As I said goodbye to my family at the airport when I left for my very first overseas assignment, I had no idea that I was also saying goodbye to ever feeling like I completely belonged anywhere again. 

It was a “given,” of course, that I wouldn’t entirely fit in with the people in my new home. I was taller and lighter-skinned than everyone else, and even though I spoke their language, my unavoidable accent set me apart. What I wasn’t prepared for, however, was my first trip back to the US and the sense of being a bit of an outsider there too. Living overseas had changed me; my worldview had expanded and I saw things through different eyes now. It didn’t make me better than my family and friends at home, just… different.  

Many years and countless trips back and forth between my two homes haven’t really lessened my awareness of not fully belonging in either place. I used to hate that feeling, but the longer I’ve lived with this slight disquietude the more I think it might actually be one of God’s gifts to me and to all of us who live similar lifestyles. It keeps us from sinking our roots too deeply into this world’s soil.

Jesus told us that, just like Him, we “do not belong to the world” (John 17:16). But in his gracious way, God doesn’t leave us stranded in that uncomfortable place between two worlds. He declares that “you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ” (Romans 1:6), and he reminds us that “our citizenship is in heaven” (Philippians 3:20). 

God created us to belong: to a family, to brothers and sisters in Christ, and most importantly, to Him. He created us with this need to belong, and he certainly knows that our global lifestyles cause us at times to struggle with the feeling of not belonging. How gracious of our Father, then, to make sure we know exactly WHERE and TO WHOM we do belong!