Twenty-eight years ago, Keith and I were renting a home in the northwest part of Houston hoping to buy something we could raise our family in. Neither of us had sophisticated taste nor did we particularly trust those who did. I write those words with a grin. My grandmother never trusted people of means. She had endured the Great Depression and was just certain (inaccurately, of course) that anyone who lived this side of it with money most assuredly possessed ill-gotten gain. A permanent, living fixture in my home of origin throughout my childhood, you can imagine that my beloved grandmother, Minnie Ola Rountree, had a great influence on me and, bless God, in so many positive ways. She did, however, leave my thinking somewhat distorted regarding possessions. It has taken most of my adulthood to shake the bone-deep belief that having anything beyond the merest essentials roused the terrible displeasure of God. And, since we Westerners all have more than the merest essentials, Iāve spent much of my life confessing what I possessed as sinful (and, make no mistake, appropriately at times). Of course, thereās balance in all of that and few of us would argue that the prosperity gospel so prevalent among us in this era isnāt cause for earnest repentance. Ā But thatās a discussion for another time and another post and, come to think of it, one we have in fair depth in James: Mercy Triumphs.
In 1983, Keith and I were mostly a one-income family unless you call the pocket change I made teaching aerobics at my church a viable profession. My man was a residential plumber and a pretty new one at that. We had a four year-old and a one year-old that I utterly adored and so desired to stay home with that, prior to my hire at the church gym, I took on a paper route for a whole day. We very much liked the house we were renting but it wasnāt for sale. One day driving around a suburban neighborhood, we passed a French Provincial up for sale that nearly put us in a spell. It was beyond our means and well beyond our personalities. Still, we were mesmerized. Keith said, āBaby, I can get this house for you but only by the skin of my teeth. We wonāt be able to buy a single new piece of furniture for it. Are you good with that?ā I promised that I was and we put money down on it. We were beside ourselves. A few weeks later, just before we were to close on it, Keith walked in our rent house and sat me down at our kitchen table. āHoney, I withdrew our offer on the house.ā
āWhat?? But we put money down on it!ā
āYep, we did. Money we couldnāt spare and wonāt get back but weād have had to spend nearly that same amount of money every single month on a house payment. Itās beyond us. Itās not our house.ā
I cried for about 45 seconds and then was so relieved I could have done a freedom dance. I knew he was right and I was pained but so very thankful he pulled the plug. A number of months later as the bottom dropped out of the oil industry, leaving Houston in one of the biggest buyerās markets of its history, we came upon a house going into foreclosure. It was still a lot for us to spend but we bought it.
And lived in it, fought in it, made up in it, prayed in it, swore in it, ate in it, sobbed in it, laughed in it and tucked children into bed in it for the next 27 years. We were deliriously happy in it. We were woefully miserable in it. You donāt live that long anywhere just one way. Long life happened there, meaning that those walls saw all manner of good, bad, and really ugly. But it snuggled us and hid us and harbored us for nearly thirty years. I hung my childrenās baby pictures on those walls, then their school pictures with no front teeth. Then pictures with mouths full of braces, then pictures in their volleyball uniforms, then, be still my heart, their wedding portraits. Then I hung frames on those brittle walls with grandbabiesā pictures captured within.
For years I planted petunias in the flowerbeds in late Spring and, when I needed an emotional outlet, pulled up weeds with a fiery vengeance. Keith or I one dragged big ugly trashcans to the end of the driveway every Monday and Thursday then back to the garage when they were empty.
I parked a brown and beige station wagon on the broken concrete beside that house when we moved in and didnāt replace it until the wheels and doors threatened to come off.
And I loved it. It was home. As one who has nursed a lifelong aversion to change, I declared over and over again that I would never leave that house and that, when I died, Keith would have to dig a hole in the small back yard and bury me in it. At that very front curb, I waited for the school bus to pick up my girls in the morning and bring them home in the afternoon. At that very curb, my daughtersā boyfriends drove up to get them and a few hours later kissed them goodnight with me peeking through the mini-blinds. At that very curb, the postman dropped decades of utility bills ā many overdue ā and credit card bills that Keith Moore insisted we pay off in full every month no matter how little we had left. And now Iām so glad but then it seemed a tad restrictive for a mom who loved to take her girls to the mall.
