already walked this path. But ultimately, I cannot be elastic enough to meet all the needs of my children and our family without the unchanging Father who will continue to be faithful and good.