Once a Missionary, Always a Missionary - Part 1
How I got Here
For most of the early 2000’s I was a missionary in Italy. I
loved being a missionary. I had a missionary guesthouse in Milan, Italy. There
I met, hosted, and prayed with missionaries and pastors from all over the
world. Often I had opportunities to collaborate with them as well. It was fun
and interesting. No two days were alike. In addition to my duties as hostess, I
also traveled all over Europe and sometimes beyond. I’ve prayer walked most of
the European capital cities[1].
At the end of 2019 God closed the door to Italy and I came
home to North Carolina to live with my mom. Of course, I was disappointed at
first. I missed Italy terribly, Milan being the place I had lived the longest
of my whole life. I had no idea that pandemic loomed, but when the whole world
went into lockdown, I began to understand. This had been God’s protection. What
I didn’t know was that it signaled a completely new direction in my life.
Living with Mom in an independent retirement community was
different, but I soon found ways to reach out to people. I began leaving
encouraging notes on everyone’s door. Most people appreciated the notes,
telling me that they put them on their fridge or bathroom mirror. Others were
indifferent, but a few actually opposed having a note stuck to their
door—especially in the middle of a pandemic. I guess they were afraid that my
notes might spread the virus (or worse: Christianity). When it turned out that
my notes were not a contagion-spreading device, those people dropped their
hostility. A few even became cautiously friendly.
At the end of 2022, Mom’s health declined suddenly and she
had to move to an assisted living facility. It didn’t make sense for me to keep
her apartment, so I found myself suddenly without a place to live. I lived with
my brother for several months while I tried to understand where God was calling
me. The last place He had spoken to me about was Spain, and there are many,
many ministry opportunities along each of the Caminos (pilgrimage routes), of
which there are several all over Spain. In fact, I was so sure that God would
be calling me to Spain that I bought several books and maps about the Camino de
Santiago (the Way of St. James) and Spanish language workbooks as well.
Although Spain was not to be my next destination, polishing
up on my Spanish turned out to be strategic. Besides, who knows if Spain might
still be in the picture sometime in the future. But for now, God has placed me
just 10 minutes up the road from my grandchildren[2]. The move to their town
was something I struggled with at first because although it was something I
wanted to do, I wasn’t sure that this was God’s will for my life. I had to be
sure because often God calls me to go places that I have no desire to go to. On
those occasions, His voice is very clear and strong. In this case, my own
desire seemed like it was drowning out God’s voice. I sought out the help of a
local pastor. He helped me to see that moving closer to my grandchildren very
well might be God’s will for my life.
So I started looking into apartments in their town. The cost
was far more than I could afford, so I looked into renting a room. Even a
single room was at the upper limit of my ability to pay. Plus I remember what I
was like in my college years. The idea of sharing a kitchen with college
students who don’t clean up after themselves (the mess, the bugs, the noise and
late night parties) was definitely not appealing.
Just when it was looking like a move was financially
impossible, Mom offered me a loan of enough money to buy a house and turned
over the title of her car to me. This was a big, wide-open door and a
greenlight from God. So I bought a townhouse that I own outright and it is just
10 minutes up the road from my grandchildren. Three times a week I walk my
granddaughter to school and on Fridays I pick my grandson up from his school in
another town and we spend the afternoon together. In the summer I have both of
them weekly on Wednesdays. Honestly, this is a dream come true—No! It’s a
heartfelt prayer answered with a resounding: YES!
Now, I know that this all seems too big to be called an
Everyday Miracle, but when you understand that God is infinitely loving,
infinitely generous, and infinitely powerful, then you understand that Everyday
Miracles come in all sizes. We need to stop limiting God by holding Him to our
tiny standard. Instead, let’s work on expanding our understanding of God’s
infinite greatness.
[1]
You can read about these adventures in my books, most of which are available on
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3AAlisa+K+Brown&s=relevancerank&text=Alisa+K+Brown&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1.
[2]
About 4 hours drive from Mom and my brother.
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