Your People, My People

"But Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. 

Where you go I will go, where you stay I will stay. 

Your people will be my people and your God my God..." 

Ruth 1: 16

There is a picture that hangs on our "gallery wall" as I call it. It is a wall filled with family pictures and signs with scripture and quotes and this one in particular quotes the famous words of Ruth from the Bible when she says to Naomi, "Where you go, I will go, where you stay I will stay." I had to have it when I saw it at the store because I quoted these same words to my husband about a year ago and they were a pivotal moment in our marriage.

You see we were about 8 months into settling into our new home in North Carolina and making friends after being relocated there, but we got word after the company buyout that we may be uprooted and asked to move again. At first I was livid! I was not having it and there was no way I was going to move my family across the country again and I didn't even want to think about it. I let my husband know that if another relocation was in the works he could go without me and I was going to go back to Dallas and be with my family. 

But on my way to church that Wednesday night, God pricked my heart and showed me that I had spoken words of separation over our family and He certainly did not want those words to take root and cause a rift between me and my husband. My dad called me that evening on the phone and after venting to him about us possibly moving again, he said words I didn't expect him to say, "It is much more important for you to be there for your husband, than for your family to be there for you." I stopped in my tracks and thought about how terrible I was being. This move would bring opportunity, growth and financial blessing to our family but I was blindsided by the inconvenience it would cause our family to make new friends, find a new church and have our children adjust to being in new schools. Now don't get me wrong those are all big things to consider, but I knew that the same kindness shown to us by our new friends in North Carolina would be shown to us in Kentucky if God was with us. 

So here I am 8 months into settling into our new home outside of Louisville, Kentucky and my kids having finished another year in another new school and we are yet again new in another church finding where we fit. 

I am so glad I clung to those words Ruth spoke to Naomi and I noticed something. It's not the going or the staying that is hard, it's actually what comes after that, "...your people will be my people..."

Making my fellow Kentuckians my friends is what's daunting, intimidating, uncomfortable and takes me out of my comfort zone. Both I and my children wish we had the same strong friendships we left behind in Texas, but it took years for us to make those friendships and forge the strong bond we left behind. It will take years for us to make those best friendships and people you can call at any time of day and say "Hey I am coming over!" here too. But in the process of making these people, my people, I see God's hand in it all. 

He brought us to a neighborhood overflowing with kids so there is no lack of finding someone for my kids to play with. He has brought together an incredible group of women who meet once a month at my house for book club  and prayer. He placed me in a job working at one of my boy's schools so I am able to keep their same schedule, make a little money and get out of the house! 

He is with us, Emmanuel! 

God was with us in Texas, North Carolina and now here in Kentucky. Day by day, week by week and month by month he is showing us that His hand has been in it all- comforting, providing, directing, and loving. 

So maybe you are in the same place I am in -making the people around you, your people. Or maybe your feet are frozen in place and He is asking you to go, perhaps He is asking you to stay. I want you to take comfort in the fact that the same all-knowing, omni present, ever-providing God that I serve is the same one that can come through for you and your situation. My God is your God. He can do the same miracles, restorations, and redemptions in your story as I see Him doing in mine. 

I know that nothing that comes mine or my family's way has not first passed through His hand and He is going to either bring me through it or deliver me from it. Either way, growth, strength and courage await me on the other side. 

Ruth had no idea what awaited her when she ventured out with Naomi. But when she met her Boaz, her kinsman redeemer, all that she had lost and more had been restored and her life became full. 

I sometimes think that the difficult, uncomfortable and stretching times are now necessary for us as believers to scrape off the rough edges and buff out the marred places in our lives. The joy that comes in the morning is always well worth the pain in the night. 

Re-routing (When God Takes You On A Detour)

 
Traveling to visit my mom in far northeastern Arkansas from the Dallas, Texas area several years ago, me and my husband, along with my oldest son and my brother made the long trek to visit my mom for Thanksgiving. 

During that 8 hour trip, the GPS on the phone would say "Re-routing..." when there was traffic up ahead or a faster detour we could take. My brother would look down at his phone and say "Aaah, Rita, she's done it again!" 

"Rita?" I asked quizzically, "Who are you talking to?"

