Unexpected Journey
Our family is on an adventure. A God kind of adventure. Not the kind you plan out and look forward to for months, counting down the days with your kids. But a completely unexpected one that has been birthed out of deep pain and loss. And yet God has mercifully poured Himself out in beautiful, grace-abounding ways each step of the way.
After a long season of suffering and trials, the Lord pulled our family away from the life we knew. We loaded as much as we could into storage, signed our kids up for homeschool, and moved out of town to a little one room guest house on my parents’ five acres in the foothills.
From our “home base” in Placerville, we have found a refuge to seek God and find healing. Healing, when the pain is deep, is a very long process. There are ups and downs. There are days of joy and then unexpected days of mourning. And God is there in all of it. With God, we have a safe place to be completely vulnerable and real. He already knows me better than I know myself. I can cry out all my pain and my “why’s” and be met with love and comfort. He knows. He is compassionate. He is our peace, our refuge, our friend and counselor, our everything. In each moment, good or bad, the God of the universe is quietly, powerfully, with us.
It has been a couple of months since we moved. During this time we have taken short trips to different parts of California. What a beautiful state we live in! We are loving the opportunity to explore, fishing and hiking and swimming in this glorious land. For me, the forests of the Tahoe area are so life-giving. I could sit by the river all day, listening to the water rush down the mountain to the next lake, where it stops to rest before moving forward on its journey to the ocean. And there at the oceanside, my husband finds life. Sitting on the beach, the waves crashing, breathing in the salt air, he is revived. As a family we have been able to enjoy all these places together. Those times have been emotionally restful and life-giving for our family.
Now we are embarking on the next part of our God-ordained adventure. Tomorrow we leave for a 10-week road trip across the U.S. All six of us will pile into our RV, and for ten weeks we will share that tiny space, and at the same time, the limitless space of the outdoors. We are humbled and overwhelmed by this opportunity. The thought of being at the places we are studying and teaching our kids about is so exciting. Together we will all be learning more about U.S. history and see for ourselves more of the beauty God has created.
Along the way, we plan to visit churches too. There are churches we have never been to and yet they have ministered to us deeply through the sermons and conferences we’ve been able to receive from because of the internet. What an opportunity to visit them in person and see how the Holy Spirit is working in so many other cities and cultures!
The RV God gave us is truly a gift. When we first realized what God was allowing in our lives, the uprooting and losing the place we called home, we called to mind the life of Abraham. When God first called Abram out of his land, God didn’t tell him where he would be going. In Genesis 12:1 we read “The Lord had said to Abram, ‘Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.’” We knew God was telling us to go, but we didn’t yet know where to. And so we, like Abram, would be vagabonds for a time, following God to a place we didn’t yet know. Within a couple of weeks, the Lord gave us an RV through beautiful generosity, and we suddenly had hope of a fun, adventurous family time.
We have named our RV “Green Pastures.” After such a long period of pain and suffering, we felt God lovingly remind us that He is our Good Shepherd. Psalm 23 says “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul.” What a kind Lord, to make us lie down in green pastures! We are asking God to restore our souls during this season of rest from ministry and the busy-ness of life.
Now there is both excitement and fear of the unknown in our hearts. But we are looking forward to the ways God will meet us, whether it is in the beautiful scenery we take in, or the chaos of things going wrong, He will be faithful. Our God, creator of the universe, who meets us in our brokenness and never withholds love, will be with us in each moment. He is our Rock.
-Andrea