ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Hi, I'm Heather, the creator and writer behind Liturgies for a Life Abroad. I've lived overseas with my family doing non-profit work in SE Asia since 2015. In 2021, I started writing and sharing liturgies and words about cross-cultural life on Instagram. That little corner of social media has become a place for sojourners from every corner of the globe to find solidarity, hope, and words of prayer for when they don't have their own.

I wasn't raised in a liturgical church, and knew nothing of liturgy until my young adult years. My teeth were cut on the pews of churches where pastors prayed with emotional fervor and congregants responded with passionate, vocal affirmations. Hearing prayers offered with confidence from saints who truly believed we can "come boldly to the throne of grace..." (Heb. 4:16) formed my theology of prayer.

In 2015, our family's transition overseas and immersion into foreign language and culture left me feeling tongue-tied. I experienced many things I didn't have words to process, but my heart desperately needed to be unburdened at the feet of the Father. I turned to the book of Psalms and discovered the power of praying words written by another when I couldn't seem to form my own. I found more prayers and liturgies written by others and began to see my prayer life enriched. But I noticed a gap in the liturgies I found, and my lived experience as an expat. There were no prayers for language learning, culture shock, and immigration lines. Could these ordinary moments of the global sojourner's life also be made into an opportunity for worship?

As I began to write and share liturgies for those living abroad, the resounding answer was YES. And so, I've continued on writing in order that those of us who call more than one place "home" might invite Jesus into our spaces, foreign and familiar, and find that when we wonder where we truly belong, the answer is always in Christ's presence.