When Starting is Continuing

Happy Wednesday! 

I’ve made 4 major moves in my life. From one state to the next. All of those moves were extremely difficult... I left behind friends and familiarity. Within those four moves, in two of the states, we moved to multiple houses and an apartment complex. Until we finally ended up here. The home we’ve spent nearly ten years in. It’s a long story, but throughout this crazy year that is 2020, we ended up getting a new house and in six days as I write this, we’ll be officially moved in.

If you’ve ever moved, you know the strange rollercoaster of emotions that come along with it. Last year and even the beginning of this year I would have been very opposed to moving. I love the neighborhood we live in, and we have some truly amazing friends right near our current house. But due to so many things that has happened this year... I’m at a place where I’m ready to move. I told my mom just that at some point in the past few months and she said, I think God sometimes prepares us and our hearts in advance for things like this. Before I even knew we were moving, God was preparing me so I could be here today at this place where I can confidently say that it’ll be a little sad and maybe a little hard, but I am very ready to move. I love God for so many reasons, and I love Him for this. He knows where we’re headed, and He prepares us for the challenges, shifts and obstacles of life before we even know we need preparing. He is so, so good like that. He takes care of us and gives us what we need even if it’s a hard pill to swallow to prepare us for where He needs us to go moving forward. It’s not till after the fact that you can look back and see the wonders, He’s done in your life that has brought you to this moment.

But I realized that maybe I’ve been looking at this move all wrong. I’m feeling a lot of anxiety at moving from one house to the other. It feels so... permanent. Like I’ll never see this neighborhood again. I’ll never see these friends again even though we’re only moving like ten minutes away. I overthink almost everything that happens in life, so of course I'm overthinking this too. I thought this was starting something new and I guess I thought starting something new meant leaving behind the old. But that’s not true. Sometimes starting something new just means that a new thing comes alongside the old thing. The new thing brings new purpose and beauty and meaning to your life without ruining or belittling the old thing.

My mom and I were talking (we do that a lot haha) about moving, and I was sharing my anxieties with her about the whole situation. I just felt like this was it. It felt so final and still does feel kind of final. But as we were talking, we reminisced about our previous moves and she reminded me that a house is just a house. This is our home because we made it our home and we’ll make our new house our home too just like we did with this one and every other one before this one. It’s the people in the house and the memories you make with them that matters, not the four walls that you make those memories in. It’s the family, the people, the love and the Spirit of God dwelling within that home, blessing that home and that family.

God places us where we need to be in His own timing. This is the house He gave us, and I hope and pray that He will use us in this home and in this neighborhood to do good for Him. To make new friends, make new memories. I'm thankful that He didn't move us far away. Obviously, He put us in this town ten years ago for a reason and He has no plans to remove us from this town anytime soon.

So, I guess what I'm saying is... just because there's a shift or change in life whether it's big or small doesn't mean everything in your life is changing. It doesn't mean your entire life now revolves around that one shift. It just means you might have to change the way you do things a little bit, tweak your schedule or routine. Sometimes starting new just means continuing on with life in a new place or a new space. My life is still going to go on. I still have my friends, my family and most importantly, my God who knows every step of the way. This is starting new in some aspects, but mostly... it’s just continuing on in faith.

Keep moving forward in faith, whether your starting from scratch or continuing forward and mixing the old with the new. God's got it all under control and is preparing you every step of the way for what lies ahead.