That same house could tell terrible tales on me. Oh, what grace God has lavished on us. What mercy and forgiveness! But, amid the roller coaster that has always been Keith and me, and the tears and regrets, oh my word, the prayers that have been prayed in that house are too many to estimate. And certainly not just my own. Many of my girlfriends remember the years when we had monthly prayer breakfasts in that simple home. Weād all meet first in the den where Iād share a devotional then weād break up in small groups and invade every room in the house and intercede for our loved ones and pray for our own needy hearts, all too often crushed by this or that hurt. I am convinced down to my marrow that God used prayer to spare my marriage and family. Keith believes it, too. I was a wreck in so many ways ā still am in certain respects ā but Jesus had convinced me early on in my adulthood that Iād have to have Him to survive with any sanity or life satisfaction. Any victim of early childhood abuse at the hand of a trusted family member will either have copious doses of Jesus or defeat. Plain and simple. No gray for folks like me.
I held stacks of journals in my lap two weeks ago and flipped through some of them and found a number of entries so painful that I could not even read them. I tore out numerous pages and wept before the Lord and thanked Him for His faithfulness and repented again, but wouldnāt have needed to, for such waves of stupidity and faithlessness. I also reminded myself to buy a shredder. Grin. Tucked into many of those journals were pages that also made me smile. Sometimes even laugh out loud. And then Iād cry again for the pure joy of Him.
Jesus has carried me in His own two everlasting arms. Me. Keith Moore. Amanda Moore Jones. Melissa Moore Fitzpatrick. He has carried us and His rock-solid biceps often took the form of brick, mortar and wood there on Blazey Drive in Houston, Texas. Weād think weād come against something we couldnāt overcome, then Heād scoop us up and carry us kicking and screaming to the next season. Not fast enough to suit us, mind you, but eventually. Keith and I would look up and another year had come and gone and we were still married. Only once can I remember us coming to an anniversary where we did not so much as speak. And it was such a short time ago that youād find it shocking. But, once again, Jesus took a needle and thread and sewed us loop by painful loop back together again. Weāre so glad He did.
Then three years ago, I asked Keith if I could tell him something just once and heād never remind me of it again because I was sure Iād change my mind. He said yes but he lied and we both knew it.
āI might someday consider moving.ā
Keithās eyebrows shot up to his hairline and he grinned ear to ear. Heād wanted to get off that busy highway near us for years.
āI said I might. But probably not.ā
There were a number of things that brought me to that willingness. Keith had retired from the plumbing business and the ministry had moved to the very north edge of Houston. Our house was no longer close to our places of work. Our center had shifted. The biggest thing that changed was something unexplainable and almost irrational that finally just unraveled. The less sappy of you will need to skip to the next paragraph. Or maybe just end your reading right here. Goodness knows itās gone on long enough. For those of you enduring this epitaph, I had this thing deep inside of me that insisted we stay in the same house so that the boy weād had for seven years could find his way home and weād all live happily ever after and all that confusion would be explained. Please understand that I knew it was unrealistic at the time but I couldnāt shake the idealism that it had to all work out some way ā my way – and that weād have to get a second chance so we could do a better job.
Iām so happy to tell you that I am in touch with that young man. He is darling just like he was the first time I laid eyes on him. But the fog began to clear several years ago and I was finally able to accept that the picture I had in my head was pretend. It was from a storybook etched in the mind of a romantic. Not real life. He was an adult and God had different plans for him and for us. Plans that I have to believe are for the good. We see him on occasion and Iām so thankful for the open door but we seem not to be meant to reestablish those same exact bonds.
Keith took that one tiny confession ā āI might someday consider movingā ā and jumped on it with both size 13 wides. It would be several years before weād get his parents settled in the country and make arrangements to join them.
