The word didn't mean we weren't ever going to move, but for that moment of time, we needed to live life in full where we were. As you know, we did eventually make the move and God mapped out all the details.
Flash forward to two years of coastal living and in this Coronavirus life of quarantine and I again feel the Lord prompting me with this same word.
For our family, quarantine life has felt somewhat normal because my husband's job is 'essential work.' He still leaves the house every day, not working from home. The kids have been home from school, which I have treasured up this time in my heart. We have had fun activities to do, sweet conversations, and lots of quality time without distractions since life came to a halt. Family dinner was reinstated whereas school and work schedules usually conflicted to make them scarce and sacred before. There was no more fussing to get through everyone's homework, baths, and getting school stuff and backpacks laid out and ready for the next morning. The evening rush to bed and early morning hustle off to school was gone. Summer like living began. Ahhh...I love it!
In the mist of all this goodness, there has still been a high mix of anxiety, sadness, and some depression. I know this scale is different for everyone. Everyone has experienced it in different ways. For some, it's the loss of events and special occasions that got cancelled, others it's the uncertainty of work or income, for ones, it's the stress of distance learning, isolation, etc. All of those things matter and are all relative, no matter where you fall on the scale. For us, we were sad for all of the things we were missing out on: soccer, the twins' first Father/Daughter Ball, a trip to Memphis to see friends and family, flying to Indiana to see my 92 year old Mamaw, Kindergarten graduation, saying bye to teachers and friends before starting a new school next year, playing with neighborhood friends, etc.
I also felt this mix of emotions and anxiety over the uncertainty of the future. The Earth is groaning and contractions have been getting stronger over time, but at what point will active labor begin? I felt like we were living in a real life movie where everything seemed to change from one hour to the next and often I felt at any moment Revelation times were beginning, not to say it isn't still, but my fears of getting through with five little people during tribulation times began to trouble me. I started feeling like at any time, these precious moments of living could be gone, traded off for extreme uncertain times. I began living in that unsettled place in life, not knowing if we are staying or going. It's hard to live life fully when you are constantly in that insecure mindset.
That's when I felt God prompt me His words of Jeremiah 29:5 again,
4This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says to all the captives he has exiled to Babylon from Jerusalem: 5“Build homes, and plan to stay. Plant gardens, and eat the food they produce. 6Marry and have children. Then find spouses for them so that you may have many grandchildren. Multiply! Do not dwindle away! 7And work for the peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare.”
Words so deep, freeing me....
The word isn't revealing to me Jesus' timing of return. We don't know the day or the hour, but His word once again released me to live life fully where we are [whether in quarantine or not], to dream again even while we are in this place of waiting for His return, soon or not.
(And also to pray for peace and prosperity of our city and nation. Reaping a harvest)
My husband and I began intermittent fasting over the past month, which helped reset so many emotions and bad patterns.
My autoimmune had taken me down at the beginning of quarantine and with the help of a doctor and muscle testing, I feel like a new person again, able to take on the day physically and mentally.
I started limiting social media and news articles to 30 minutes a day.
The television is usually off most of the day in our home, but I no longer turn it on for the morning news.
I started taking up a new book list and listening to more podcasts while I fold laundry and do dishes.
I wake up every morning, praying for my husband and reading a small Word passage to focus my mind even if it's only the first 5 minutes before little people vie for my attention. Kyle is usually gone and out the door before we all wake. Praying for him also helps me feel connected to him early in the day.
On Fridays, when Kyle gets home from work, we instituted our own appetizer happy hour. The two of us gather around the kitchen with our favorite wine and make our own homemade salsa, fry corn tortillas to make chips, and talk about our day while the kids play. My husband is usually the chef in our house and has taken up making Babish's fried chimichangas and General Tso's. Some nights it feels like restaurant dining.
We started up our home renovations again. We are almost finished with our fireplace remodel after my husband made built in's on it's parallels. I even remodeled the kid's little plastic house we got for $30 that inspired more playing time. Who knew, detailing the play mailbox would create a whole day centered around playing Post Office.
I felt my whole self take a deep breath in and pull back in the joy of the days, not hanging on to them with uncertainty. I felt free to be normal.
I have to remember that God is not a God of confusion, but I have to stay steadfast in His Word, pray without ceasing.
So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. -Romans 12:2 The Message
Every morning, I ask God to be present in our day and give us good things to do, show me what I need to be doing today. It's important for our eyes to be open to what He is doing, even in the mundane of our homes or out and about.
While searching through some boxes to decorate our new shelves, I found my old 'dream' book that I had made with some friends. We had a dreaming with God party where we had brought all kinds of magazines and scrapbook materials and started cutting out ideas, ambitions, and dreams we felt God was inspiring in our life and pasted them in a book. Opening my dream book made me realize it's time to start adding to it again while sparking some of the old things God had inspired in me. I had put those dreams up on a shelf. I recently found a passion in homeopathy and am considering Homeopathy school.
God is still creating new things, instilling in us new ideas, His Word is still a double edged sword, our prayers are still powerful and effective, even in the hard times, in the trials, for our city and our nation, even in the waiting places. What can we be doing with the gifts that God is giving us right now in theses places of our lives?
I want to be planting gardens and harvesting the fruits it produces.
Hugs,
Ashley
