When you think everything is going well, suddenly you hit a
bump in the road. Have you ever
experienced that? Or is it just me? Sometimes it is a small bump. Other times it is a boulder.
My husband and I have been very familiar with change
this past year.
Change with our business shutting down…
Change with selling our home in New York…
Change with leaving our friends and family behind…
Change with leaving our state…
Change with a new state…
Change with a new climate…
Change with a new church…
Change with new friends and seeing family…
Change with a new job and direction…
Change with another new church…
Change…
Did I mention I don’t like change…?
It's been a time of trusting GOD and stretching our faith as
we both navigate the landmines of change.
The only constant in our lives these past eleven months has been change.
What has helped us get through this? I am glad you asked.
I would love to say we handled it spectacularly and with the
utmost grace as we landed here, set up our new home, greeted our new neighbors,
and started our new lives in beautiful Florida.
However, that would be a fib. 😊
We started eleven months ago, settling into our new home ready
to tackle the world! Excited to see what God was going to do, we unpacked, set
up our home, and looked for a new church.
We just KNEW God was going to move quickly since He pushed so
hard to move us south.
We were wrong. God’s
timing is not always ours. One of the things
that Carl mentioned before we even thought of closing the business was…. “What would
we do if one of us got real sick?
Who would take care of the business?”
We didn’t have a backup plan. No
matter how hard we tried, God did not provide more employees. It was not in His plan.
When we arrived in Florida, Carl’s chest pain started. Fast forward several months and many doctor
visits later, he went in for two stents due to two major heart blockages. If we stayed in New York working the business…
Let’s just say, things would be different, and I wouldn’t be
writing the same story…
God knew we needed this time to work on our health.
He also knew we needed time to work on US.
We have spent the last sixteen years together working. There wasn’t much time to do more than work. The business took over our lives. We didn’t have much outside of the
business. We did have United Marriage
Encounter and church. However, there wasn’t
time for US.
This time alone in Florida was God’s way of saying, “It’s
time to start working on you…”
When you care for plants, they thrive. When you neglect them….
Honestly, our relationship was like a neglected plant.
We took care of everything else.
We took care of everyone else.
We forgot to take care of us.
It was messy. But
we are working through this part now too.
Praise God.
There are many other changes we are working through together
as a team.
What have we learned from all these changes?
If He calls you to a mission, trip, or move, He will give
you the strength to make it through them.
Trusting God by Jerry Bridges became one of my
friends as I navigated through the minefield of change. There were so many changes that they affected
my relationship with my husband. We were
both ready to shut the front door and hide until the storm faded away even though
not one hurricane had hit Florida for the first time in 112 years! The storms were major winds of change. There wasn’t a stone that was left unturned
in our lives.
But God.
He used a church we attended to reset us and get us back
on the right path to start fighting for each other instead of at each other.
He does that.
I am grateful for His Word.
I am grateful for His people who have prayed for us through ALL of this and ALL
the changes.
I am grateful for the changes.
Yes, I am grateful for the changes too. Because of the changes, we are different. But
we have made it through to the other side.
We can share, so hopefully others can navigate their changes a bit
better.
We are just one beggar sharing with another where to find
food…
Love you guys!
'There is a time for everything, and a season for every
activity under the heavens: '
Ecclesiastes 3:1
'Jesus
Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. '
Hebrews 13:8
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