♥ The Big Move of Faith
Someone said the two most stressful events in a person’s life are weddings and moves. My son married in June in an outdoor, 102 degree weather. Yesterday, we packed up 80 percent of our belongings, said good-bye to my son, small-town paradise, great friends, and hauled ourselves to a new home town. It’s my husband’s hometown. We lived there for about 8 years after we married, but after 18 years, it’s new.
Why leave Paradise, you might ask.
My answer: because God said, “Go.”
Just because God said, “Go” does not make the going easier. However, I want my “Go” to be a faith go, not a grumbling go like the children of Israel when they left Egypt. God had so much blessing planned for His children, but when the going got tough, their faith in God’s plan got going–in the opposite direction of where God wanted them to go.
I can see where God positioned our lives for the last two years, preparing us for this move. My junior wanted to move last summer, and, by George, he was going to move up here when he turned 18 and graduate, with or without us. I asked him if he had prayed about that decision. He said, “God said,’Go.'” Of course, now he changed his mind. I laughingly told him, “This is all your fault. You’re the one who prayed for this move.” He wasn’t amused.
My mom asked, “Are you still moving? Your house hasn’t sold. I don’t think this is a good idea.”
God said, “Go.” He’ll take care of the house selling. He provides for all our needs on the journey to which he He called us.
The job–do you both have jobs? Last summer, we bought a business, The Original Hotkaps. This was supposed to be my “job.”
Well, my husband’s business decided to move all of North American engineering to Detroit. We didn’t want to raise our boys there. A similar company move to Detroit prompted us to take a job in Paradise 18 years ago. My business became the family business. The Martha Stewart Show beautifully showcased our product in April. What an encouraging experience. It was like God saying, “You’re going in the right direction.”
St. Augustine said in his book City of God that challenges come both to the pagan and the Christian. The only difference is how Christians handle those challenges.
We started positioning for the move over Spring Break, touring the schools, meeting the counselors, filling out forms and creating information folders. On our last day of school, we carried transcripts and folders 3 hours away to officially register our 4 boys for school before their year ended. Then the challenges began:
Challenge 1: It took 6 weeks for our junior to be declared eligible to play sports. He had to watch while his freshman brother tried out and practiced for the soccer team. They keep forgetting about the freshman. He wasn’t on the roster, no schedule, the folder disappeared. Who is he?
Really,God? Still “Go?”
Challenge 2: We are looking for a rental house. We want to build on his grandmother’s farm. Sadly, a tornado took all the house rentals off the market, filling them with victims. We saw houses that smelled of dog urine, houses that were too small, houses too expensive. We found 3 different houses. They quoted us one price before we looked, and then increased the price when we said, “We’ll take it.”
Are you sure, God? Still “Go?”
Challenge 3: We found a house to rent–a potentially wonderful house. The owner bought it in foreclosure and is waiting for the market to turn around, increasing his investment. He rented it for a year. A second renter lasted 2 weeks-until she discovered the man she was to move in with was married. She left a heap of trash on the driveway, a heap of trash in the house.
The day of our walk-through, the day before we were scheduled to move in, the trash hadn’t moved, a water leak in the master bedroom had just been replastered, the finished basement was still wet from an air-conditioning leak, there were still huge holes in the walls from pictures and curtain rods. The stairwell wall, which you see coming in, was filthy.
My fifth grader balked. His stomach threatened to heave. He couldn’t find a clean toilet(there were 4) in the house. Have you ever seen the scene in the movie with Sandra Bullock in Two Weeks Notice where she had to use an RV bathroom on the interstate? The sounds emitting from that RV? I was living that moment with my 5th grader. Then he said, “I don’t like this house. It scares me.”
Challenge 4: We loaded up our house this weekend, moving the stuff that makes my house my home. The beds, the blankets (I washed them all before we moved), the smells (my favorite candles), the comfy couch–all of it! They keep changing our move-in date. It was supposed to be last Friday. Then Tuesday. Now Wednesday, but they cannot confirm whether morning or night.
Still “Go?”
Challenge 5: Today was the first day of school. No pictures yet. I can’t find my camera. My 5th grader cried when he climbed in the car after school. My shiny new 3rd grader tried to encourage him (see about mourning): “I miss my friends inside,” he told his older brother. “But on the outside, I’m making new friends. All you do is say, “Hi, what’s your name?” And then he went on and on while his brother’s face got redder, his eyes welled more, and a few sobs burst out.
