Straight Outta Yaard - Pt 1

 

Leaving everything and everyone you know, love and you are familiar with after 25 years of your life is not an easy decision. Yet I, like many others, made that conscious and deliberate decision to leave my country of birth, Jamaica, and move to an unfamiliar country. Prior to this, I had only visited Canada once as a teenager.

Some people are often puzzled as to why a person would choose to leave behind their family and friends, their home, job, and their independence and level of comfort for an unknown situation that could produce very negative results. However in the words of Jim Rohn, "If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary."

I had completed post-secondary studies, lived on my own and was working in management positions and excelling in my career, before moving to Canada.  “Why did you come?” is the first question I was asked when people heard my story.  The truth is, I came for many of the same reasons other people do. I came with the hope of achieving beyond what my circumstances were at the time.  I had goals for higher education, to work in my preferred career field, to have a family, own a home and attain stability with personal relationships.

Everything about my life had changed within the first few months of coming here, and I began to question myself about my decision to relocate when I faced the harsh realities of my first winter.  I thought about returning to Jamaica, but I felt that I would be perceived as a complete failure.  So I had to make some hard decisions about how to approach my life moving into my new future.

I had to make an effort to form new bonds, build new relationships and find ways of coping with all the changes that resulted. I was also blessed to have two family members who received and supported me through the transition which assisted me to cope with the loss of my immediate family, my social networks and the community I had back home.

Adjusting to Canadian society was quite challenging. I even found some aspects of it traumatic. One can easily lose their sense of identity, especially at the beginning. Not only are you unfamiliar with your physical surroundings, but there is also a total disconnect with relationships.  At a point in my journey, I even had to seek mental health support, something not widely accepted by my culture and community, but which was completely necessary for me at the time. 

Those actions along with tapping into some of my core values and beliefs helped me to persevere. I had not yet dedicated my life to Christ when I moved to Canada, but there was something deep inside me that led me daily to get down on my knees and pray. Maybe because I had grown up in the church and had been exposed, not just to religion, but to God. Maybe it was due to the fact that I saw my mother pray often, or maybe it was because the family who had received me was also grounded in faith, and so God was in the midst of everything we did together.

I have been praying for the past 20 years and have not stopped. In some periods of my life, my prayers have been more earnest and frequent than others. My prayers have been answered often the way I wanted, but other times they are not.  However, I believe God knows best, and through the act of praying, I have been relieved of many burdens I have faced mentally, emotionally and physically. Every time I pray, I feel there is hope for answers to the many difficulties that I often face.

I recently audited my experiences as an Immigrant and thank God I can say that I have accomplished every goal I had set for myself since coming to this country. None without hardships, but yet still I have achieved and I owe all of it to God and the power of prayer.

Mark 11:24 says “I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you have received it, it will be yours”.  This Bible verse I discovered only recently. Imagine my delight.

My encouragement to someone struggling with any issues today is that they should not only seek professional help, but they should also tap into their personal support system. Most importantly, they should seek the guidance, comfort and hope God offers through his word and prayer. 

~Tam~