Good Grief

The Small Town family are officially Florida residents!  We arrived one week ago and already we have changed our driver’s licenses, license plates, and registered The Kid for school.  We’ve experienced the climate/weather changes, hired an exterminator, and met new neighbors.  However, our furniture has yet to arrive in Florida.  I don’t have my coffee maker, a bed (we are sleeping on 3 blow up mattresses), a table, or any chair to sit on as I type this post.  Needless to say, our routine has been majorly disrupted!

During the organizing, cleaning, and packing stages the past month in Illinois, I was so busy and focused that I didn’t have any time to experience many sad moments about moving.  The move was all positive about starting a new adventure that God wanted for us.  However, in the past three days, the tears have come.

The tears came when I handed my Illinois driver’s license over to the Florida clerk.  The tears came when we opened our new checking account.  And the tears came when I filled my gas tank at some random gas station.  I’m not afraid of the tears, nor do I try to stop them.  I let them flow freely when they well up in my eyes.  They are an expression of my grief of not having my familiar routines and places in my life. They are a way to express my sadness at the ending of one season of life.  The end of living in a house where I created a safe, consistent, familiar haven for The Small Town family for the past 22 years.  The tears are a reflection of good, and appropriate, grief which cleanse my soul.  If I tried denying the tears, it wouldn’t be good.  I’ve been down the ‘denial of grief’ road before and it isn’t pretty.

I know that the tears will eventually subside.  When the furniture finally arrives, we will have some familiarity in our lives.  We’ll be able to create a new routine and spaces in our new home.  We’ll eventually get used to the climate changes and, we’ll start to have a sense of belonging as we create our new routines.

Until then, we keep reminding each other that we’ve only been here one week.  We remind each other that moving is much like a death and it’s okay to be sad.  We give each other lots of hugs and encouragement and remind each other that it WILL get better.

We are getting out each day to experience new places and people around us.  Everyone we have encountered have been so welcoming, kind and understanding when we tell them we just moved from Chicago, IL, and the house we lived in for 22 years. We’ve gotten recommendations about which restaurants are “must try”, directions to stores, and many warm welcomes.

As I close this post, I’m again reminded of another transition story.  It’s from the Bible, the book of Joshua.

Here’s the background to the story.  A guy named Moses led a group of people, called the ‘Children of Israel (Israelites), out of captivity from Egyptian rulers. He had been the spiritual, administrative, and judicial leader of the people as they wandered around the desert for 40 years.  In the first chapter of the book of Joshua, Moses dies and the leadership of the people is transferred to his assistant, Joshua.  Joshua is about to lead a new generation who will move into a new land that had been promised to Israel by God.  I’m sure as much as Joshua was excited for the new adventure, he had some rough days of doubt as he dealt with the changes in his life.  As God talks to Joshua about his new position, God gives Joshua this reminder and promise to him:

“After the death of Moses, God spoke to Joshua, Moses’ assistant:
“In the same way I was with Moses, I’ll be with you.
I won’t give up on you; I won’t leave you.”

What a great and comforting promise to Joshua … and to me!  We’ve had so many ‘God Moments’ since we decided to move that we know God hasn’t given up on us or left us.

Wherever you are in your relationship with God, you can know that this promise is for you too.  I pray that you will grow in your investigation of God.  Keep seeking God. Keep praying to God.  Keep asking God questions.  Because, God has another promise for you:

“If you seek Me with your whole heart, you will find Me.”

 

Blessings to you my friends…from sunny, and humid, Florida!

 

 

The Small Town Girl

 

 

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