The first month of rest is almost over. So far it doesn’t really feel like rest. There were still so many loose ends to tie up. The season had to change, really change. When we moved in, it was still summer. There were birthdays to celebrate, parties to go to and lots of clinking of glasses. And then, of course, there was the move. Thirty years coming for Jim, and even though we took it in stages, it was still overwhelming to accomplish.
So. Much. Stuff.
I’m pretty sure we threw out things that we actually needed and will now have to buy again. We were in a bubble, so overwhelmed by the gift of this new place that none of the stresses of moving seemed to really matter.
Except maybe the exhausted part.
Even the closing being moved from the 13th to the 16th to the 23rd didn’t really phase us. I was asked more than once what we would do if they backed out of the deal. For the first time, maybe ever, I choose to really trust God and not panic, I chose to just rest in His faithfulness, knowing that He would make a way for us. Enough with the “what if’s” and losing my peace before there was even cause to do so. “What if” we just trusted God and didn’t freak out over possibilities? That would be a good plan.
And so we did. Not freak out.
Instead we decorated the lake house for fall, we kept celebrating and thanking God, we bought a new kayak, we paddled at sunset and had celebrations with whomever would come over, we took lots of pictures and posted them relentlessly, we went to church and worshipped and we played with little people in the boat and at our park.
And then the closing happened.
Without any drama or fanfare and barely a phone call. And then we were free. So we kept on celebrating with a perfect weekend of fun and family on the water and in the kitchen. We fell off the paddle boards and into the water and rearranged all the outdoor furniture and made s’mores even though it was cold. We baked pies and made waffles 2 days in a row and went to bed Sunday night with a sense of contentment and peace that we hadn’t felt in such a long time. And then the rain came and we rested. Rested in the joy. The joy of Who God is…how He loves us. How sure are His promises and how steady is His love. How faithful He is, how He keeps us and blesses us, answers prayers that we sometimes don’t even really pray. How He works in our children when we aren’t even looking. We sit by the fire with our electronic connections and hang out with little people 1200 miles away and feel together. We get quiet and watch the fog roll over the lake and the leaves slowly turning yellow and red. We spend a whole, glorious weekend alone together, just being, learning, paddling, cooking, loving. We get up ridiculously early and start learning the disciplines and how to spell s-t-r-u-c-t-u-r-e. Then we memorialize what we have seen in these last months and we respectfully move the family portraits of the homeowners to the storage room and hang our testimony above the mantle.
And then it’s October.
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