"My phone" my brother replied, "She re-routes so much I nicknamed her Rita Re-route."

So for the remainder of the trip and pretty much the rest of my life since then, I never looked at my phone the same way again, Rita Re-route always popped into my head when a re-route was necessary on our travels.  

How many times I have listened to Rita Re-route willingly, and sometimes, not so willingly in my journey through life. Changing majors in college, switching professions (from aspiring Christian artist/preschool teacher turned stay at home mom/published author), relocating for my husband's job that has recently brought us across the country twice... all these things have definitely thrown kinks into my plans and at times, made me feel the rug was pulled out from underneath me. 

But I can look back at all the re-routes in my life and see that the whole time, God was in control of mine and my family's ultimate destination. How we got there depended on whether or not we listened to take the faster detours or not.

That's why I love God's gift of free will. We can choose to listen to the Rita Re-routes in our minds or continue on our chosen path. But when we keep God first in our lives we will ultimately end up where we are suppose to be. 

About a year ago I looked at my husband after we were settling into our new home in North Carolina and through homesick tears for Texas asked, "Is this where we will grow old? Or do you think well find our way back?"

He looked up, sighed heavily and replied, "I think we'll end up where God ultimately wants us to be."  

I was not satisfied with that answer, I wanted to know and know now! I bent down on my knees asking God to answer this question for me, but all I ever got was silence. So I settled in my soul that I didn't need to know the answer, I just needed to bloom where God had currently planted me. So I did my very best with what I could with the time and talents I was given. I wrote, filmed and edited a bible study to go along with my first book, filmed a radio interview, hosted a book signing at a local coffee shop and got involved in a local church we started attending. But then I could feel a stirring in my soul, that we were about to get re-routed once again. 

When my husband got the offer to relocate to Kentucky, we had the choice to accept and believe this was from God and provide us another opportunity to grow and flourish elsewhere or stay and see if maybe God was not quite finished with us here. When both my husband and I felt the release to move on and go with God, knowing He would provide for us there as much as He had here, we graciously accepted the detour. 

As cliche as it sounds the quote that says "I don't know what the future holds, but I know who holds the future" is my life's motto right now. I may not know what church we will attend or how my kids will like the schools or when well make new friends in Kentucky, but I do know that God is the center of this family and this home. 

Sometimes God re-routes our lives to get us back on track, perhaps we've detoured far off the path that will be good for us.  Sometimes He offers safer detours because there might be a dangerous path up ahead that can be avoided, and sometimes He re-routes us to grow us into the people He created us to be. That re-route might be what builds strength, character, hope or perseverance like it says in Romans 5:3-5 (NLT):

 We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. ⁴ And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. ⁵ And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

Your re-route might not be a physical move like ours has been, but it may look like a cancer diagnosis or perhaps you got laid off from your job.  Maybe your re-route is deciding whether or not to go back to school or get involved in that ministry opportunity at church. Perhaps your life is at one of those crossroads where your youngest started kindergarten this year and you feel the stirring to go back to work. Maybe all of your children have left home and you find yourself an empty-nester and that nudging to finish writing that book or maybe even to start your own business is constantly on your mind. 

Life offers us many re-routes and a lot of detours. But we can trust we are on the right path when we consult with the ultimate navigator- Jesus! 

Never Say Never

 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Ephesians 2:10 

I have decided...NEVER SAY NEVER! 

I always said I would never drive a minivan. After being voted "most likely to drive a minivan" in high school, I determined to rebel against people's expectations of me and become an SUV mom. But when it came time, the standard leather seats, automatic doors and dvd system with bucket seats were calling out to me in the form of a Chrysler Town and Country and the fact that it was much more affordable, made it even more appealing! So I drove off the lot and haven't looked back, loving my minivan and the spacious room it has afforded me and my family and friends. 

I always said I would never home school my children. Yet I found myself purchasing the curriculum online yesterday in preparation of homeschooling my two boys into their 3rd grade and 6th grade year due to circumstances beyond my control. 

I always said after our first cross-country move from Texas to North Carolina, I would never move across the country again! It was too hard, too expensive and emotionally way too messy. Filtering through the newness of our new town, fixing up a home, weeding through the homesickness and loneliness was at times more than I could bear. But here I am, getting ready to list my home here in the piney woods of North Carolina and searching for new homes in the state of Kentucky, venturing out once more to move across the country. 