On December 14th ā just 12 days ago ā a moving van pulled up to my house of 27 years. Amanda, Annabeth, Melissa and I watched them empty those busy, busy rooms one box at a time. By the time that abode was back to the hollow shell weād seen all those years ago when we first walked through it, Amanda had gone home to pick up Jackson from school and only Melissa and I were left. It was the breakfast room that got us. We stared at the spot where our dining table used to be and both burst into tears. Then each of us (crying audibly, mind you) went around the house and closed the shutters one by one and then we turned out the lights. Melissa walked on out the front door and I lagged behind for just a moment and got on that floor one last time. Face down. For the 15 thousandth time.
And I thanked God.
He did not abandon us there. Not for one minute.
We are happy out here in the country. This morning two deer were in our back yardā¦and lived to boast about it. Keith has promised not to kill anything here but roaches and rodents and I intend to hold him to it even though we did find wild hog tracks not far from our front door. That husband of mine has labored with all his might for months on end to make this a home for his wife. He is not a man who finds it easy to express his love with words. He expresses his love through works. And I receive this new season of our lives together with joy and with tears drying. But the thing is, I didnāt want to rush right in and start jabbering to you about the new. Not until I paid proper tribute to the old. It wouldnāt have been fitting. It deserves the dignity of a decent good-bye. It cradled a half-crazy family for nearly thirty years like it was happy to have us. Thank you for offering me the space and patience to pen so long a so long. I needed it in the worst way.
By the way, Iāve already told Keith that this is the last time Iām ever moving and that he might as well dig his boots in this dirt. After all, Iām no math-wizard, but in 27 more years Iāll be, letās see, 81 years old. That is, if the Lord has withheld me a glimpse of His face.
And Iāll let you know how I feel about moving then.
By way of benediction, and just in case somebodyās heart needs to hear it, this place doesnāt completely do it for me any more than the one I drove away from on December 14th. One of my new appliances is already broken and the dogs get ticks out here. It’s so wonderful out in these sticks but it’s a long shot from perfect. I have a longing for something I still havenāt found. My guess is that you do, too.
These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.Ā If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared for them a city.
Ā
Hebrews 11:13-16
I loved every word of this. So. Much.
I was soooooo hungry for a post from Beth and she did not disappoint! Thank you Beth for letting us in on your move and I know many join me in wishing all of you tons of blessings and memories in this new home!
Dear Beth,
I love how your posts seem like a personal letter to each one of us. Like your sharing your heart with someone who is so dear to you…Whether your speaking to thousands or just sharing your thoughts here you always have a way of making us feel so individually loved. Thank you for that. Moving at Christmas time? Oh my you are a brave soul! I pray your new house will be filled with the love of Christ and be a refuge to all who enter. Can I share a little something with you? I asked Jesus for a little something this Christmas, nothing material just a little something that maybe only I would know came from His heart. My dearest friend in the whole world and I were about to sit down at a restaraunt on Christmas Eve and an older gentleman whom I’d never seen before walked up to me and looked me in the face and said stay beautiful okay? I must have turned 20 shades of red..and maybe it’s silly to think that was from Jesus…but it sure was special to this girl who has always felt like such an ugly duckling…Hope you don’t mind me sharing. Love ya.
So sweet, Sister. Yes, I get that. Thank you for sharing it.
Beth,
on a similar note i would like to thank you for being so open. you told a story in Loving Well about when God asked you to brush the elderly man’s hair and you felt what i call the pressure of the Holy Spirit to do it. Another time in the Patriarchs you described a story of pink flowers falling down all around you when you were on a walk and how you knew that was from God because you love pink so! these things happen to me too and the devil likes to TRY to make me doubt. he poses the same question he posed to Eve – are you sure God said _____. God has used your stories like these to strength my faith. So thank you dear friend(i just feel like you are!) love, kimberly
Oh Beth — how beautiful and heart wrenching. God is so good and so faithful. Thank you for sharing. May your days in this new home be filled with much love.
