Well, here it is! Summer. Hot. Texas. Summer. As a kid, I would think the summers were so long and boring by July. I was the girl that was always on the hunt for an adventure and I would get bored very quickly. June events were considered ‘yesterday play’ and after the fireworks on the 4th, July was pretty boring until I could find something new to begin or a new friend to play with.
Well this year, summer is still hot but life is certainly less than boring. Not only did my oldest child turn 10, but I have been processing a great shift in my life. My husband has chosen a new career-field and with it, will come a relocation. At the time of this writing, I still have no definite location or time-frame of when and where we will be moving! I have been quite tempted to get angry, upset, fearful. I not only need to put my current house on the market (and repairs, etc done as needed beforehand), pack up the whole house, find and purchase a new house in a city I have never lived in, in a great neighborhood, find great schools for my kids, discover a new church family, rebuild my business from scratch…and hope this all gets done before school starts in a month?!?!
Now I know many of you have “been there, done that”. I honor all of you who have become excellent at it – like my military and missionary friends who go when they get their orders and go often. But other than moving away from home for college, I have only made one move in my life. This move is going to be quite life changing for me and my family on many levels.
So how do I stay positive, hopeful, and empowered to make this an amazing adventure amidst such unknown and squeezing timetable? I surrender. Yes, I said surrender. The way to be empowered is to surrender to the idea that I am not in control of everything. Thank goodness! Even better, I picture a loving Heavenly Father who declares, “I have some really great surprises in store for you! and they are sooo good! I can’t wait to reveal them in just the right time!”
I have been reciting and declaring the goodness in this Proverb: “Trust in the Lord with all of your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. But in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.” (3:5-6)
You will live what you believe. I believe that each person has a destiny and purpose to fulfill. Every circumstance and season of life will bring its challenges or tests. But every test is simply an opportunity to “prove what you know” so that you can advance to a higher level.
So with this mindset, it looks like I am in for a big upgrade, right?! And the higher my thought-life will go, the higher I will be able to reach into what is available for me in the next chapter of life.
So, what summer season struggle are you being invited to overcome? May you do so with “an expectation of really good things to come”. (By the way, that is the actual definition of the word HOPE itself!)
