Movin’ On
Jan
2
Written by:
1/2/2012 2:06 PM
Change and mobility are very much the warp and woof of our times. Do you have an adventuresome spirit that welcomes all things new? Or do you sometime wish things were more stable and predictable? Maybe sometimes one, sometimes the other?
My husband and I have moved many times. Some moves involved a whole new culture and language. A couple times we didn’t know where we were going next. Once we sat a table in our apartment in France feeling a bit homeless. We had just been told that we weren’t getting the visas we’d been assured, and that we had about five weeks to get out of the country. My eyes fell upon a bookmark we’d just received at church. It said in French, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9) How very good of our Lord to place it there!
We are now retired and hope to stay put, but we are not supposed to feel too settled and cozy in this world. Hebrews chapter 11 tells us about how the heroes of faith wanted a homeland. They did not want to go back to the idolatrous land from which they had come, but they wanted to feel settled. Because they were willing to go on with the Lord, sometimes not knowing where they were going, He was pleased with them. He likes the pilgrim spirit. And He was preparing a place for them. It would be a place of rest and security and perfect peace.
He is preparing such a place for us, too. (John 14:1-4) We just need to keep moving on in faith.
Are you uneasy about future unknowns? Are you facing a move or a major change?
This is from a favorite poem:
I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year
‘Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.’
And he replied, ‘Go into the darkness, and put your hand into the hand of God
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way!’
Tips:
Abide in the Lord. He’s promised to be with you.
Keep in touch with family and forever friends.
Establish good family traditions that you can practice anywhere.
Remember that, for believers, heaven is home.