Peace in the Storm

Have the past months been easy? Doubt it! Like I said….bittersweet….not easy. But are all good things easy? No, they’re not. Moving to Texas has been an experience I would describe with the well-known phrase, “peace in the storm”. We have faced great difficulties within our hearts, but yet at the same time have experienced the peace that comes from knowing you are being led by the Lord. Quite honestly I never knew moving away from everything that I’ve known my whole life would be so difficult. During the time of preparing to move I had created a great fantasy movie in my head as to what life would be like. (I do that…fantasize…and it usually sets me up for a big ole let down.) Well, needless to say, I forgot to use imperfect, sinful people and a fallen world in my fantasy movie. Ouch!

Like I said, the difficulties have been a matter of the heart not the physical. The lessons the Lord has taught me personally could only be learned by moving me a thousand miles away from my comfort zone and everything that was familiar and safe to me. Boy He knows just what He’s doing and just how to get your attention. As I share some of the lessons He has so graciously taught me, you will begin to see how they are things I would have had a hard time learning had I remained where I was. I can’t express enough how the Lord has so tenderly and specifically cared for us over these past months and how grateful I am for His abounding grace accessible to me at all times.

Bittersweet beginnings...

New beginnings….how bittersweet they are. It was exciting to think about “starting over” in a “new” place. I never in my life had a significant thought about Texas. The only thing related to Texas I ever really had a thought about was the city of Dallas…whenever I heard it mentioned throughout my life I would be reminded of the show my mom use to watch when I was little.


Well, not anymore. We now call the Dallas/Fort Worth area our home. We live just north of Dallas…minutes away…in a town called Prosper. What moved us?....the Lord of course! Without going into all the details leading up to the move, let me share with you just a couple highlights. At the time, we had been driving almost an hour to a church in Winona Lake, Christ’s Covenant Church, that was in the “adoption” process with the Sovereign Grace Ministries. Travis had prayed and searched for jobs in that area to move us closer, but that wasn’t God’s plan. The Lord confirmed our felt need to be under the Sovereign Grace Ministries and He did this by bringing a job offer to Travis that would move us a thousand miles away from family and friends, but yet even closer to a Sovereign Grace Church. Now, I don’t recall telling the Lord that moving a thousand miles away from absolutely everything that was familiar to me just to get me closer to a strong local church would be okay, but I guess I get to see once again that His ways are not ours. He answered our prayers and surprisingly I am delighted He answered the way He did. There is a peace and comfort that comes when He confirms His will for you as you are attempting to discern His will for your life.