From a young age, a question that I was most frequently asked was “where are you from”, “what would you consider your nationality?”. After I was born, I spent my early years growing up in Germany. after which my parents went to Calcutta in India as missionaries, I went to study in Wales by myself.
Going as far as to call myself an outsider, my idea of my own identity was uncertain, and my understanding of my identity was limited to my physical features and societal background. I was busy looking for my identity in country, or culture, or environment I was in. So it was never easy for me to answer this question whenever I was asked.
Recently, there have been many instances in which I wanted to say that I was from England. The reason being, England currently occupies a large portion of what I believe makes up my identity.
The dictionary definition of your hometown is the “place you are born”, or it could also be a place where you feel at peace. Therefore, I think I can now call this country home. To be exact, I now want to consider my home to be something that goes beyond simply being a place in which I was born, or where I first learned to speak, but the place in which I grew spiritually. Therefore, the UK is my spiritual home.
This was the place where I first met God not just through my parents, but with whom I had my own personal relationship, as after coming here at the young age of 17, I built up my fellowship with the Lord and grew spiritually. Instead of simply interpreting things the way that I wanted to, asking for what I thought was love, I began start thinking more from God’s point of view, and began to accept the Lord who was described in the bible. I was therefore able to forfeit the standards imposed onto me by the world and my heart was renewed with a new identity.
This spiritual growth would have been impossible without London God’s Vision Church. As I write this open mind, I once again am so thankful. That the reason I was sent to the UK when I was 17 was not purely for my studies (though I am sure that this was also part of God’s plan), but in order for me to come to and be part of this London God’s Vision Church.
This was the place I was taught the importance of a community, as well as a place in which I was able to meet fellow workers in Christ. Since birth, I have moved from one country and church to another, and I did not think of the people that I met at each church as anything more than temporary acquaintances. However, during my time at God’s Vision Church, I learned that nothing is coincidental. That there is even meaning in the relationships with people that I know but have never spoken to. That when it comes to human relationships God wants me to do, or to show me His works. During my time studying in London, He taught me and helped me through other people, and I have received so much love from this church.
And so during my time in this church, I have realised how precious a community is. I how a relationship is made perfect in God through my fellowship with my cell and the praise team. Though it is not easy for anybody to get to know one another given our diverse backgrounds, through the sole fact that we serve God, we can come together and display phenomenal chemistry with one another. Therefore when I think of a church community, I think of it like God’s family. I always think of how precious God would think of how all His creation come together to serve His will.
Especially recently, God has taught me how precious spiritual fellowship is. The way that the cell groups come together to pray every night, the way we grow closer by sharing our prayer requests and our lives with one another has really given me strength to break through hardship.
When I look back at my life in London, I only have things to be thankful of. From the first moment I arrived in the UK, God has been showing me His love. Though at the time, I may have missed many things, or passed it off as chance, I realise now that everything is evidence of God’s workings in my life.
A lot of people talk about rose-tinted glasses when looking back at our past, and from this I think this actually informs us of the existence of a spiritual world. More so than anything, it shows us that God is the ruler of our lives. Therefore I would like to continue to meet the God that I have met here in the UK.
More so than anything, I have come to realise that God has been working through God’s Vision Church. I truly think that God has planted this church in order to use the youth of London. I feel like God is nourishing the youth in London to be used for His will because of His love for them. I believe that even when I become 70 (if I am still alive), I will tell others of how full of passion this church was.