God bless you & your hubby in your new home.
My husband and I are currently preparing for our next adventure in liife… And it may call us to be moving over the next few years several times. This was a helpful reminder that I’ll always long for something more – and won’t get it this side of heaven!
Thank you for sharing. I’m in the same season of life and so much of what you write touches my heart. Often I feel that it just me that perhaps I am broken in some way. I am lost without Him. I have that longing for something more and He reminds me that I am an alien in the land, I will not find my true home here. We are planning to move from the home we raised our sons in – such mixed feelings. The romantic in me wants to keep this home for our sons to return to, however, we raised strong independent men and they have made their homes in other areas of the country. God is so good. You have encouraged me so – I’m not broken – just a women walking into a new season and He is faithful to guide me through.
Beth, I just last month moved my girls from a home I bought on my own to an apartment due to financial reasons. Moving and single motherhood are not my favorite combination. I think we’re both learning the same thing—we won’t be home until we are….
Beautiful! I cried, laughed, held my breath at one point, related my own experience, and cried again at the beauty of the ending. Bless you and your new home!
What a wonderful post. I had seen your tweets recently and knew about the move but really enjoyed you sharing your heart. I pray you will have many, many more years in this new home. God bless you and all your family.
Thank you so much for sharing this post. I’m a young stay-at-home mom of twins and often wonder when our family will truly feel settled…so much of that feeling comes from being at home. I appreciate your open heart and encouraging words about change. š
You know Beth, so many have had changes in their lives recently….through unemployment, divorce, property repossession. So many have had to change careers, jobs, cities and states to find another place to plant their feet in the next chapter of life. Whether it is planned or not, change is never an easy thing to endure. It is what makes life interesting though. I remember all the ones that were called to move around in scripture….my goodness, I only hope that if the Lord asked me to move I would be open to it and the blessings that would follow because of my obedience.
Good luck and God bless as you undertake this new chapter in life. You will do just fine….once you take hold of change, you take ownership of it. We have seen this in the past few years with such changes as your ministry, grandchildren, changing churches, etc. the list is endless as it is in so many lives currently. In order to be blessed, we MUST obey (which oddly enough means submitting/listening to/standing with/supporting our partners in life.
Thank you for sharing this mama Beth. The best part for me was reading that you got on the floor and prayed one last time before leaving. I don’t think I can count how many times I would wake up as little girl, come down the stairs and find my mom prostrate before the Lord in prayer. Praise God for godly moms and a godly legacy. I was looking for a encouragement and came here today so I am glad to have been able to read this today. Thanks!
Oh Beth – as I am sitting in my NEW home for the first night tonight reading your blog my heart is smiling for you. A move is a huge undertaking, but it’s such fun to turn a ‘house’ into your home! Blessings to you as you get settled into your new space!
Oh, thank the Lord I hopped on here while I ate my leftover turkey sandwich. The kiddos are in the next room enjoying a tacky Christmas sweater party. And three, make that four of them are wearing My sweaters. Okay, yes, I was alive and purchasing sweaters in the late 80’s.
I’m not sure which part of your post squeezed my heart the most, but probably it was the precious mention of your young man. I feel honored anytime you can share a glimpse into this part of your life. I don’t take it lightly. I nearly squealed with delight at the news that you’re in touch with him. I could just cry thinking about it, but those dear teens wandering around the next room in questionable apparel may not understand.
I enjoyed a unexpected phone call on Christmas Eve from a dear loved one. I cried twice, much to my consternation. It just moved parts of me that run too deep. My 18yr old son was nearby and kept mouthing to me, “Be strong.” When that didn’t work, he flexed his muscle for me. Boys will be boys š No, I don’t get that dear lady back in my life the way I want, but I thank God for every little glimmer of grace I see.
Glad for you beyond words, Beth.
