“Where are you from?” This simple question has always been difficult for me to answer because I was born in North Africa to American parents, grew up in France, and now live in Poland. Yes, I’m an MK who then became a global worker.

As a result of my globetrotter upbringing, I’ve always felt like an outsider no matter where I’ve been. But the upside is that I feel at home everywhere because I feel at home nowhere. 

What exactly is home? It’s where we have our sense of belonging and security. Moving to a new location, especially if it’s far away – as in a foreign country – obliterates our comfort zone and highlights our differences from those around us. While in such a sensitive and weakened state, it’s easy for homesickness to overwhelm our hearts. 

Some verses that have helped me overcome my feelings of woe-is-me-I-have-no-home are found in 1 Peter. At the beginning of his letter, the Apostle Peter reminds us that we’re “exiles in the world.” In other words, our identity or safety doesn’t come from our earthly home. 

In verse seventeen, Peter encourages us to live whatever time we have on earth as strangers filled with a reverent fear of our Lord. He wants us to embrace our foreignness and accept that our mentality will be alien to those around us. 

In what way are we to be different? The immediate context is holiness, but I don’t think Peter is imposing any limits. Everything about us should stand out from the society in which we live.

How have these verses been a comfort to me? They’ve helped me see that not fitting in wherever I am is precisely how it should be (so there’s nothing wrong with me, after all!). This world is not my home, nor should I ever treat it as such.

Do you feel like a stranger or that you’re sticking out like a sore thumb? Cheer up! That’s precisely the mindset the Lord wants us to have, regardless of whether we’re in our home country or on the other side of the world.