God, now my son is crying? I feel as lost as he does at times. I’ve cried a lot, too. Still, “Go?”
Challenge 6: Friday night, I sat with my son and his wife at the one of the eclectic coffee shops on the town square of Paradise: watching the traffic, calling greetings to people we knew, sipping a Chocolate Decadence frappe, talking about life with my oldest son. He’s staying in Paradise, unless God calls him out. No coffee shops to share a cup of Joe with my peeps in the new town.
Really, God? Leave my son?
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”(Jeremiah 29:11).
I couldn’t do this without God. I couldn’t have left if God hadn’t said, “Go.” I can because God takes care of his kids, especially when He says, “Go.”
However, and this is the point of my post, I BELIEVE!
Matthew 17:20 says the following: “I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
Speaking Faith moves the mountain. Because I spoke faith, my 4thson was born healthy and whole. Because I spoke the promises of God, my 3rd son was healed from a stomach problem. Because I was faithful to God’s promises, He sent me a wonderful husband.
I am not going to say,”Life sucks!”
I am going to say, “God so blesses my life. I thank you God that you have everything taken care of. I thank you that you have friends for my sons who will lift them up when they fall down. You have friends waiting for me, just like that, too. I thank you Father that my house is ready. It will be a warm, secure home where my boys can find rest, encouragement, and hospitality. I thank you Father that our business will be blessed, that you guide my husband, giving him wisdom in building this dream of his. I thank you that I haven’t lost faith in people. I thank you that Paradise is where you want me to be! I thank you that you have the plan for my family under control. I thank you that you know what my 5th grader needs. I thank you that you will give him the strength to hold the tears in so he won’t cry in front of the class. I thank you that he loves us enough to share those fears with us. I thank you that we are blessed!
What a heartfelt post. So often we only think that God is blessing us and saying “Yes” when everything goes smoothly and according to plan. I recently read the story of Gladys Aylward, missionary to China, and was moved my all of the trials she went through as she pushed forward with God’s plan in her heart. I would have quit at the first sign of opposition, but she didn’t. I was amazed by her journey and how she clung to the faith of that one promise that God was sending her, and she knew He went with her.
Your post reminds me of her story a bit… I like to call it “stubborn faith” not “blind faith.” (grin)
Blessings,
Sasha
I’ll be praying for your family in this new big adventure.
I so needed to read this. I too, am struggling with a move that I know God is in and it’s the best thing for our family. We’ll be moving in 2 weeks. My kids – one who just started middle school, a 5th grader and one who just started kindergarten will have to embrace a new school 4 weeks after school has started. It’s not the way I would have planned it but it is what it is. Again, I am SO glad I read your post! Thanks for the inspiration and reminding me of what’s important. ** Prayers and hugs to you on your new move**
Thank you for this beautiful post.
We are in the midst of an are-we-moving? or are-we-not-moving? drama at the moment, thanks to the Australian Defence Force who cannot make up their mind.
It is frustrating, and hard not to question if God is actually looking after us as we seek to know His will, and comfort our 6 children – 3 who are desperately unhappy about the fact that we may move and 3 who are wildly excited at the prospect of moving. I feel like the bone two dogs are fighting over and it really hurts.
So thanks again. It’s nice to read that I’m not the only one going through this kind of testing, and great to be bolstered by your faith.
It’s so nice that I am not the only mom who sometimes feels like the bone between two fighting factions! You said it so well! Thanks for the encouragement and best of blessings with your move! ‘
My kids hate to know that someone is having trouble making friends, I will ask them to pray for your family and especially your 5th grader! I will pray for you all too!
Oh, I pray God quickly brings you and your children new heart-friends in this new area. I also pray the house would be full of the Holy Spirit … peace, peace, peace.
It would be neat if you moved near me, but I have the feeling that isn’t the case.
God bless you on this new adventure. Keep us posted! Hey, at least your blogging buddies are still here.
Love,
Beth
thanks for visiting my blog! this was a great post to read. i wish you luck with your new journey.
~Tina
wow… such faith you have… I know its so easy to just listen to the things that are swaying away from God’s voice… but you’re hanging tight to it… God will bless you abundantly for heeding his call!