Dearest Beth,
I can’t imagine ANYONE skipping even one word of your post. I had read on Amanda’s blog that you had moved and enjoyed the picture of your sweet Anna Beth in your “old” yard for the last time so I am really happy to get all the details from you. My husband and I have owned three houses in our 32 year marriage and we have ALWAYS moved in late Nov. or December, once in a snowstorm. We must be NUTS. Loved the scripture reminder that this is not our home….but until I get a Heavenly, Clutter free Home I am going to try and live by these words I recently read in a magazine article : Have nothing in your home that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.
Wishing you and Siestaville a joyous end to 2011 as we anticipate God’s leading in 2012. See you in January!
Oh Dear Beth- What an absolutely beautiful testimony!
Dear Beth,I know of what you speak: LETTING GO! In 2003 we left the home we loved; the home we built as young marrieds from a house plan I drew up, where we brought our newborn home from the hospital, raised our son, laughed, cried, fought, prayed, and had so many memories for 16 years. We moved across country, rented a house for 7 months, moved again to a fixer-upper we remodeled just so, and then 2 years later moved back to Florida to another house a month before our only child was leaving for college. That was 3 moves in 3 years. It felt like a lot of losses. And it taught me that this world really is not my home. I still long for the big kitchen I had for 2 years, but far more, for my heavenly home. But I did grieve leaving that first house, and had to make a scrapbook about it to help me through my grief. It’s not such a bad thing to realize this world really isn’t our home. Letting go is kind of cleansing. Nothing of value is lost with the Lord.
Thanks also for the little update on Michael. For those of us who have read and heard a lot of your words, we understand why it was hard to let go of the dream. We are so glad God is not finished with that young man, or with any of us. God bless you in your transitions.
Thank you so much for your honesty and your “ordinary” history that points to GOD’s EXTRAORDINARY care and hand in your life! It is just like you to be real and candid and authentic! THANK YOU! Your life has blessed me and mentored me in a way NO OTHER HAS! HONESTLY, you have been mentoring me for years, and I have never met you in person…although I have prayed to many times. (I relate to the housing situation b/c I have lived in the same house over 27 years! 5 years from 16-21 years old and then as an adult we bought my “childhood home” from my parents at market value and have lived here for 24 years…our 2 sons have only known this home…have 26 and 22 year old sons…our marriage is a miracle…only still married b/c of CHRIST JESUS!)I am watching “It is a WONDERFUL LIFE” with my husband of 30 years while I also read your blog. How you have been like a George Bailey to CHRISTIANS throughout the world…. just when I (we) think there is no way…GOD uses you and you show us the way = JESUS by bringing FORTH JESUS/HIS WORD AS OUR WAY again! Thank you! We just went to see WAR HORSE this afternoon. We needed a rest day. What a day we have had… So feel like that War Horse at times, in the midst of a war that never ends and if GOD does not do supernatural interventions over and over,…..knowing He has a plan and the yoke of the past that almost killed me will be what GOD uses to save me and others… HIS SOVEREIGNTY IS AMAZING!!! THANK YOU again. Happy New Year. May you be ENCOURAGED at how the LORD has worked to bless me and so many others so many times! GOD always has a “Clarence” to help us see what a difference our lives have made through CHRIST our HOPE. You have made all the difference for so many as the LORD has anointed you to do so! Thanks again!
Tears. I so “get” how you feel. We moved in September after living the longest in our previous house (not quite 27 years!) where two of my four children were born. We moved out of the city to the country…a big transition. I was struggling with discontent, which the struggling of peeved me more than the discontent itself. The new place just didn’t feel like home.
Then Thanksgiving came. The Lord organized circumstances for me to host the holiday meal after a 12 year break. That helped.
Then holiday decorations went up. It started feeling a little more like home. Then Christmas morning with my married kids coming back HOME to be with us. So today, this new farm feels more like home and the discontent has abated some. There are still curtains to change and organizational issues to fix, but I LIVE here and I’m thankful.
Thanks for helping me realize I’m not alone.
