fresh flowers for July 1

Moving – Life and Death?
©2005, Lani Wiens
a fresh flowers original

This week has been a slightly more restful week. The whirl of school is over. The open house was on the weekend. I can see the end of calendar days packed with writing and appointments. My husband and I had a lovely chat the other night and had come to the same conclusion in our own space – that we were still on the right track with the whole house thing even though it’s frustrating and slow and nothing like we thought it would be.

This morning I was commiserating with the Lord and wondering what the big deal was anyway. It’s just a house, not a life and death thing, the fate of the world doesn’t rest on whether or not we move, so why does it feel like such a big deal? The Lord broke into my thoughts right there. It IS a big deal, it IS life and death, the fate of someone’s world DOES rest on this transaction. There is a territorial battle that is going on for the land that we occupy and the land that our friends have occupied. Then He brought to mind the scripture in Acts 17. This is what it says:

Vs 26-28 “From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being.”

Then He reminded me of a childhood friend. We went to school together, played in the band together and then my family moved and I didn’t see her again until she showed up one day at a ladies event in my church. We were shocked to see one another. Over time she, her husband and her boys have all crossed over from death to life and are now bringing life to others that they meet. The reason that she came to life is because of the people who live in the house that we are hoping to move in to. God made sure they were living there so that my friend would come to know Him. The reason that any of us lives in any given place is so that the kingdom of God is advanced. We are here to bring life to those we meet in the communities and circles that we live and move in. God will take us from place to place so that His mission is accomplished.

Is the work that God planned for us done in this place? We have no idea. Do we love this community and the people we have met here? Absolutely. Yet we are just as happy to go to this new place if that is where God is asking us to be for the next season of our life. We will continue to learn the lessons that He has for us in this process. And in the end we know that His ‘plans are to prosper us and not to harm us, plans to give us a hope and a future.’

Happy Canada Day!!!. I’m sure glad that my grandparents made that move!

Lani