The Beginning of a New Adventure

 Hello my friends!

I hope this post finds you well and having a great week so far. I usually start out really strong on Mondays and then drag a little on Tuesdays. What about you?

David and I had a great weekend. We spent Saturday decluttering the garage, which was very satisfying. 

When I stood at the open garage door and looked at all the boxes, tools, unwanted furniture, bikes, etc., it felt overwhelming, to say the least. But item by item, we either threw it in the trash or put it in the back of the truck for the thrift store, and before we knew it, the entire bed of the truck was full of donations. We still have several weeks worth of doing the same routine, but after seeing how fast it can actually go, I felt encouraged.

We are officially calling this our "pre-retirement" preparation 😅 We are nowhere near retirement, but we are at the beginning stages of setting ourselves up to be in better financial shape and with much less clutter.

We are definitely moving in the near future. By the time we actually move, we will have been here close to a year. Not how we planned it, at all, when buying this house, but this is what life has handed us and we're navigating it with wisdom and prayer. All the reasons for buying this bigger house and all the income we had when we bought it, are gone and we do not want to spend the rest of our lives paying for a home that we aren't invested in. 

As I sat with a friend of mine yesterday who has recently moved, we had a conversation about life and how we never expected to be moving so much in our older years. But life is a journey, for sure, and you just never know what circumstances are going to arise and call for a change. Things like divorce, job loss, illness...these are all things that change the way we live and I think being flexible is healthy.

No one asks for trials to come our way and not every trial demands a drastic change of life, but some do and I think it's healthy to keep open hands and go where the Lord leads you for each season.

I knew some people who once thought they would stay in the home they built, at the job they tolerated, and said they would "never leave" their hometown. Well, guess what? God had other plans and called the man into ministry and they left that hometown, that custom built home, that barely tolerated job and have since lived in multiple places, serving the Lord in multiple churches. 

We can't dig our heels in and say we won't move. Instead, we need to be willing to go when the Lord says go, and know that life is a long line of events, from beginning to end, and we can be like the stubborn mule who fights at every turn OR hold things lightly, knowing if the Lord moves us, it's where we need to be. 

I recently gave out a book (my favorite gift to give) to my daughters-in-love and my friend who just moved. I talked about it HERE, it's called The Nesting Place, and that one book speaks to each season of life that we may find ourselves in:

For my youngest daughter - she is dreaming of her own home and anticipating the memories they will make fixing it up and raising their kids there. I love that season of life!

For my oldest daughter - they just moved into an amazing home and are enjoying the space and beauty of this gift they've been given and all the decorating that comes with finally having that space they've been praying for. 

And for my friend - who's life is going in a direction she never imagined and now finds herself navigating living as a single parent - she needs to read the words and realize that she's not alone and that moving and starting over are hard, and yet, we can make the best of it and still have a beautiful space to call our own, even if it's not what we planned. 

And for David and I...we have faced many trials this past year and sometimes we were hanging on by a thin thread. But we're making it and as so often happens when life gets hard, we are learning and growing and figuring out what matters and what doesn't and we are adjusting to that growth.

The "American Dream" is to own your own home. In fact, the dream has become such an idol, that people are willing to let someone else raise their kids so they can work at jobs they hate, rack up debt they can't even pay and be slaves to the banks for a lifetime...just to own a home. 

We're done with all of that. Home ownership is great, if you actually own it. But is it worth paying for the rest of our lives? Not to us. 

I won't pretend to know what the future holds, but I'm trusting God for the next season and the adventure of doing something new and different. 

We are actually excited about downsizing, about renting, about living in a community where we can walk to the pool in the evenings, meet new people and have minimal responsibilities in our home. And we are excited for the freedom that renting allows. 

I know this will sound like a nightmare to some, and that's ok! If it's not part of your journey, then you won't understand. But this is where life has led us at the moment and we are trusting God to get us to the right place, in the right time, and we'll make the most of it when we get there. 

In the meantime, with every load of "stuff" I take to the thrift store, with every item that I just thought I had to have, with every thing that I let go of...honestly, I feel like a weight has lifted. It's a good feeling.

Whether you're renting or in a paid-for home or still paying for the one you wanted...the main thing is staying open to whatever God brings your way. Be willing to let go of your earthly possessions if he asks you to. Hold them lightly. Don't sacrifice your family for bricks and sticks. Don't work at a job that is killing your soul, just to live beyond your means. It's not worth what you'll be giving up. 

Thanks for attending my lecture 😅 I had no idea where this post was going or leading, but it's what was on my heart today.

Have a great Tuesday, my friends 💚

Until Next Time...

Blessings!