C Change too see change

To cut a long story short - we are heading home to Australia to live.

We had thought that we would take furlough for six months and return to Cambodia for August. All too quickly it became clear that this would not eventuate. I have cried a thousand tears and more. The decision was made some time ago when I was still unwell, but a line had to be drawn in the sand - so to speak. My health recovered slowly, all too slowly. Then all of a sudden it improved and recently the doctor cleared me to return to work. I guess that's the thing with illness, recovery is rarely linear and rarely predictable.

To be honest it was a devastating decision which my heart has fought. A decision I have delayed posting on our blog site. It seemed like we had just come into our own, really accepted not just in our heads but in our hearts, that we were staying for the next three years. Then whoosh and the carpet was ripped out from underneath us, and there was no sweeping our pain under the carpet.

So where does that leave us, on a jet plane to the Great South Land, unemployed and with a huge mortgage! You know we never pictured it this way, we assumed that God, who brought us here would one day take us home, going clearly ahead of us so we could resettle with employment assured and move onto His next phase for us. But where is the need to trust the Lord each day in a comfortable progression like that?

If, and when, we make it through the next six months, the next year, we will know that it is indeed because God has gone before us, not only so, but that he has taught us to walk by faith and not by sight. So watch out for us in the future because I am sure we will have quite a testimony to tell!

In the meantime, thank you for your support, all manner of support over the last three and a half years. This has certainly been an incredible journey and we praise God for all that He has taught us and the purposes He has fulfilled through us while we have been here in Cambodia. All we have learned could not fill a thousand blog pages and we know many years of reflection to come will continue to teach us things beyond our understanding yet.

Please pray for our family as we say farewell to Cambodia and transition to Australia. For employment for Graham and I and for a suitable school for Naomi and Nathan. I know that my heart has been forever changed and that Ministry and Mission, the lost and the impoverished, will always be a priority in my life. It has been exciting to observe God's work in Graham's life and those of Naomi and Nathan over the last three years. One things is for certain, the Brown Family who left Australia on July 20 2008 is a very different family to the one which will leave Cambodia on December 20 2011.We look forward to spending time with  family and friends upon our return and seeing the beautiful Australian landscape again.

So what can I finish with, no more or less than the word of God and an encouragement to fulfill his call. ( We can certainly recommend a fabulous school to work in!)

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Matthew 28: 18-20

love Fiona