So I have resolved, never to say never. It's funny how God can take these "Nevers" and turn them into revelations. It's funny how God can take these "Nevers" and turn them into something we never knew we needed. 

So I have resolved that if there is ever anything certain in this life, it's that things are going to change. Life evolves, people grow, circumstances shift from mountain tops to valleys. But here is one unchanging truth that truly will NEVER change...God is steadfast, he is unmovable and He is in control. 

 

When entering into uncharted and unfamiliar territory in my life, I have learned it best to face it with wide open arms. Embracing the seasons of change, knowing that with every situation, new friendship, or opportunity comes with it growth that sprouts good things in my life. How do I know that? I cling tightly to Ephesians 2:10 as written above. 

God is the center of my life, my marriage and my home. He hasn't veered me wrong before and he isn't going to start now. God has good things in store for me, my husband, my children, even in the uncomfortable, the new, the rocky, and the situations we say we would never find ourselves in. 

I have used my minivan as a place of ministry. Both in Texas and North Carolina, I have taken my children and their friends and cousins to school and even in the simpleness of a child's prayer before they get out of the car, they jump out knowing that the God of the universe heard their voice that morning. I have had deep and insightful conversations with my 11 year old when he ponders why things are the way they are. I have heard my 8 year old crack the funniest jokes fills the minivan with laughter. 

I look forward to this year of homeschooling my children, even though at times I find myself scared to death at the thought of it. Why? Because I have covered this decision in prayer and know that throughout another transition in our family's life this year, being able to be at home with them and pouring into them, will help them ensure a solid footing of family and faith, and help them adjust emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.

Believe it or not, I am excited about this move. I can hardly believe it myself. Why? Because I know that God is going to lead and guide our steps just as He has before.  I have hope and confidence in His guiding hand because I have seen the work it produces in my life- strength, endurance, perseverance, courage, determination. I also rest in the fact that good things are prepared in advance for us in Kentucky, just as they were planned for me here. 

Although it has been a whirlwind 9 months, I have met sweet friends that will forever leave an imprint on my heart. I have launched an online bible study for my book Arm Yourself and been able to share my story and passion with people in this coastal community. My husband has been able to grow professionally and have his talents and giftings in the world of  computers be met with favor and blessing with promotions that stem from a wife's heart of earnest prayer over her husband the last 13 1/2 years. In world that has been wrought with turmoil and recession, God has always protected my husband's job and even been given positions of promotion throughout companies that have been littered with layoffs and many unknowns. God has great plans for Him in Kentucky too.

My children are learning that home is where we all are. It doesn't have to be the place of your birth, it just has to be where love welcomes you with open arms. Besides our homes here on this Earth are temporary, our eternal home is in Heaven. Moving releases the tight hold we have on material things and helps keep our focus on eternal things. The attitudes, the heart and the incredible strength my children have displayed is a blessing to behold.  

You may not be moving to Kentucky, but you may be preparing to move into the unfamiliar and uncharted too and it scares you to death. You may be finding yourself doing exactly what you said you would never do. If that is you today, let go. Let Him lead. You don't have to be scared. He has good things planned for you, things He already has completely laid out, He's just asking you to take that next step of obedience. Will you?

Stop saying never and start saying yes!

Changing Seasons + Sweet Jesus Mnistries

This post was originally written for a website called Sweet Jesus Ministries that I am a monthly contributor for. I hope you are blessed and encouraged to read this during your own season of transition.

For everything there is a season…God has made everything beautiful for its own time.

Ecclesiates 3:1,11

 

It’ s spring! Finally glorious spring with its warmer days of sitting on the front porch reading a good book, and drinking a glass of sweet tea have come! The days of planning summer vacations, gardening, and getting outside more- soaking in those warm rays of sunshine- have me excited for this season too. 

Why? Because it has been a long, hard winter for me and my family. After moving to North Carolina last fall, we all went through a transitional period that was a lot more difficult than I thought. Homesickness settled in, financial difficulties, home renovations taking longer than expected and the kids being slow to make friends had us in fits at different times. But as we learned to lean on God through it all we also grew stronger as a family.  Read more here...