Finding Home

We have been married four years and lived in four different cities. In each city we have been members of a church we loved and made friends we still hold dear. We've had jobs we liked and jobs we weren't so fond of, apartments we liked and apartments we weren't so fond of. We've searched for vets and obs and dentists. We've tried out all the libraries and figured out where to vote and where to get a license plate. We've learned our way around town and learned how to avoid rush hour traffic. We've found favorite restaurants and grocery stores and dog parks. We've seen the sights and visited the museums and tried to make ourselves at home in each place we've lived. Each one has a special place in our hearts, where we've held on to the good memories and tried to forget the bad ones.

In the past month, we've had the chance to return to each city. We've reunited with old friends (the internet is such a great way to stay connected, but there's nothing like being together) and gone back to the favorite cupcake place/campus sights/cute little downtown. We drove by the places we lived and called home.

Even better than being with old friends in the old favorite places is returning to our church family. We are so blessed to have been a part of three awesome churches, where people are loved and the name of Jesus is proclaimed, where the Word of God is preached and where the Savior is worshiped.

Each church is different and we love each one. We love our college church, the beautiful traditional Baptist building and the amazing preaching. We love our law school church, with heartfelt worship and strong Biblical teaching and the best young marrieds Sunday School class ever. We love our clerkship year church, with the best sense of community and inspired worship and sermons that challenge and encourage.

We are so thankful for each church the Lord placed us in. Those cities would never have been home without our church family. In a way, each is still home. It was like coming home when we visited each over the past month.

And all of that makes it difficult to find a church here. It is always hard to make that transition, there's always part of you that wants to go back. But when we were visiting our college church a few weeks ago, part of the sermon really stood out to me. The pastor was talking about when he received a call to our college church, he and his family really did not want to leave their current church. They loved it dearly and had so many good experiences. But they realized that the reason it was so wonderful was because they had been there in the center of God's will. And when the Lord was telling them it was time to go, it really was time to leave. It wouldn't be wonderful any longer if they stayed when God told them to go. His blessings come when we stay in the center of His will, wherever that may take us.

So as much as we'd love to go back to one of our old churches, we know that's not what the Lord has planned for us right now. He wants us to move forward.

Hello, new city. Hello, new church . . . as soon as He makes it clear to us which one He wants it to be!