We had a wonderful leaving service on Sunday with a packed hall of people and came away feeling very loved, supported and encouraged as well as affirmed in our calling to Guyana.
There has been a constant stream of goodbyes and some difficult partings but we have so appreciated the supportive prayer of so many people as we negotiate this period of loss and adjustment.
I have just read a book about the life of Lilias Trotter, a missionary to Algeria from 1888-1928 which has been inspiring. An excerpt from her journal in 1902 really spoke to me:
''As an eagle...fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings - so the Lord alone did lead him.' Fluttereth over - the early stages of faith are reaching upward, like the eaglets for their food when the mother bird is overhead...it is an older faith that learns to swing out into nothingness and drop down full weight on God - the broken up nest of former experiences left behind - nothing between us and the abyss but Himself - a rejoicing in every fresh emergency that is going to prove Him true - The Lord alone - that is trained faith.'
We do indeed feel that we are about to leap out of the nest into nothingness but we know that all the while God's hand is underneath us and his love surrounds us and we put our trust completely in him. We know there are potentially difficult times ahead but are learning to take each day as it comes and not look too far ahead!
So we say goodbye to our old comfy nest in Lincoln hello to the big blue yonder!
