Our family has lived in the African desert for several years. But during the past couple of months, we’ve been in our home country visiting our church, family, and friends. In that time, we’ve slept in 30 different places.
In preparation for our return to our work in Africa, we’ve packed supplies for the next two years: spare parts, medical supplies, educational resources, several increments of children’s clothing, and more. We’ve also wrestled through the red tape of passports, visas, and travel arrangements.
Soon we’ll help our young children negotiate goodbyes and hellos, late-night flights and crack-of-dawn buses, constant change and mild measures of chaos. It’s a logistical operation of epic proportions: transporting three children and nine bags from our sending community in leafy suburb to a remote Saharan village thousands of miles away.
Our mobile lifestyle doesn’t lend itself to normalcy. We face near-constant change.
But as we plan our meandering journey toward our destination, we look forward to the relief of arriving back “home” in Africa. While being with friends and family is indeed a joy, so too is it stressful for us and our kids to be uprooted for several months.
On the one hand, we try to remember that any parent with three young children will experience some of these same pressures we face.
On the other hand, we acknowledge that our mobile lifestyle doesn’t lend itself to normalcy. We face near-constant change, and that poses unique struggles.
We look forward to the relief of arriving back “home” in Africa.
In response, we develop family practices that build resilience in our children. No matter where we’re spending the night, we have our kids sleep in tents so that wherever we are feels familiar to them.
We print out photos and maps to show them the ‘where’ and the ‘who’ of wherever we’re going next.
We keep our morning and evening routines the same regardless of where we are.
Despite all these practices, we still feel the toll of transition.
So while thanking God for precious time with loved ones, we now look forward to the wonderful feeling of being back in our Saharan home with our familiar routines—among the Muslim people we’re called to reach—with the hope of staying put for a while.
- Pray for Frontiers field families to develop healthy practices and routines that build resiliency in their children.
- Ask the Lord to daily remind Frontiers workers and their children that He is their ever-present shelter and source of stability.
- Pray that workers will persevere through discomfort, hardship, and instability to share the Gospel and make disciples among Muslims.