Moving overseas as a single male or female is scary.
There are fears of loneliness and endless questions that can never truly be answered this side of the pond.
Will I fit in with my team? Will I feel like a burden to the families that are there? Am I giving up on my chance to be married? How will I make friends when I’m there? Will I be treated differently because I’m single?
Here’s the thing: the missions world needs you. Teams need you. Families need you. You are a force, a breath of fresh air, a teammate and a friend.
You are the glue that holds a team together. You are a gap-filler that makes a healthy, well-rounded, high-capacity team. You are uninhabited by challenge and change. You are free to obey passionately when He calls.
Don’t waste this season. Embrace it knowing God has gifted you with singleness. Treasure it. You may not always have it.
Read how one missionary explains:
"There aren’t many days that go by that something doesn’t make me think that God uses every single detail to propel his purpose forward. When I lived and traveled in the Middle East, on more than one occasion I thought it couldn’t be an accident that I’m a brunette right now. I think God wanted me to blend in in this moment.
But I had friends in the same area with striking blond hair, and God often used it at just the right time to attract just the right people to them. Nothing is wasted in his story. Different people can have different features and each one be as brilliantly purposeful in the moments he’s planned. Singleness is no different.
I think sometimes when singles consider—or even commit to—heading overseas, even though they know they’re following God, the temptation is to think that doing missions single is like making do until you can find a box of hair dye. I can do this for a while, but one day I’m going to need this to look different, to blend in more.
And like I told my language tutor that day, one day God might decide that some of our stories need a bend in the road—that bringing along a spouse would make his overarching story turn in the direction he has planned. But until then, or even if that spouse never comes, singleness isn’t a holding pattern. It, like every other part of our lives, is a story being told on purpose. And that makes it both vital and amazing."
Read the full article here.
