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One of the things that we can so easily take for granted are the relationships that God has given us. Individuals who are easily accessible are often overlooked for thanksgiving due to our easy of proximity and frequency of interaction.
It’s when we’ve been separated for so long and time passes like missed opportunities that you remember how thankful we need to be for those friendships that are so precious.
Although there’s no realistic way that we could reconnect with all of our Bahamian friends, it was a treasure of reunions that impacted our time back on the island. These moments of regathering were graced with the very rare gift of feeling like we were able to simply pick off wherever we left off. The one major notable difference is how big our kids have grown in contrast to the rest of us!
This ability to embrace and reconnect is a grace from God. During the past two years, we’ve all grown tremendously through trial and discomfort, and the missing year in our ministry on the islands has reminded us how thankful we are to have been given all the many friendships that we have.
One noteworthy grievance however are those who have passed away during the spanning two years. Because of Covid and also because of the regular ills of disease we lost many close friends to death. All of them, thankfully, walked with Jesus and are at rest with Him now. However, we still missed that time with them – time that has now passed.
As we look to the many relationships that God has given us, this trip is a good reminder of our need to foster and nurture those relationships even with distance. Distance makes is immeasurable more difficult, but not impossible. And we trust that God will give us grace for that as well.