Still Moving....Just in a Different Direction.

Well, my only hope is that after you read this, you don't think to yourself, "Man, that girl is crazy!" because quite honestly, over the last few days I have had that thought cross my mind a few times but within an instant of  a prayer I am able to be reassured I am not crazy....just obedient!

So for a quick recap - A few months ago I did some examining of my life and decided I had reached a plateau - I was not moving forward or backwards just at a standstill. So, I decided to make some changes...one of those being moving to the beach. The way I saw it was like this - I love the beach, I miss the beach when I am not there and I know that is where I want to be when I "grow up" so why would I not just go there now and start getting everything set up and ready for my "happily ever after" that I had decided for myself.
In my playbook - I moved to the beach, got a job, made some more friends, met a man, fell in love, got married, had children and never looked back. Sounds like a good plan to me, still does actually, except for one thing.....In the excitement and thrill of bringing my playbook to life I somehow lost sight of who the real Author is. No worries - He has quickly reminded me!

On Sunday, October 23 exactly 25 days before I pack up the moving truck and head it out of here God threw me a curve ball....He opened a door that takes me to where my real focus should be....not just towards my happily ever after but towards Him. Within a week after that Sunday night I began to feel strong hesitations about moving but brushed them off as cold feet and told myself over and over I was doing the right thing and to keep on moving forward, not really realizing I was actually moving backwards.
That next weekend, I remember driving to the beach for an interview and I turned my radio down and I started crying and I said, "God! Why did you put this door there right now?!  I have asked for this door for years,and you haven't shown up, so why now?! Why show up now, when I have everything in order and figured out! I don't want it there make it a wall!" but He didn't listen, instead He opened it even wider! So wide that no matter which way I turned it seemed I faced that same door.

So finally, this past Sunday exactly six days before I head off to the beach I was in church and the preacher said, "Always choose the path that takes you closer to God's face rather than away from" so that night I called both of my parents and told them what I had been dealing with and resisting and told them I just didn't think moving at this point is the path that takes me towards God's face - but that I also did not understand why God had opened all of these other doors that lead me to the beach either - my parents both said the same thing to me in very similar ways - "Faith, YOU opened those doors, you went after what YOU wanted and YOU got it - you went YOUR way, you have free will and you chose to use it but now what you are seeing is God sitting back, saying. 'Way to go Faith-I am glad you are getting what YOU want...BUT here is what I want for you!"
After the talks with my parents and a few other amazing, amazing, amazing, supportive friends I decided to close the doors I opened and walk through the one that was opened for me, not by me.

I have no doubt in my mind that God opened this door to keep me right here in Rock Hill for a little while longer, maybe forever, maybe for a month, maybe for a week. I also believe that God may have opened that just as God opened that door, He could just as easily shut it back and open a new one - of course that would be discouraging to me but it would also be on the path that He wants for me so I have to understand that. I have to hide the words of Jeremiah 29:11 in my heart so that I never forget even in the times when He shuts doors!

All in all, my hope in relocating was that I could experience some movement, little did I know that it didn't take moving away from somewhere to feel some movement in my life but rather, moving toward someone -towards His face!

xoxo,
Faith