Dear friends, I would like to thank you all for your
continued interest and support in my journey! God has been so good.
I’ve been home nearly 6 months now and I have seen God answer my
prayers for this season, over and over again. I have been so
blessed in the Belfast Bible College community, I’ve made so many
good friends and really for the first time in my life know what it
is like to have Christian friends who invest, challenge and
continually grow each other. I’ve really enjoyed my classes and
completed the following modules last semester: Pastoral Care,
Biblical Story, The History of Mission (audit), Personal
Development and Theological Reflection. I enjoyed all of the
modules and found them very practical in their approach, many
focused on how to practically use theology and how to grow as a
believer. God is equipping me and shaping me for present and future
work. I am so excited about embarking upon semester two! I want to
make the most out of my time in college and plan to hit the books
with enthusiasm. I continue to rely on the faithfulness of God’s
promises for direction regarding my future. The most important
lesson I have learned this past semester is that I have to hold my
dreams loosely in one hand while gripping tightly onto God’s
promises with the other! I continue to struggle with surrendering
every aspect of my life to God’s will and have to continually
remind myself that ultimately I’m not in control anyway! For now, I
feel that God has called and shaped me to be exactly where I am. I
have many non-Christian friends and feel that God has challenged me
to minister to them more proactively in this season. This is a
challenge that I began to feel very strongly in Kenya and was a
part of the reason I felt called home. Further to this, my own
family and my unique position within that unit is something I feel
God is strongly calling me to be active in during this season and
next. Ministry overseas remains an open door, as does even a
possible return to Kenya in the future, but what I have really come
to understand is that God has uniquely shaped and placed all of us,
and we are called to minister in that place…we are all
missionaries with a calling greater than our own understanding.
Overseas or at home, the call remains the same: To further the
kingdom of God. For this next season, I believe that my calling
after this year at Bible College is to remain in Northern Ireland
until that time in which God provides a clear leading. I continue
to pray about my future as an overseas missionary and am open to
God’s leading in that, but also feel some very specific calls on my
life as a missionary right here. I am badly missing the classroom
and continue to pray that God will use my vocation and teaching
gifts for His glory. I am so thankful for how God has blessed me
during this season, with meaningful friendships and the opportunity
to travel. I just recently returned from a trip to the states,
during which I visited Jenny my housemate in Kenya and my very dear
friend Suzanne. Both women have had such a positive influence on my
spiritual growth and life, it was wonderful to spend some time
reflecting and reminiscing on our year together! I am so thankful
to all of you for your support during my time in Kenya and now in
college. Nothing is set in stone, the future is not clear, and
uncertainty is frightening…but I am certain that God promises
good things for me, I pray that He will give me the same desires
that He has for my life, for I long to be more in tune with the
Spirit. I am so grateful for your continued interest and
overwhelming support. Blessings, Naomi.
