Eleven years ago this week, I moved to Europe.

I know it is a cliché to say this, but time really does move fast. How has it been eleven years since I left Zambia? Where have all those years gone?

I am tempted to come up with eleven lessons from the eleven years I have lived abroad. But as I sit here and reflect on these years, it is not eleven lessons that come to mind. It is not any number of lessons, actually.

It is simply this: God is faithful.

These eleven years have indeed flown by, but so much has happened in them. Some of the happiest moments of my life have happened in these eleven years. I have travelled, met some amazing people, fallen in love, studied, started working and paying taxes, and slowly figured out how to be an adult.

These eleven years have also given me some of the lowest lows I have ever experienced. I lost my dearest “mulamu”. I lost friends, including my buddy BC. I got the sickest I have ever been and had to be driven in an ambulance. And so much more.

Oh, what a period it has been.

And that is why it is hard for me to look back and come up with lessons from the last decade. Perhaps I will be able to do that at another time. But for now, I find myself remembering.

I remember my graduation from my bachelor’s degree and how happy I was.

I remember the day I signed my first full-time work contract and how proud I was.

I remember hearing the sound of soil hitting that coffin and how broken I was.

I remember laying in my bed, crying, and how sad I was.

I remember seeing the Eiffel Tower for the first time and how amazed I was.

I remember sitting on a plane, hearing the engines roar, and how excited I was.

I remember the smiles, the laughs, the love, the anger, the grief, the loneliness and the excitement.

I remember God’s faithfulness.

I remember the God who provided for me in every way.

I remember the God who was with me through the good days and the bad days.

Eleven years.

So much has happened. So much has changed.

I have changed.

God hasn’t.

As I sit here and remember, I am not yet toasting to another eleven years in Europe. Maybe I will do that another time. For now, in this moment, I just want to sit here and soak in the fact that God has been faithful.

Eleven years of joy. Eleven years of grief. Eleven years of change. Eleven years of memories I could never have imagined when I left Zambia.

And through all of it, God has been there.

I do not know what the next eleven years will hold. I do not know how much will change, what I will gain or what I will lose. I do not know if I will even be alive.

But I know this:

God hasn’t changed. He will not change. He will remain faithful.

And that is what I cling to today, and for all the days that I still have breath.