The past two years have been crazy. Very crazy. In 2017 we spent majority of the year wedding planning and packing my things to move into Travis' house, had our wedding, honeymoon, moved into trav's, oyster roast celebration, and the holidays.
In 2018 we tackled the transition of change, adjusting to living together, moving, job changes, etc..
RECAP
As soon as we started to get settled together, we were on the way home from church, on 64 east, close to the Fort Eustis exit, and Travis said he felt like we were being called to move. We talked more about it and I reached out to a few realtors and had them come over that week to look at our house and to chat more about the process. We took about two months to declutter, do some work on the house and then put the house on the market in April. Within the first few weeks we were getting offers, just not the offers we wanted, so we waited. During that time we were also looking at houses in Toano/New Kent/Lanexa. We put an offer on one and didn't get accepted, which we were pretty upset about. Also, at this time, Travis got a new job offer in Gloucester (details later in the blog) so we switched to start looking closer to his new job. In June someone made a good offer on our house so we accepted and started the process with them, we also put an offer on one (in Gloucester) and did get accepted, come inspection time we had lots of issues, to the point where we were represented wrongly and almost in a legal bind, being forced to buy a house with $100k worth of issues. By the grace of God we were able to be released from that house and realtor. After that exhausting scenario we took a break from house hunting and just worked on finishing selling our house and finally closed in July. We moved in with my parents, found a new realtor and started house hunting again. At this point we had realtor trust issues, sounds silly but it's true!!. When we found Bob, we told him about the issues we had and that when we find a house before putting an offer on it, we want to pray about it and show our parents to get someone else to look it over, that if we are "forced" to quickly put an offer on it and we don't get it, then it wasn't meant to be and he respected that. Once we started house hunting, we took an evening and looked at a few and found our house. About a week later, after praying about it and showing our parents, we put an offer on it that got accepted fairly quick and then started the process to close. On September 18, we finally closed on our new (current) house! We did some work like washing the walls because they smoked in the house (grosssss), painted, and some minor things here and there. Then we moved in Sept. 22 with the help of our family and friends for which we are SO grateful for. Not only did they help unload the pod, but also start unpacking the bedrooms and kitchen which was extremely helpful!!
IN BETWEEN THE LINES
When we made the decision to move, as much as I wanted to move, I cried and cried about it because most my family is located within about 2 miles of each other and we are all so close. I also HATE change, like it just messes me up and always has, whether it's good or bad. I had such a hard time moving from my parents to Trav's, not because I didn't want to live with him, but because it was change and something new and it took quite some time for me to settle (which could have it’s own blog!!), then as soon as I did, we started packing the house up for more change. Not only did we have the stress of moving, but Travis was extremely unhappy at a well paying job and we both wanted him to go back to his old job at Elite Autobody. When he started bringing "work home" and it affecting him outside of work, that is when we knew for ourselves, that money is not happiness. There is no money in the world that is worth more than happiness.
GOD DID!
During all this, I had no choice but to lean on God and his Word and his truth. I did close to 3-5 devotions each day and had a small scripture book that I carried around for whenever I wavered off of His truth. I prayed constantly that HIS WILL be done, that if this is what He wanted and planned for us, that the door be open, but if not that He were to close the door quickly. About the time we put our house on the market we started praying for a new job for Travis. Not even a week after praying, he gets a call from his old manager saying they will have a position opening up and asked if he was interested, a month or so goes by and they keep in contact, the position opens, they choose a start date and he happily turns in his two weeks. We were quite worried about the change in pay, but knew God would provide and that HE DID.
Needed peace - He granted peace.
Financially, we weren't sure if moving was smart with a job/pay change - He reassured and provided.
We prayed, he answered.
(just a few) SCRIPTURES THAT I LEANED ON
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:11-13
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6
“Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns and yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ” Mathew 6:26-27
“And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19
I'm not telling you this for the heck of it but for "proof" that He WILL bring you PEACE.
He WILL PROVIDE your EVERY need. He KNOWS whats best for you even if you might not see that in the present time.
