Belonging

September 11, 2023

I've been here at Hong Kong Adventist College for almost a month and as always, it's been a rollercoaster.

Already, God has blessed me with some really cool experiences like hiking in Hong Kong's beautiful nature and visiting their street markets in Mong Kok and at Prince Edward's Station but I have also loved the impromptu experiences like walking to the grocery store after Sabbath to save ourselves the bus fare and playing basketball in the rain.

Over the past few weeks, the campus has come alive as students have returned and classes have begun. It's been a juggling act of meeting students, attending classes, and sitting through meetings to plan different programs. Personally, I find the school cafeteria during lunch to be one of the most terrifying experiences when you don't know anyone and by the end of the first week of classes, I was completely overwhelmed.

But God provided! That Friday, Hong Kong shut down to weather a T10 typhoon, expecting it to be one of the worst they've experienced in the past 5 years. To be honest, I was pretty excited to experience it. It also gave me the chance to slow down and spend some much-needed time alone with God that Sabbath.

That Sabbath, He really spoke to me about dying to self. I needed to stop focusing on how I was feeling, inadequate and out of place, and focus on why I'm here, to be a blessing to others. That focus needs to be at the core of my every thought and action, even my prayers. This past week, instead of praying for myself all the time, I've been praying that God will use me to be a blessing to people around me and it is amazing how He presents opportunities to do so. It can be having a really good conversation, praying for someone, or being a friend to someone who didn't expect it. What's more is by surrendering and allowing God to use me to bless someone else, He blesses me too.

Something I've been wrestling with is finding a sense of belonging here.

One of the things I love about being in God's family is that I have family all over the world. I experienced that last year when I went on a short-term mission trip to the Dominican Republic last year and the church I worked with there welcomed me with open arms.

In the past year, I've moved three times. The first to Southern Adventist University and the next to Camp Cherokee, both times God has provided a family. It takes time to connect with people but He keeps His promise in Psalm 68:6 that He will place the lonely in families. The hard part is the waiting and I trust that He'll do it again here.

I really want every student that comes to this campus to feel like they belong here because God sent them. But it's hard when my feelings say I don't belong here. Still, I know that God sent me here.

Moving so much has made me cling to the fact that this world is not our home. It's hard to be uprooted and transplanted to a new place and I long to go home where there will be no separation or pain; my heavenly home where I get to see Jesus face to face. But while we are here on earth, home is where God calls us. I think part of what makes it home are the people He sends to us to minister to and be blessed by.