Riding the Emotional Roller Coaster

Jeremiah 29:11
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

This is a story of God's control of all circumstances and how we must trust Him no matter what happens.

Yesterday we travelled on an emotional roller coaster for 12 hours. Let me explain...

As most of you know I am a permanent resident here in the US, but not a citizen. My green card is valid until 2017, so I never considered there would be an issue with me leaving to work overseas with WEC and then wanting to return to this country with my family. A conversation with a staff member here a couple of weeks ago led me to believe there may be a problem. We discovered that if I plan to leave the country for more than 1 year I have to file a special form (before I leave) to allow me to return. At the most I can only leave for 2 years. If I am out of America for any longer than 2 years then I loose my right to reenter. So, no problem (or so I thought) I would just apply for my US citizenship. I realized this may delay our entry to England for a couple of months, but I really didn't think it would be too long. I was wrong. Yesterday I spoke to the US Immigration Dept. who informed me that the citizenship process was taking 16-18 months!!! I also had a friend, who spoke to an immigration attorney, who told me the same thing. I mentioned to both that I was going as a missionary, but was informed this made no difference - the wait would be long.

What were we to do? My first reaction was deep disappointment, not just for me, but especially the children as we have had a couple of years of not being settled whilst searching for what God wanted us to do. I was so looking forward to being where God wanted us and hoping we would be there for the beginning of a new school year. My second emotion was confusion. What was happening? God had brought us to this place to serve in England. He had already provided most of the furniture that we need in England, so I believed that we were still going, but couldn't understand why we would be delayed.

While talking to a friend about the situation I was reminded of Jeremiah 29:11 (which happens to be the kid's memory verse this week) and also about a lesson I had learnt from Hannah (to come in a later post) that I needed to trust God for my children's security and that He had a plan, I need not fear. My friend also informed me of a couple who were on their way to WEC that are in a similar situation and suggested I talk to them. I had that opportunity yesterday evening and they had good news for me. Apparently there is a form I can file which allows missionaries to apply for citizenship and still leave the country without their physical absence voiding their application.

What is most amazing of all is that I don't even have to do all the paperwork before I leave the country (but I do plan to file the forms in St Louis in May). So what we first thought would be a 3 to 4 month delay, turned into an 18 month delay and then into no delay at all - this all happened in 12 hours yesterday!

I am so grateful for the Lord leading us through this experience. I could have just left the country with my green card and been denied entrance to America when we returned in a few years. (I can't begin to imagine how devastating that would have been!) Instead God saw fit to show me how I can get my citizenship so entering America will never be an issue again and how to do this without affecting our immediate plans for travelling to England. Most importantly through the circumstances of showing me this, He reconfirmed for me that He is in control and I do not need to fear.



Michelle