Beth,
Was so good to read of your saying goodbye to you old home. I did the same last year when we moved from the home we had moved into 22 years before when our youngest was not yet 1 — after living in 7 other homes in the previous 14 years. Our house was across the street from the house my husband grew up in, it was the house our boys really grew up, where I could stand on the drive and watch them ride their bikes to the school at the end of the street where their Dad had gone to school, where there were a thousand pick up ball games, where they all learned to drive, in the neighborhood where our boys were all paperboys. I too was the last to leave the house and had to lay facedown on the floor one last time to give praise to God for providing for us and loving us in that home all those years. I thought I was the only one who would do something like that, nice to know I was in good company! We moved to our retirement home in the neighborhood I grew up in, near my Mom to help care for her. We have deer in our backyard too along with all kinds of birds and animals. No boars thank goodness. Blessings to you in your new home and in the new year!
This Post brought on the “ugly cry”. Please tell me you know what I am talking about:). We still live in our first home. I brought both my children home from the hospital and laid their precious heads down to sleep for the first time in this house. Whenever my husband brings up moving; I feel sick.
Home on this earth is where God places us. I know you and your family are already starting to make more beautiful memories in your new home!
Thank you for your ministry and the blessing it brings!
Kelly
I am so glad to hear from you about the move. I had read about it on Amanda’s blog and was so surprised. For those of us who have savored your Bible Studies and devoured your friendship; we knew how much that house meant to you. I was always humbled by the fact that you had lived in the same home for so many years even though you it was possible for you to purchase a newer, bigger one. Anyway, when I read that on her blog I wanted to talk to you about this :). I even thought that maybe since you have hired Lindsee that you wouldn’t communicate as much anymore on the blog. I AM SO HAPPY TO HEAR FROM YOU.
Thank you for letting us be a part of this new phase of your life. I pray that you will have many memories made in this new house and that you will find peace out there in the country. Bless you, Beth. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Beautiful:)
Beautifully stated – thanks for sharing! So much so it brought tears to my eyes…tears remembering each home we left throughout my childhood. I have fond memories from 4 different homes (we moved cities each time Dad accepted a promotion) and my parent’s home has changed another 3 times since I left home for college. Moving teaches you that the presence of loved ones makes a home, not the bricks & mortar. Your heart holds the memories and new ones are just around the corner! Just a new chapter in the Moore family – enjoy the journey…
You are one of the best storytellers I have ever known. This is a fitting story to end one journey and to begin a new one. Love you Beth, and thanks for sharing…
Thank so much for sharing this with us. What an amazing testimony of God’s grace.
Looking forward to sharing this new journey with you.
Love y’all dearly!
May God bless you, keep and nurture you, reveal Himself to you and restore you in all ways according to His will for your lives, our dear Beth and Keith. May every Christmas in your new home be as special as this one. Many hugs, Linda
Thanks so much for sharing your story. I, too, was curious after reading on Amanda’s post something about the move. The way you so appreciate everything the Lord does for you and your family inspires me to be more appreciative. Thank you also for mentioning Michael, my heart is so tender towards him and I am happy you are in contact with him. You are able to put to voice so many things I feel but can’t verbalize! You are a sister to so many of us–God is honored and glorified through you! I hope you love living in the country–I am married to a crop farmer, and we love it!
I just love this post, Mrs. Beth. I have a post buried in my blog about my little family not being able to sell a recliner…the same one we sat in as newlyweds, the same one I slept in when I couldn’t lay flat with a big pregnant belly, the same one I nursed my two babies in and the one they watched Dora in…well, you get the picture. We bought a new one and were all ready to let go until 3 of us were in tears over it and sold the NEW one to a set of dear friends the next day. It’s still sitting in my living room. I’m glad you are enjoying your new house and I’m sure it will feel like home very soon.
Beth
I have loved every single sweet word your precious hands have written. For I too have spent 27 years in my house that through many a toil and strain I call my home. I have reared 6 children here and now 2 grandchildren come. The memories whether laughter or sadness, blessings or pain it’s who I am and have created throughout these 27 years. I cry just imaging a move. So I do understand what the move means to you and how hard it must have been to come to that very decision, but the good news is God knew, He knew the very moment, the very hour and prepared you along the way, to make it a little more bearable.
