Rockwall: Chapter 1 has officially begun. How's it going? Well, like most things, it has it's ups and downs. I'm currently looking into a name tag for my car that reads:
Hi! We're the Keiffers. Obviously we're new here.
To Robert at Starbucks: Sorry for taking your tall cafe mocha. I wasn't even aware anyone but me ordered that size anymore. Unfortunately, I didn't see your name on the side of the cup until after I left.
To the SUV rapidly approaching in my rear view today. I'm sorry for being indecisive. I just couldn't committ to one of the 5000 ways to get to Starbucks from Target.
{I'm beginning to see an unhealthy pattern here. Or maybe my motto should just be "Give me Jesus...and give me Starbucks..."}
And finally, to the lady in the car behind me that waited as I backed out of a parking space after missing the turn to Austin's school, I apologize. I didn't see you coming down the one way road. Hopefully, it won't happen again. And by the way, I'm trying not to be jealous that you're dropping your child off at his regular Mother's Day Out program.
As I make this adjustment to a new place, I'm reminded of Ruth. She, too, followed someone she loved to a foreign land.
But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.
Ruth 1:16-17
This is not the first time I've followed Luke to an unfamiliar place. As much as I loved Baylor, we knew we would be happier if we could experience the college thing together. And so I packed my bags and headed to Tulsa. Even then I loved that man with all of my heart! Wanna know the only thing I was sure of as I filled out applications and applied for housing?
Wait for it...
Tulsa was a city in Oklahoma. I was fairly certain I would need to beef up my wardrobe a little since it does snow there.
That's it. Apart from the fact that I felt like it was where the Lord was leading me, I had no guarantees that Luke and I would even be dating when we graduated. Let alone engaged!
Fast forward three and a half years.
Not only are Luke and I engaged with an amazing group of friends, but I spent the majority of my time in Tulsa living with a girl from Kerrville, Texas. In case you're wondering, that's a small town about an hour north of San Antonio.
We met randomly in the lobby of our dorm and bonded over our love for Jesus, Texas, and the need to deep clean at least once a week. Is God good or what?!
So here I am again. Missing friends. Missing family.
Missing the familiar things that made me feel secure.
And while I scrub the dishes and wipe the spaghetti sauce off the stove, I tell Him that my heart aches for San Antonio. His reply is simply that He knows and He aches with me even if this move was His will in His perfect timing.
Oh, how I love that my God would walk this road with me. Even when the enemy tries to tell me I'm all alone, He reminds me that He is right here, holding my hand, as I begin this new season.
I recently did a study in which I learned that just before Jesus was born, God was silent for four hundred years.
Four. Hundred. Years. That's like as long as it takes Austin to get dressed in the mornings. True story.
I can't even imagine what it would be like to long and wait for a word from God only to hear nothing but complete silence. He used this time of famine, so to speak, to create a desperate hunger for Him because He wanted to world to be ready for what was coming.
His Son.
And what a celebration that night was! Stars were shining, angels were singing, and I would be willing to bet money that God blessed Mary with the best hair day she'd ever had because she was the mother of His Son afterall.
He was here. The prophecies had come true.
And the famine was over!
As I was listening to this lesson, I was struck by the fact that this is a time of famine for me. A famine of friends, family, and the familiar comforts that defined my routine. Even as I grieve the closing of the San Antonio chapter, I hear Him whisper to my heart that He is enough.
He has always been enough.
I am certain that at the end of this famine something wonderful waits for me. Rockwall is where we're supposed to be even if it feels lonely and foreign right now.
Maybe you are also in a foreign place. It doesn't have to be a new city. It can be a time of illness, change, or just the realization that life is brutal. All of the sudden, your world has been turned upside down and it's all you can do to keep your head above water.
Maybe you, like me, need to hear that He is here. He is constant.
And He is enough.
