Y'all know I've had a pretty crappy summer. My fall isn't looking so hot yet either. All of this has made me take a hard look back and evaluate the last three years.
Three years ago I moved from the city I had lived in my entire adult life back home. I quit the job I had for 17 years and I came without a job. I moved with the job market the worst it had been since I graduated from high school to one of the cities with the least amount of potential jobs. I packed up three kids and drove 10 hours away from everything that I knew to a city I could barely remember. I leapt with both feet and no net knowing that God would carry us.
And He did. I was filled with faith
Until this year. This year, everything we had built up started crashing down. The future we had built was ripped away. Our support system virtually disappeared. Our world as we knew it was turned upside down overnight.
I've spent the better part of 4 months trying to recover. The first month just trying to find my footing. The second month trying to crawl out of the hole I had fallen so deeply into. The third month just being. Being still. Being patient. Being a mom and an employee and attempting to be a functioning human being. This last month I have tried to heal and figure out where to move forward.
Now, as I'm trying to put the pieces back together, I'm having a hard time finding the path. Every step I take seems like it's backwards. Doors are slamming in my face left and right. I'm a do-er, and everything I do seems to be fraught with problems. I'm not sure at all if I'm doing this right or even if I should be doing it.
I've lost my faith.
When I moved back, faith was easy. I had my 401k money in the bank. No matter what, we were going to be taken care of. My relationship with my family was good. We had places to go if everything else failed. The future was easy because we believed. We just knew it was all going to turn out OK.
Now that we have been let down by people that we never expected to hurt us, faith is much harder to come by. It's so much harder to trust when you expect to be hurt again. It's harder to believe because dreams don't always come true. It's harder to stick your neck out when time and time again you bang your head against another closed door.
But I realized yesterday that I am exactly where I need to be right now. God said "Yeah, it was easy to have faith when you had everything. Now I want you to have it when you have lost everything. Show me just how faithful you are." Wow. Yeah. I got that message loud and clear. I have to believe that even if I lose what little we have left, He is still going to take care of us. He will provide, even if it's not what I expect.
So, now I will have to test just how much faith I have in God. I will have to completely open myself up to being vulnerable and trust in whatever plans He has for our future. I have to quit trying to be in control and let God take the wheel - He has a much better driving record anyways. I need to go back to that cliff now that my eyes have been opened and I can see just how far away the bottom is and leap again. No safety net. No way to know if He will catch me this time. It's all I have left to hold on to. Well, here I go...
P.S. This is the original Faith post just over three years ago.
Hi Michele,
ReplyDeleteI can relate to some of your thoughts. I lived in a small town in WV all my life. Born and raised a MOUNTAINEER. Four years ago, my husband took a promotion which was a great opportunity. I quit my job, which I loved and worked at for 13 years..left my small town that I was so comfortable in, as well as my friends and family...and moved three hours away to a new county not knowing a single soul. I was emotional, to say the least. I learned my way around the new town and built new friendships and learned to love my new job. My husband was offered another promotion in January...but this one would require us to move out of the state I have lived in for fifty years. I knew it was going to be great for his career and couldn't hold him back. We decided to take a leap of faith and try to sell our house. It was on the market for 7 months and not many lookers or potential buyers. In the meantime, I was still living in WV and my husband was living in Richmond, Va and only coming home on weekends. We were praying...praying without ceasing. We began doubting and second guessing our decision. Finally, in God's own time, our prayers were answered and our house sold. We packed up our belongings in a UHAUL yesterday and are now on a new journey. Once again, I am in a place where I know no one and in search of a new home and new job. I have many anxieties but I know God will get me through! Thanks for posting this and reminding me to trust more in HIM! :)
Michele, please don't take my comment the wrong way. I personally do not follow any religion. I gave that up when I left home. I have had many struggles in life as you know from my blog but "I" always landed on my feet. I believe in ME! I have to make my life work. I have to make my mistakes. I have to SURVIVE! I don't have a faith in God. I believe there is a higher power but I'll find out him/her/it when I have passed on. I think you are incredibly strong, competent and a great mother. You've hit a slump but you need to have faith in YOU. It will all turn out well.
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