First of all, to pray for an answer to your dilemma is not at all selfish. You are seeking good and truth. Pray hard on this! Through prayer, you are saying, “Lord, I cannot make this decision on my own. I need You.” That is not selfishness, but in fact, it is an act of humility.
It is natural for us to miss the ones we love. I only live about an hour from my family (I’m a freshman in college), and I still miss them greatly. However, it is not wrong to have to be away from the ones we love physically. Sometimes, it is necessary (for example, a soldier called on active duty) Take heart, though, we can still be close to them emotionally and spiritually, and we should stay close to them emotionally and spiritually.
Here’s a few ways to stay close to your family without being close to them physically:
- Phone calls, e-mail, mail, Facebook, any of these things are great ways in which we can communicate with each other. We must stay connected to the ones we love. I regularly call and e-mail my family, and thus still feel very close to them, even though I am still miles away physically.
- Pray for your family. Praying and asking God to continue to keep your family safe and to guide them is always beneficial. God wants to help as many people as He can.
- Remember, you are never alone. No matter where you go, no matter who you are, no matter what you do, Jesus Christ is right there, beside you. He is there to celebrate with you when you achieve, to guide you when you are unsure, to console you when you are sad, to pick you up when you fall down, to love you and hold you always. He loves you. You will never know how much He loves you. Have you ever heard the story/poem “Footprints”?
A man had a dream one night. He dreamt he was walking on a beach.
Walking with him was the Lord.
As they walked, the man noticed behind him were footprints, his and the Lord’s.
Each footprint represented an event in the man’s life.
The man noticed especially the footprints that represented the trials and sufferings of life.
He noticed even more that during these times, there was only one set of footprints.
This troubled the man, and he asked Christ, “Why is it, Lord, that when I was suffering, there are only one set of footprints? Why would You leave me when I need You the most?”
Jesus turned to the man and said, warmly, “My child, you are mistaken. Indeed there are only one set of footprints when you were suffering. For during those times you were suffering, where you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.”
God bless.