I too have been thinking it is time, not quite there, but God knows when I trust Him with all my heart and soul just as you are doing dear Beth.
God will sustain and keep you and your family and just think of the beautiful memories you and your precious family will make along the way.
Love you
Alexia
I am sitting here in tears over time waiting/wondering if he would come home. I understand maybe on the smallest scale. In bringing our boy home, I remembered so many of your poems/writings about yours. A mama’s heart is an amazing place.
Love you,
Debra Parker
Debra, I have thought about you guys many times and wondered what similarities (in wonderful ways, I hope) we share. We need to have a cup of coffee someday. Bringing in an older child with pain and abandonment in his or her past is not for those stirred by romantic notions. It’s for those doing the expressed will of God. That would be you and Earnest, Debra. I will be blessed to watch that son of your heart grow up. And his two brothers and one sister. Grin.
Oh Beth. This was beautiful, and so real. Just….thank you.
Wooo… well, your post produced a torrent of tears that are yet too tender to tell the tale of just yet. “Letting go”…. tis been a season of that for us this year in a whole multitude of scenarios. How sweet, though, of the glimpse of the memories you shared. It’s as the song sings, if only the walls could talk….. š No doubt, your new walls will love to encase you and all of yours…. and love having the honor of where your knees will now kneel for their prayers. May God greatly bless your newest home!!!
We have never owned a home and have rented the same place for the past ten years. Have added 5 little ones since we have lived in this humble 3 bedroom doublewide trailer! Lordwilling…we can buy a house one day and grow with our kids in it. But, if not, so be it. He will provide nonetheless. He is so good to us…..thanks for sharing with us on the journey to your new home. Praying God will meet you there. ..just the same!
Wow! That was precious to read. I read my husband the last paragraph and scripture through tears. You wrapped that up PERFECTLY. I’m longing for that city too….as I sit in my lovely home.
As one of the sappy ones who read til the end, thank you. Thank you for sharing your pain, your joy and your Jesus with us. I have prayed for tou through this move, as one who doesn’t like change either I prayed you would not only be comforted but be do caught up in making new memories that the pain would be diminished. As usual, He is faithful!
Beth,
I truly love the way you write. You have such a gift!! Thank you for sharing it with all of us. I wanted to share that I am currently going through a new season of life as well. I just purchased my first home (still trying to make it feel like “home”) and had my first Christmas Eve with all my family (30+). It was quite a memorable experience. āŗ I have to say that I do not do well with change either. I am one to shy away from it but the Lord is showing me that change can be good. It can allow us to see Him in a new way. In a way we may not have seen Him if things would have remained the same…
May God Bless you and your family on this new journey in your life.
P.S. I loved the scripture verse at the end.
I love your moving story! I have to say, though, the entire time I was reading it I was thinking about your den floor with the Daniel timeline in permanent marker. I was wondering what the new owners think of that???
Four years ago, I discovered, that I too, have an aversion to change. My husband decided we needed to move after living in our one and only home for 22 years. I had the worst 6 months after that declaration. I underwent gum grafting surgery on10 teeth that nearly did me in, followed by my favorite aunt dying. When I got off the plane from her funeral, I went to see my Dad on my way home and he lived only three weeks after that. A few weeks later, we found a home and sold our other one. We moved everything into the basement so I could bring things upstairs one box at a time to unload. Three days after moving it all in, our girls went on a trip with their grandma and my husband went on a fishing trip. The basement flooded leaving me to deal with the devastation by myself. Shortly after that, our youngest went to coleus leaving us empty nesters. It took me longer than it should have to get over that season. My pity party was the pits.
But I loved what you wrote…that God did not abandon you there, not for one minute. He didn’t abandon me either. And now that I am in another tough season, your words are a great encouragement to me.
