The other day, my four year old surprised me with this question, “Mommy, where am I from?” She knows her older sister was born in the US and her brother and her were born in France. Every day at school is a reminder that she is not French as she is in the process of learning the language and still is limited in her communication. So if she wasn’t born in the States like her sister but she isn’t French, where is she from? I was surprised this question came already at her young age. My response was something like, “We are Americans who live in France. We belong to Jesus and one day we will go home to heaven.” I know… what a loaded statement for a four year old! I don’t think I said it quite that smoothly. I muttered through, trying to communicate that message somehow in a way this sweet little girl would understand.  

This year, we will return to the States for a year of furlough for the first time. We will be changing fields after the year and transitioning to another country. I, too, have been wrestling with a question similar to my daughter’s. As global workers, our understanding of “home” is always changing. Of course, we know our home is heaven. The reality of that becomes more real to me each year. But on a day-to-day basis, the notion of “home” asks the question, “Where do I belong?”  

When your accent betrays you as the foreigner each time you speak, the word “home” is put in question in a way it wouldn’t have had you stayed in your passport country. We have all seen the coffee cups and needlepoints that say, “Home is where the heart is.” And there is some truth to this statement.  

In our ever-changing, sometimes foreign world, home is always with us because God is always with us. We are a part of His Kingdom that transcends all borders.  

So when your heart asks the question, “where do I belong?” remind yourself of the truth, “I belong to Jesus and He is my home.” You see, being aware that we are strangers passing through this world en route for our real home is a blessing. It’s a good thing to have our hearts long for heaven—to be with our Father. Often times, there can be a danger of being too comfortable here on earth and losing sight of where we belong.  

Whatever country we are in, we probably will feel like foreigners at times. But may this be a reminder that we are here temporarily. We are citizens of heaven. Our time here on earth is an opportunity to worship God, share the Gospel, and know God more.