Shattered

It's exactly two weeks since my life and my dreams were shattered. Now you might say that's over-exaggerating, and you have every right to say that. However, I have every right to disagree with you.

The last 5 years here in Southern Oregon have been a blur, but a wonderful one. I have a new home, a new "family", a new life. Now I have been forced by the U.S. government to return to the UK and start the visa process from scratch all over again.

Now is not the time, and this is not the place to discuss the immigration authorities and the government. Believe me, I have plenty to say about them, but I'm not saying it here. 

I do struggle with why this has happened to me now, and I'm not sure I'll ever understand why. When I see what this is doing to my close family here, let alone myself, there are plenty of questions about the injustice of it all. Why would God send me back to England for anything between six months and a year, with nothing, to try and rebuild my life with no guarantee that I'm going to get back in. Makes no sense.

However, I have to be obedient to God, even though leaving my home here is the last thing on earth I want to do. I can't go back grudgingly and ungratefully. After all, I will be seeing family and close friends for the first time in years. It would be unfair to them to go back with a bad attitude.

So, it's all about obedience and positivity, but that's hard. Very hard. And I don't like it.

Please pray for me as I get things ready to leave, as I have to clear out and leave an apartment I love, leave my job and livelihood, leave behind the church and friends I love dearly, try to find storage for the stuff I will be keeping. And please pray that as my employers file papers to get me back once I get back to the UK, that they will be able to do it promptly and successfully. And of course, pray for provision of so many things which I need from God like never before.

I leave my job on March 2nd, leave Medford for Olympia WA on March 14th or thereabouts, and my flight for the UK is March 27th.

You can follow my progress in more detail on the blog here ,while the posts on this blog will be of a more general nature. 

Take the journey with me, and please pray me through it.