We’re usually quick to notice where we fall short and often forget to celebrate the progress. In this episode, we’ll be sharing stories about milestones we’ve reached in our own expat life—and we invite you to do the same! It’s a great habit to acknowledge and celebrate the progress we’ve made. And speaking of celebrating, we recently reached a milestone for our podcast that you all played a huge part in!

Connect with us!
 Denise
 Melissa
Alicia

Questions discussed in this episode: 

Here are the milestones we discussed during the episode. Take some time to go through this list and think of milestones you’ve achieved in these areas.

• Language

• Cultural

• Relationships  

• Personally (something that you’ve struggled with but have gained some ground in)

• Using your giftings overseas  

• Navigation out of a problem 
  

Noteworthy Quotes:

“It feels great when you can feel a feeling and express it in the language, as opposed to feeling it and it being trapped.” — Alicia

“The employee at the immigration office thought I was the agent helping my husband process visas. That was a big boost for my self-esteem in language.” — Melissa

“I’ve fully embraced the duster and wear it around my house.” — Alicia

“I had an older expat woman remind me that close, local friendships are something to strive for but it’s not something to be discouraged about if you don’t have. Just love people the best way you can. And that was a milestone for me of taking that pressure off that I had to have a certain type of relationship with local women that might not have been realistic.” — Denise

“It was one of those moments when I got through a problem and it also helped me relate more to the culture in a new way.” — Alicia

“There were a lot of naysayers, bu I just knew in my heart this needed to happen in order for my family to stay where we are. So I pushed through. I say that to encourage others not to get discouraged past the point of quitting.” — Denise

“It’s a holy ‘I told you so.’” — Denise

“There’s this pattern of doubt and then pushing forward. The most important thing is being confident in the Lord in what you’re doing. You have to go back to the first moment when He gave you the idea. Along the way, there are the naysayers or your own doubts. But if we return back to that moment, and remember the initial confidence we had, it can really carry us through. In the end, we see the Lord’s purpose in all of it. He’s already gifted us in a special way for this moment.” — Alicia

“Set down those stones of remembrance of where God done a work in your life and how far He’s brought you. If He’s done it before, He’s going to do it again.” — Alicia

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Show credits: 

Hosted by Denise James, Alicia Boyce, and Melissa Faraday // produced and edited by Melissa Faraday // content managed by Alicia Boyce.

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