God Brought You Here
My husband, Steve, and I have been married for about three and a half years and we are already living in our fourth house. Moving so much would be a lot for anybody, but it’s especially difficult when it takes every bit of willpower available to you to keep from making spreadsheets about everything. Flying by the seat of my pants is not something I do well. I hitched my wagon to a person with two professions that will keep us moving and keep long-term plans out of my hands.
In many ways, it’s good for me to just let it go. If it’s out of my hands I can’t obsess. It helps me to live in the present and entrust my future to God. That trust doesn’t make it easy, though. We are especially vulnerable in the midst of transitions.
Our unpacking goals are always overly ambitious. We need that new bookshelf. We need bed risers to hide most of our clothes. We need the moving company to come pick up the boxes so we can organize the garage. And then, and then we’ll be completely moved in but not yet settled. Then I’ll feel like I can emerge from my box cocoon and attempt to make friends. I’ll go to spouse events, toddler playtime and Protestant Women of the Chapel meetings and try to be friendly without being overly friendly but just the right amount of un-creepy friendly. Please like me. Please be my friend.
The one thing that keeps me from despairing is that I know that God called me here just as surely as the Army called Steve. God brought me here and God was already here waiting for us. I think that God is providing for us, has already provided for us and will continue to provide. That makes it all a lot less scary.
It can be difficult to be open to transitions. In fact, most of us spend a lot of time trying to avoid change. Maybe if I just dig my heels in a little more, nothing will change, everything will stay the same. Same is good. But God doesn’t call us to lives of stagnation and quite often, God calls us to things, places, people outside of our comfort zones. Remember every single one of the prophets? God sends us places we would never go alone. We go, because we know that we are not alone.
As United Methodists we believe that we are going on to perfection. It’s an intimidating phrase that means we’re working towards sanctification. We’re being made holy and we’re hoping that, one day all of our actions will be motivated by love. Sanctification is a process, a journey. We can’t get there sitting still. So we go where we are called, knowing that God is already there, waiting for us, welcoming us like our new neighbors who just invited us over for dinner.
Discussion Question: How can I be receptive to where God is calling me?
See more devotions from Emily and our other Young Adult writers, or find our how you can become a writer yourself at our By Young Adults for Young Adults devotion page.