Finding Fun in Town

We have driven the streets in our town time and time again, yet we never seem to stop…take things in and enjoy what we have. How many times have you taken the same trip to the office or the grocery store and you never noticed the beautiful trees that line that street, or the lake or pond with little creatures wondering about? How many times have you taken for granted the beauty around you?

We do it all the time.

I want to tell you a little story about how God helped me to see that I was overlooking the little things that were right in front of me. I was missing everything and hoping for what I already had.

You see, we were moving to another state, Tennessee to be exact. The plan was all laid out and we were ready to go. The only thing we needed was my husband’s boss on board. He was pretty sure with some convincing it was possible that we could make the move, but it wasn’t definite.

And this is what happened instead…

The boss said NO. We were confused because we really thought that our dream was coming true, we thought we were going to be moving to God’s country, where we could enjoy all of God’s creation. We were living in a fantasy.

You see…God had other plans for us. During this time I sat down (as did my husband) and I asked God where he wanted us to be. I begged him to give me the answers I desperately searched for, to show me the path he wanted me to lead my family down.

And He did.

Suddenly I started asking questions about a school in a neighboring town, the town closer to our family and friends. I wasn’t sure why I was so interested in this school because my children were already established in a school and things were fine. We had no intentions of moving to the town the school was in and it was a private school with fees that definitely were not in our budget. Even though I knew all of these things I could not quit thinking about this school. I honestly think my husband was going a little nuts from my constant talk of the school. So, he reluctantly agreed to tour the school. We were unsure of what we were doing and if we would even send our children.

Guess where my children now go to school? You guessed it! They attended the new school all year and it has been absolutely wonderful for our whole family. Not only have my children fit in wonderfully, but so have my husband and I. In the meantime, we realized that we needed to move closer to the school. This is the town my husband grew up in and we had once lived in.

None of this was part of our plan. We had invested a lot of money into our other home and we weren’t quite ready to put it on the market as we were still finishing up some projects, but we did it. We started looking at homes, homes that were way out of our price range. The bank said we could afford these homes, but we knew it was a huge stretch, especially since we were now paying for our children’s schooling. There was one house that was on the market from the time we first started looking until the time we closed on our new home. I just kept thinking that this was our home. It had to be because it was the only home that didn’t sell the minute we went through it. (Really, every home we loved sold immediately after we went through it. Our realtor joked and said we were her good luck charm and she needed to bring us through every house she wants to sell.)

Again, I asked God what I should do. It wasn’t until after I asked him while driving home one day that it hit me. That huge expensive house was not the house for us. It was more of a test. Will we choose the expensive house that is out of our means or will we look for what is really important. You see, God has had a plan for us the whole time. It just takes a little asking and obedience to truly follow out that plan.

A house came on the market. A foreclosed home in pretty bad shape. It was quite funny because my husband and I were looking at the listing at home and we both looked at one another and said, “That’s it…that’s the house!” We hadn’t even seen this house yet, but we knew it was going to be our house. God has given us the gift of being able to see the beauty in the worst of conditions in these homes. (We flipped a pretty bad home earlier in the year).

Before we even arrived to this house we told our realtor that we thought this was “the one”. I think she thought we were crazy because we hadn’t even looked at the property. We got to the home, walked through and wrote an offer on the spot. That’s it…it was ours!

So tonight as I was driving through town I decided that I was going to take my boys by a few local stops. I want them to enjoy the beauty that is around them. I want them to see what God has given us. We may always long for the mountains, but this is home and it is where God wants us to be. Some day that may change, but until then we will follow His path and do what He has planned for us.

More to Come on Raising My 5 Sons…