Eight hours of driving gives one plenty of time to think and cry. As if three days of extended goodbyes with all the tears, weren't enough.
Following an emotional, and tear filled goodbye I was still admittedly, in denial. Somewhere on the highway en route to Syracuse, the tears came. It wasn't so much the sadness of leaving the life we knew, but that the people we adored weren't going to be part of our new life here. And that had me thinking.
Why are we so willing to sacrifice all that we know and love for this new adventure?
Is a career opportunity enough of a reason? To some, certainly it is.
But not to us.
If you know anything about Nelson and me, you know our faith is what defines us. Our decisions as a couple aren't made based on WHO we are, but on WHOSE we are.
When Nelson learned of this job prospect, it brought with it, many questions and concerns. Our first instinct was to pray. It went that way for months, each answered prayer making it more and more clear which path to follow. We never prayed for what we wanted (because truthfully, we were content with either outcome) because our goal was always to follow God's lead- out of obedience.
To those that don't know Christ, this notion of obedience to God, is foreign. I was created BY him and FOR him, that I might bring him glory. You could think of it like this: when you have a child, you train that child to behave in a certain manner, out of obedience to you. If you go out to a restaurant, you expect that child to keep their voice down, use their utensils, and speak clearly and with eye contact to the server. If a stranger were to compliment you on the good behavior of that child, you'd be proud, right? It's the same way with God. When we obey him, he is delighted.
It would have been SO easy to stay right where we were in Oakville. We had it all with our church, school, neighborhood and friends. Doing what's right and doing what's easy are often two different things. But obedience can force you to sacrifice. It's really that simple. God made it clear time and time again, that he was calling us to New Jersey. How do you know someone is trustworthy? You look at whether or not they keep their promises. My God keeps his promises 100% of the time. No way was I going to doubt him on this one.
What follows from that obedience is blessing. And that's where the money is, friends.
Even if it meant leaving the best of friends, uprooting our children and taking a myriad of risks- at the end of the day, none of this is about us. It's about serving an awesome God who has it all figured out, down to the last finite detail. Thus far, he's knocked our socks off in the blessing department. I can't wait to share some of them with you! And that's a promise.