Today, my family and I went to see a movie and I spent the majority of it with my eyes closed saying scripture over and over to myself. I am so thankful that the Lord gave us His word so we can turn to Him and His promises in an instant when we need His comfort and care most.
i am SO glad you told the tale. i saw on amanda’s blog that you moved and to say i was SHOCKED was an understatement. i had almost decided it was just too painful to post about. i cried right along with you. however, can’t wait to see pics of your new place. ahhh the country, nothing like it. congrats and condolences!
oh, i also wanted to say how happy it made my heart to know you are in touch with your boy. can’t even remember if it was a bible study or a lpl event where i learned of it, years ago, but i have wondered for years about that. love you all! thanks for sharing your life with us!
Oh Beth. We’ve lived in my little 2 bedroom, one bathroom house for 27 years this March. We’ve raised 2 daughters here…and my step-daughter as well (3 girls all in one little bedroom) I’ve often wondered how I will ever leave here. Just last week, I looked at the hardwood floor in the bedroom my girls shared, and saw the path worn in in the wood finish. I thought about the little feet that crawled out of the crib in that room…how many times those girls walked that path…and I burst into tears. (My 25 year old baby girl moved into a place of her own this past fall, and will be getting married in May)
I have prayed often that God will enable us to move into a house with a little more space for our growing crew of spouses and grandchildren to gather for family events. But I’ve wondered how I could ever leave the memories behind. Thanks for the example…I can do it, if He provides the place. It’s not really possible financially…but with Him all things are possible.
Thank you!
Dear Beth,
I can so relate – we moved from our home in Chicago to Florida 8-1/2 years ago – a home that my husband’s great grandfather had built when he came over from Sweden, a home where our sons were the 5th generation to live in it uninterrupted, a home that 15 years ago I said I would never move from. However, the Lord let us know that HE was in control and it was time to move. We found our new home in an area in Florida the Lord led us to and we can’t imagine living anywhere else now!!!
Praying for you as you settle into your new home.
So sweet. A perfect tribute to decades of life well (if not hard sometimes) lived. I can relate on a much smaller level, having been in the military and moved every few years. Transitions can be hard can’t they? So bittersweet in so many ways… But you’re right, God is so faithful to meet us and exceed our expectations of what He’s doing next. Blessings on your new home!
I am so glad I decided to ‘catch up’ on some of the blogs I dearly love (but rarely seem to have time) to read.
I’ve always tried to tell my girls that life is a series of changes and how happy we are and how successful we are is really dependent on how well we deal with change – and that it all comes down to faith in our Sovereign’s love and care for us.
You and your family are His beloved, and you will make so many beautiful memories in your new home, but, girl, can I ever feel your ‘pain’ about leaving the place you’ve raised your children. I lived in my first ‘adult’ home for only 16 years – but without the long story, the end of my marriage meant the girls and I would move. I had to find a new floor to lay face down on to exercise my faith, and ask for more of it. Change may be the stuff of life, but the stuff of life can be hard…and sweet…all at the same time. Blessings on every nook, cranny and even broken appliance of your new home!
Wow. I’ve wondered for years if you were holding out for “your boy”. Very cool. Thank you for encouragement, in Christ.
Oh my, Beth…. I have just done this after 27 years! My husband has gone to heaven and it was time to move through the old normal and into a new normal. With God’s Grace, it was time. Your precious words made my heart cry in agreement. You will be in my prayers for your “new normal”.
Bless you for sharing,
Chaplain Sue Powell
Thank you for inviting me along to the final walk through of your home these last decades. Beautiful, prayerful, heart warming! I feel like these many years of taking classes with you has made this a chapter of closure for ‘our’ journey together as sisters in Christ.
Thank you for sharing with us. I savored every word — didn’t want to see them end. So happy for you and Keith and the new adventures coming in this new country season — please share with us as you can. Much, much love to you, Kathie
Beth, Thank you for being so real. It gives me hope, so much hope. My Grandma got to move to her real home on Christmas Eve. Isn’t it beautiful? She lived 92 years in this earthly home and after battling alzheimer’s for the past 10 years, we were more than happy to release her into Jesus’ arms.