A Moving Story

I had unpacked my boxes... and my heart

Behold, I will make something new. Now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, rivers in the desert. - Isaiah 43 ;18 -19

One Wednesday evening last fall, I walked into a small classroom at the end of the hall at Cornerstone Christian Fellowship where the church Bible studies were being held. As I walked into the classroom, a small group of women greeted me.

"Is this the class for Moving On After Moving In?" I asked.

"Yes, you are in the right place! Come on in and welcome!" Ann, the class leader, said.

Picture this: Just two months prior, I had moved to a new place from across the country. Having lived on the east coast my whole life, I had moved to a strange desert land where grass doesn't naturally grow and the sky is always blue.

I had no family or friends here. My house was full of unpacked boxes. I didn't have a clue who the good doctors were or even where the Wal-Mart was. I was angry at having to leave my beloved home in Raleigh, North Carolina, where we had lived for 20 years, and all my friends and family. My two young adult children, one a rising senior in high school, had to leave all of their friends behind.

Even though we had to come here for my husband's work, I was still angry with him and with the world in general. I was in despair and lost; body and soul.

And then I heard those few little words, "Welcome, you are in the right place." As the weeks would progress, we would study After the Boxes are Unpackedand I would learn that God makes no mistakes and that I was indeed in the right place in more ways than one. He knew better than I how my life would unfold and He was not "out to get me" nor would He abandon me. Indeed, I learned that I am one of his children and that He is with me every minute!

But on that first day, I was not thinking either about God's presence in my life or about his blessings. All I thought was, "Ah... Here are other women just like me." And as I watched Susan relate her stories in her videos during the class, I realized that she was just like me: a Southern gal missing her heritage and her roots.

Ann had greeted me that first day with such a wonderful warm smile, a box of Kleenex was on the table, and I knew I had found kinship and a safe place to fall and begin to pick myself up. Over the coming weeks, we would cry and hug and try to figure out what God's purpose was for us in our respective moves.

It was only much later that I was able to see God's handiwork in my move and in the lives of the other women in the class. Now things don't look as bleak, due in large part to this time of fellowship. I know that if I hadn't had that class, I might still be lying in bed wondering how I was going to face the day. God knew just what I needed and He provided it through this class and those women.