You Can Cry Now

Move #7: from Austin, TX to San Diego, CA

Many years ago, when we lived in Texas, Gregg and I had the exciting opportunity to buy and build a home. Our first home. A new home. Brand new.

With the paint on the walls barely dry, we began to feel God’s tugging on our hearts once again. We’d felt that tug before. It was God beginning to pull us into something new. Only months after moving into this cute little home in the Austin suburbs, we sold it, packed all of our stuff and moved our family (at the time, only four of us) to San Diego to help with another church plant.

We had found a home to rent in San Diego. Hadn’t seen it yet. But from everything the owner was describing, it sounded beautiful. Large double doors, a huge backyard, newly remodeled bathrooms, ceramic tile throughout the house. . . We thought we had scored!

After the long cross-country drive, with anticipation we pulled up to our new home.

Immediately, Gregg turned to me and said, “It’s ok, you can cry now.”

This home that had sounded so good, was actually the eyesore of the neighborhood. Interestingly, everything the owner had told us about the home was true!

Gregg proceeded to tell me to not even bother unpacking, because we weren’t going to stay. Funny thing, we lived there for three years—the longest to date that we’ve lived anywhere.

What I learned:

-Just because something sounds good, doesn’t mean it is.

-Change is difficult, no matter how welcome it may be. Believe it or not, when the time came to leave that home, it was difficult because we had made so many memories there.

-God uses change in our lives to grow us, stretch us and prepare us in ways that He just can’t when we’re comfortable.