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In September, the CMSI staff bade a fond farewell to Rachel Brittain, who moved on to embrace new opportunities after 16 years on the team. Rachel shares a parting reflection as she looks back over 2020 and beyond.
Like a lot of people across the country, I have spent much of the last year close to home. From the start of April, I was on furlough from my job with CMSI, so I was able to give my full attention and focus to my family and take on the responsibility for home-schooling our four children.
This time was often fun, sometimes overwhelming and seldom peaceful. I began a new pattern to my day in an effort to find some quiet by watching the sunrise in a big, yellow chair in my living room. How quickly our minds become small and our perspective inward-looking. After a few anxious mornings, I thought it best to read through the Psalms to help me in my search for peace.
Psalm 24 immediately jumped out at me and took me back to my Youth Fellowship days singing Graham Hendricks 'The Earth is the Lord’s and Everything in it', where the men and women sing alternate lines. We can easily forget that God is Lord of all, even Bangor or Belfast, Uganda or Nepal and beyond.
When I walked into the CMSI Belfast office in January 2004, I never thought it would be the start of an exciting and challenging 16-year career. I came to my new job without much life experience or global knowledge and I just loved learning about new countries, making connections with people across Ireland and developing my skills in my new position.
I fulfilled many roles in my time on the staff team: producing the Children’s Resource; managing our wonderful volunteer team; coordinating conferences; developing 'Marketplace' - our craft initiative.
The CMSI tag line is 'Connect, Equip, Transform'. I think God wants that for each of us! I feel connected and loved by people right across the global Church; I have been equipped with prayer support and learning opportunities; I have been transformed from a young 22-year-old girl starting her first job to someone with a love for God, His earth and everything in it.
I pray that God will continue to use CMSI to connect, equip and transform people right across His earth. I will miss my CMSI family so much and hope to remain connected as a CMSI Star, helping to shine brightly with my fellow stars in the County Down area!
We give thanks for Rachel's many years of service to CMSI and for all the skill, energy, love and care that she brought to her work and to the whole CMSI family. We miss her deeply! We pray that God would continue to bless Rachel in all she does to shine brightly and share His love.
