As I sit propped against 2 white pillows, knees tucked under the crisp, clean sheets, shoulders draped by a cozy red throw, my mind goes back to when I allowed myself to think, write, and pray. This is the room where it all began.
{I'm house sitting where I lived for the first 5 months in TN}
Full of peace, never lacking in thoughts, always a place of comfort- this room allowed me to break my habits that I had known for years. Long gone was the ability to be busy. God had a perfect plan to break away the comforts of my old life and begin to rebuild me in a way that to this day humbles me. My Nashville parents provided me with a beginning that not too many have the opportunity to experience. Those 3 months allowed me to have an intimacy with the Lord that you can't have any other way than without a job, without a car, and without your community of friends close by.
I was reading through blogs I had written over the course of this past year and was stunned by one of them. I had written a list of things that I had desired to check off as soon as I made the move to Tennessee. But those were the things that would have clouded my devoted time with the Lord. I didn't know it then, but looking back, I understand why I didn't have the opportunity to draw a big fat line through the things on the list. And the funny thing, that's the way each situation has been- not working the way I initially desired, but unfolding in a way that practically brings me to tears once my eyes are opened to the miraculous plan that has been so intricately designed for me.
I moved without a community, and now I have a growing community that I adore, I moved without a job, and have had the opportunity to have jobs that I can't even begin to describe how much joy they bring- the list is never ending and is always multiplying.
I have learned that trusting in the Lord is the back bone of living. So often I forget about that major part, and am quickly reminded when everything starts to peel over. Just the other day I was telling someone my story. They responded by saying,
"God is really at work in your life"
and all I could think was, my life wouldn't be working with out Him in my life. This past year has been one of the hardest years of my entire life (and I certainly hope they don't get easier) and I have grown tremendously. Whenever I think about why things happened the way they did this past year, I see so clearly that God's hand was there the whole time. . . and why would you want to explain your life to someone without having Him woven through the pages of your story. It makes me so giddy about what trials and adventures I will encounter over the next 12 months, simply so I can continue to see God's handiwork in my life.
So now I continue on this journey, turning the page to the next chapter.
Ephesians 2:10
For we are God’s handiwork,
created in Christ Jesus to do good works,
which God prepared in advance for us to do.
