I heaved a sign of relief when our plane landed at JFK after 23 looong hours of travel from Manila to New York. Finally! It’s our first time back in NYC in 5 years, first time to go there as a family, first long flight with the twins.
As we unbuckled the girls off their seats and prepared to step out of the plane, one of the girls, Rain, happily exclaimed, “We’re home Mommy, let’s go!”
The truth is, if you told me 5 years ago that I would be calling New York “home” in this lifetime, I would have laughed in your face and dismissed the idea outright. To me, New York has always been a mysterious city, and sure, one of my favorite cities in the world. It held some of my greatest memories, marked important milestones of my life and our story, and hey, I sure would love to keep coming back! But to call it “home” was, at one point, the farthest thing from my mind.
Nope, not New York City.
But something shifted somewhere, and New York has, somehow, become the very thing in my life I never thought it would or could be: home.
Maybe because I found love in this strange city and we all know how love can make anyone feel grounded. Or maybe because I have learned to see “home” in a whole new light.
Maybe the fact that I didn’t really want this to begin with, that makes being in New York feel.. right. After all, I have known God to work exactly this way. He has a knack for changing hearts and orchestrating circumstances that take us right where He wants and needs us to be, even if it means parting oceans with a rod and defeating giants with a sling.
It’s been over a month since we landed in New York City and now we’re back in Manila. While the twins weren’t exactly as enthusiastic last week when our plane landed at NAIA Terminal 1 as when we landed at JFK (can’t blame them, it was a long trip and the humid Manila weather wasn’t all that welcoming either), we were just happy to have successfully endured another long flight, to have gained new memories, milestones and answers, and to have spent good quality time with our friends and family.
But most of all I’m grateful that home is not confined to a place, that we can bloom where we’re planted, and the grass is greener where the Lord places us.
He never makes mistakes, nope. And when we trust in that truth, we experience not only the realization of our (personal) dreams but also the blessings of being right in the center of His great, massive, Kingdom-building plan.
I’m still trying to process everything, sifting through photographs, unpacking suitcases, catching up on work and blog posts, making mental notes of everything God has taught us in the past two months. In my mind I’ve already written a book, really!
Hmm. It’s good to be back.
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