Praying for M.

My best friend leaves for Pakistan tonight. She'll spend a few days in England with her fiancee (who's currently visiting friends and travelling in Europe on a bit of a pilgrimage of sorts), and then head on alone to Pakistan for the next eight months.

I'm praying hard for her today.

We said goodbye on Monday, since I'm unable to be at the airport when she flies out tonight. But today it's hitting me. The friend I laugh with, talk about boys with, harass mercilessly (and get harassed by), watch movies with, eat freezer cake with, talk about God and life and fear and joy with, and pray with is gone for the next eight months.

And she's going to a less than stable part of the world, because she visited there at 16, and it stole her heart. She's going to spend the next eight months doing some language learning, and putting her nursing training to use in a small mission hospital, delivering babies and doing pre-natal and post-partum care.

I read this article in the news this morning. Missile Attack Kills 2 Canadians in Pakistan. While I don't think the part of the country where she'll be is particularly unstable, the reality remains that she is traveling to a place where it is less than safe to be white, female, and north-american.

And so, today, my heart is praying for this friend that I love, and for her family as they also say goodbye to her. For her parents, who worry about this daughter of theirs that has fallen in love with a country that is far away, and hard to comprehend. For her brothers and sisters and their spouses. For her friends. But mostly for her. That she would know the deep peace of Jesus - the peace that comes from knowing that she is living out what He has called her heart to. And that all those of us who love her, and are left here to wait and pray, would also be able to rest in that peace.