I can not even imagine all of the different emotions that you and your family must be going through. I will be praying that God comforts and encourages all of your children as you continue this new venture in your lives. Moving is hard for some kids and easier for others. God will help them through it all though. We moved as a family 10 years ago back to the hometown where both my husband and I were from. But our kids were 5,4,2 1/2, and 6 weeks old then. It was nothing but exciting for them. That made it a little easier for us emotionally. I will pray for all of you to find heart friends quickly. That is so important and will make it more exciting to venture on with what God is telling you to do. God bless you and your family at this time in your life,
Christy
Dear Maryleigh,
I know that the house you mentioned will be beautiful in no time at all, with your and your husband’s help. And that you will find the right church for your whole family, and your sons, specially your fifth grade (he’s probably the one with a sensitive heart, and therefore needs a very special friend – I’m praying for him in a special way)… and you will have your new friends as well.
God will see you through.
I love moves, especially the Hebrews 11:8 kind, and as this is obviously one of those, I just can’t wait to hear more of what God is going to show you in the days ahead.
Love
Lidj
Thanks for stopping by my blog.
What an adventure you’re on!! You have an amazing amount of faith; I’m sure God’s plan for you will unfold and it will be fantastic!
Hmmmm… Third blog I’ve read tonight, third one needing prayer. It’s almost midnight, but what is sleep when the Lord wants you praying? We made a similar move…similar challenges…and the same “Go.” We heard Him loud and clear. Amidst the challenges, knowing we were in those “plans I have for you”, we pressed on. On the drive up, the Lord told me, “I know the plans I have for you.” Knowing the verse, I finished the rest of it. He said, “Liz, I KNOW THE PLANS i HAVE FOR YOU.” Again, slow to learn, I finished the verse. A third time, He said, “I KNOW the plans….” The God who named all the stars, knows the number of hairs on my head, the Creator, Most High God, the One who knew me in my mother’s womb, had plans all laid out. He was calling me to trust Him with the unknowns. Who could I trust more than Him? He is trustworthy, even in the hard, unlikable challenges. Yay for that!
Isn’t it the truth, that He never gives us more than we can take on? You are a super woman and this experience is shaping you in so many ways! Thanks for sharing (oh and thanks for dropping by my blog)! 🙂
xo
Very heartful post indeed.
I love your header. What a beautiful put together blog.
You almost had me in tears there. You are amazing…I’m just a human walking this path with you, but I just wanted to you know that.
I’m reading a book called Interrupted where she talks about how God did a similar thing in her life…and YIKES, my comfy little home and church and life…and I wonder where God is going with this in my own life.
Thank you for visiting my blog on Tamara’s interview day. She’s pretty amazing!
God is good and holds all things in His mighty hands.
Another beautiful post! I will be praying for you and your family. I am sure you will do great in the new home, and make new beautiful memories together. I just read another blogger’s post about moving… it seems a lot of people are having to deal with this. Good luck with everything!
I’m sorry that this leap of faith is so hard right now…I’ll pray for your family!
Thanks for visiting today. I’m really glad you did because I needed to read this. I’m not moving but I’m at the point where I sometimes want to say, ‘My Life Sucks!’ but I do know that our Mighty Father so blesses my life and the lives of my family. It is just so hard right now to see what His purpose is in it all. I will be praying for you and your precious family. I know you will be blessed because you heeded His call to ‘Go’.
Blessings,
Teresa <
The Story of Why I'm Blogging:
http://toomanyheartbeats.blogspot.com/2009/07/document.html
So glad you chose to go! God will bless you, even though right now it hurts. I hope we are able to cross paths again soon.
Hugs and Prayers!!
I have tears in my eyes after reading this post. I know I was meant to read this. God sent me here. We are moving next month and my heart breaks every time I think about it but I know God said, “Go.” Thank you so much for this wonderfully written post.
So wonderfully expressed.
I pray today was a good day and that tomorrow brings new beginnings, new friends, kind gestures and a peace!
The following verse reminds me of you:
All a man’s ways seem right to him, but the Lord weighs the heart (Proverbs 21:2).
He found your heart obedient.
You shared your heart.
You always do.
And I always get blessed.
Praying for you.
Sweet dreams.
Wow… what a strong faith. Thank you for sharing your journey. It is encouraging.
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So glad to know that your story has a happy ending! Praise God that your ordeal (and your stretching, journey of faith) is nearly over!
((Hugs)) e-Mom
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