Never Alone

They came with me as far as they could that hot mid-August day. I was getting ready to embark alone on the greatest adventure of my life – as a student missionary teacher in a foreign country. Tears filled their eyes as my parents and youngest brother, Ben, hugged and kissed me for the last time. We were in the security line at the airport and it was time for me to take the next step – alone.

Tears threatened to take over, but I choked them back, tried to smile, and not really look back, at least not too much. I was traveling alone from Grand Rapids, Michigan to Manila, Philippines. I had flown several times before. I had even been to other countries on mission trips, but never by myself.

I had to change planes at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, then change airlines in Los Angeles, fly hours and hours over the Pacific Ocean, land in Taiwan, and from Taiwan fly to Manila; no sleep, fly straight. I had special instructions in my purse of what to do if a typhoon prevented the mission team from picking me up in Manila, and instructions of what to do to look for them if they should make it.

My cell phone, which only worked in the states, was a source of comfort up until L.A. I called my family one last time in the L.A. airport. From there my communication was going to be my laptop. I pulled my laptop out in L.A. and discovered that it wasn’t working. I had a several hour wait. I was tired and lonely, and I couldn’t get on-line. I wondered down to some computer booths to access the internet. Each computer I tried didn’t work. I went back to my gate discouraged and feeling more alone. I got out my Bible and journal and agonized with God.

The week before I left for the Philippines, I had had the great blessing of going to ASI. God knew I would need that spiritual encouragement before my long flight into the lonely unknown that I was about to face. God gave me the reassurance that I was on the right path for choosing to serve Him in the Philippines. I also had the providential opportunity to meet the Ambassador to New Zealand from the Philippines while I was there. He is a devout and kind Christian man. He gave me his business card and an invitation to stay at his home in Manila. If anything happened, I could call on him. I knew that was from God.

On the very last evening of ASI, Pastor Jan Paulson gave a message that brought tears to my eyes and peace to my heart. In his sermon he said, “You are never alone.” Never alone… I knew that sermon spoken that night was for me. That evening, I knew that whatever happened, I would never be alone.

God has been with me every step of the way and I’ve never been alone. As I look back over these several months of mission service I can see His hand holding and supporting me each step of the way. I’ve experienced days and nights when earthquakes would come and go at any given time, being on the ocean in a small boat with waves threatening to capsize us, and going out on break on the mission boat and having to bury my head in a backpack, close my eyes, and pray that God would protect us from the massive waves.

I’ve seen sickness, death, pain, and I’ve experienced fear and discouragement. Through every trial, every tear, God has never left me alone. I know that in the times when I felt the loneliest, He was holding me, carrying me, and teaching me lessons that I could only learn by going through the valleys of life. You are never alone when you let go of your life and place it in God’s hands. Whatever should happen, I know I’ll never be alone.