“We may be earnestly desiring to be obedient and holy. But we may be missing the fact that it is here, where we happen to be at this moment and not in another place or another time, that we may learn to love Him – here where it seems He is not at work, where His will seems obscure and frightening, where He is not doing what we expected Him to do, where He is most absent. Here and nowhere else is the appointed place. If faith does not go to work here, it will not go to work at all.”     -Elisabeth Elliot

My summer semester of nursing school came at me like a freight train…  a full load of information in half the time of the other semesters. I was lonely, tired, and the excitement of nursing school had worn off. The semester contained no patient contact and it felt like I lost a lifeline reminder of purpose for my studying in the hardest semester yet. From my study hole I could see friends posting pictures from exotic places where they were serving Jesus and loving people from other nations. And I got mission envy… in a big way. It felt like I was being benched or just forgotten. Either way, I couldn’t see the meaning in what I was doing here anymore.

I’ve adopted Elisabeth Elliot as a spiritual grandmother. It’s amazing how God can use her to lovingly smack me upside the head. When I read her words that summer, that’s exactly what happened. “Here and nowhere else” started popping in my mind when I complained about studying. “Here and nowhere else” tapped me on the shoulder when I neglected finding community. “Here and nowhere else” rang in my ears whenever I began comparison games. Before I realized what was happening, “Here and nowhere else” became a habit.

When I started looking for God here, I learned something very important. God moves here. God healed me here. God provided community here. God used me to heal others here. God is here. In the last few years, God has moved here in ways beyond what I could ever ask or imagine. I don’t have to go away on some grand mission for Him to use me. He already is. Right here.

I still have to be retaught this lesson. It’s easy for me to get some kind of senioritis these days. I’m so excited about going to serve with Mercy Ships, I’ve gotten lots of “Here and nowhere else” nudges lately. I’ve been disengaged from the friends, family, and patients in front of me. But God calls us to something better and far more simple. Please pray for me as I pray for you…

Wherever He places us, wherever He calls us, whatever work He sets before us… May we just keep looking for ways to see and serve Him here. Here and nowhere else.