Time is a funny thing. It can drag on and slowly tick away as you wait anxiously for something. Or it can rush like the speed of a train, barreling away and taking all it's minutes too quickly and too swiftly away. It can be your friend and it can be your enemy.
The one thing about time is that it never changes. It ticks away at the same pace, at the same time, no matter how you feel. It is constant. Nothing else in life may be constant, but time is.
Timing however, that can change. You can push to make it your timing, your schedule, your time frame. You may be at the mercy of other people's timing, whether they are early or late, regardless of how you feel. For someone who likes a certain schedule, done a certain way, timing can be a very infuriating thing. I like my own timing, thank you very much.
But one thing I have learned over the years, especially the past few years, it that my timing is not God's timing and God's timing is perfect. It is comforting to know that no matter how I wrestle up plans and ideas, God's timing always trumps mine and is always, always better. ( even I don't see it right away)
The last few months have been a whirlwind of happenings. Changing and shifting at an alarmingly fast rate. Prayers being answered. Some of those prayers were brand new and barely uttered before we saw a result. Some of those prayers were long toiled and pleaded over, waited over, agonized over for the past few years. But they were answered (or in the process of being answered) and the timing has been perfect.
Three weeks from now we will be loading up all our belongings into a trailer, packing into our cars and moving back to Michigan.
Ryan has excepted a new job in the suburbs of Detroit and we will be starting a new life there. It will be the first time since I was 18 years old that I have lived within 500 miles of my family. The same goes for my husband. We will be living a mere 2 hours away from both families, a laughable distance compared to our normal 16 hr car ride. To say our families are excited would be a vast and severe understatement. I believe that phrases such as "The Lord has given me the desires of my heart..." were used.
We have been praying for new opportunities for Ryan and his career for a few years now. The beginning of the new year and some dramatic DOD cuts in this area forced us to really amp of those prayers and searching for new things.
The day after we found out we were having a girl, Ryan flew to Detroit for a one day interview and was offered the job. After a week of negotiations and relocation ..... we had an official written offer.
Since than we put our house on the market. Four days later we had our first showing, they came back the next day for a second showing and put in an offer the following day. After a day of negotiation, we accepted their offer and are under contract. We close on the house the 21st of June.
Ryan's first day is the 24th of June.
Every little step we have taken has lined up perfectly. The timing has been impeccable and has absolutely nothing to do with our plans. The right offers have come at the right time. The timing of resignations will leave us with no lapse in paychecks.
The next thing to line up is housing in Michigan. We are working with a realtor and heading to the Glove next week to hopefully nail a place down. I am just going to keep trusting that the timing will again line up just as it needs to be.
While the move is definitely bittersweet, we know that we are moving in the right direction and doing the right things. We will greatly miss our close friends here in VA, our church and church family and the ease and comfort of a happy, settled life, but we are trusting that great things await for us as well.
So... any packing/moving tips? I am all ears...
