Finding home far away from home
I went to live in a different country without my family for the first time at just sixteen years old.
When my family dropped me off at the airport for my flight to Norway, I felt a rush of excitement and nervousness. This was the next chapter in my life, and I was ready to fit right in—to adjust to the new culture and make friends. But it didn’t happen quite that easily.
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At school, everything was taught in a different language, so even though I was studying the language, I still had to rely heavily on my peers. I started to feel like a burden to my classmates, and although I was forming relationships with some of them, I missed my family and friendships back home. Also, seeing my classmates with their friends made me feel left out, since I didn’t feel I had anyone I was close enough with to turn to.
Sometimes I felt hopeless thinking that I wouldn’t ever make good friends or truly bond with my host family.
At the home of my host family, it was difficult to feel comfortable with them because, even though they were welcoming and treated me like family, I felt isolated and sad. Sometimes I felt hopeless, thinking that I wouldn’t ever make good friends or truly bond with my host family. The constant desire to be home in America didn’t help. It was taking much longer for me to feel happy and assimilated than I’d expected.
However, one of the things that was a constant for me through all this was Christian Science, and I was so glad to know that I could always rely on God, no matter where I was. I contacted a Christian Science practitioner and asked her to pray for me, as I knew this would help me find a way through my struggles. She reminded me that God’s love is everlasting, a constant. God is always comforting me and guiding every step I take.
She shared a Bible passage with me that really helped. It says, “I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38, 39). To me, this meant that I could feel God’s love everywhere I went, no matter what.
I was also reminded of a sentence from Mary Baker Eddy’s writings that helped as well: “Gratitude and love should abide in every heart each day of all the years” (Manual of The Mother Church, p. 60). I realized that I had so many things to be grateful for, like being in a safe, caring home with wonderful people.
I found that Hymn 497 from the Christian Science Hymnal: Hymns 430–603 talks about home as not a physical location that we can leave behind, but a spiritual idea that’s always with us. It begins, “Home is the consciousness of good / That holds us in its wide embrace” (Rosemary C. Cobham). Realizing that I could connect the feeling of being at home with feeling God’s comforting presence really helped me.
Though I’d spent a few weeks feeling empty inside, now things started to get better. The language started to click with me, which allowed me to become closer to my peers and host family. The world opened up as I started enjoying the little things—cozy movie nights with my host family, café and library trips with friends from school, the beautiful city, and the knowledge that God was right there with me wherever I was.
Realizing that I could connect the feeling of being at home with feeling God’s comforting presence really helped me.
I ended the exchange year with so much joy and a complete feeling of home that went beyond just being comfortable in a new location. I never wanted to leave Norway, which is the opposite of the way I started the year!
Knowing that God is the source of all good and that nothing is separating me from His love changed this experience and my life completely. I’ll take these lessons with me wherever I go.
