It's been almost six months since we moved from Ohio to Iowa. If you asked me a year ago, I would've told you I would never move out of state. Not away from all my family. I realize now, that it was wrong of me to be so defiant as to say what *I* was going to do or not. In doing so, I was basically, unknowingly, telling God that I knew what was best for myself and my family.
Let me tell you though, I've already learned so much through this experience in such a short time. I believe God may have brought us here for several reasons, including my own personal growth.
You see, when we remain in one spot too long, we become comfortable, and possibly stagnant. That's where I was in life. I had reached a few decent goals I had laid out (bachelor and master degrees, we began our homeschooling journey, owned a home, etc). But I still had my comfortable day-to-day routine, I saw the same people on a weekly basis, made excuses as to why I didn't need to form new relationships, do this or that, or basically, do anything outside my typical, monotonous, yet joyous routine.
We may have physically moved; moved all of our possessions, our dog, our money, our physical bodies, but most importantly, we moved our hearts. A physical move isn't what it takes to move your heart though. In our case though, it may have. You see, stepping outside of your comfort zone and taking a reasonable risk is what it may take to really move your heart.
Our hearts have moved in multiple directions. Our hearts have hurt to leave loving family and friends. Our hearts have leapt in happiness at all the time we've gained back as a family. Our hearts have been joyous having met wonderful new people. Our hearts have become a wee-bit more adventurous. My heart has not just moved, but has made leaps. While a few years ago I felt such a huge tug in my heart to move toward bigger and greater things for my family which required us to move, although not physically, now through a physical move my heart is moving even more forward toward new ideas, new goals, and most importantly, more toward God Himself.
You see, through life's "moves" come the biggest blessings as well as trials. Through those blessings and trials, your heart begins to move. Many of us move, yet just don't know it. Basic life moves such as marriage, kids, buying a home, as well as school are all significant moves in life that when ordained by God can ultimately move our hearts closer to Him. Unfortunately, many of us leave God out of the decisions in all our moving, and that's when disaster soon or eventually ensues in our lives, and those once joyous moves become painful memories of the past. We need to move but lest not forget to keep God at the center of it.
Becoming stagnant at times will happen. We all get settled down into "life" and routines. Many times I examine my life, and our life as a family. I know when we've become too complacent. And no matter how good things are in our lives, there is never room to become too complacent, to the point we won't let our feet or hearts move. There are always ways to grow. Always things to learn. Always things to do. And if we don't feel God *moving* us, we know we've become too stagnant, too complacent. That's where I was and had been several times throughout life. I now feel that all-too-familiar tug at my heart to move again. I have a hint of what He expects from B and I. It's scary. It's exciting. It's risky. It calls us to step out of our comfort zones, yet again. It's not a major trip across the world. It's nothing momentary. But it's something that may change our lives for the rest of our time on this earth, something that will completely change our home. B tells me that "when I set my mind on something, I won't let it go." I pray God leads me in all decisions, and that it is HE not I who sets my eyes "on something" and doesn't allow me to "let go."
I've told a few people that most of life's decisions are "risky." And in most if not all decisions, you just have to dive into face first trusting God. Nothing in life can 100% prepare you for any "risk" or "move" you take. Buying a home. Marriage. Kids. College. Accepting a job offer. You name it. If we all waited until we were "100% prepared and equipped," we'd never move. Most moves in life require both our feet and hearts to move in this or that direction. That's scary. Our natural and fleshly selves don't like change. Moving our hearts require us to make our hearts vulnerable. And when our hearts are vulnerable, we know the risk of getting hurt at some point increases.
Our young adult Sunday school sessions lately have been about going from a good to *great* Christian. When we think of *great* Christians in biblical times, we think of David, Moses, Noah, Job, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, as well as the 12 apostles and many more. One of the biggest reasons that made these men so great is that they were willing to move. Move their feet as well as their hearts. And in doing so, they risked it all. They certainly stepped out of their comfort zones. They didn't wait to weigh the costs vs. benefits. They just moved. I'll never be a Job nor a James, nor a Paul. I can only dream of becoming an ounce of what they were. What I can do though, is to learn as much as I can from their examples. And one thing we can learn from them is the importance of simply moving in our earthly Christian walks, in an effort to glorify, exemplify, and edify our Heavenly Father.
Our physical heart moves about 100 gallons of blood through our body every single hour in order to keep our body moving. That's a lot of moving, isn't it? There are three layers of the heart, but the inner layer, as you know, is the most intricate and important layer of all, because it contains the muscle that contracts, that moves. We then have heartstrings that anchor the valves to the moving heart muscles. Boy, do I ever feel God pulling on my heartstrings at times. So, being that the heart is a muscle, it needs a fresh and proper supply nutrients and oxygen to keep it running. Things we do, or, don't do, can ultimately hurt our hearts. Most doctors agree that, yep, you guessed it, *moving* is an essential part to keeping our hearts healthy. Is it any wonder then, that there are numerous Bible scriptures that correlates our spiritual well-being to the condition of our hearts? Just as we need to keep physically moving for the betterment of our physical hearts, we need to be on the move to keep our spiritual hearts in check also. (Can you tell we've been studying the heart in our homeschool lately?)
I pray God keeps my heart moving toward Him in all things that I do. That may require me to move to uncomfortable places. To step outside of my comfort zone by introducing a stranger to Him. To make myself more open, available, and over-all more vulnerable to His callings.
After-all...
When we stop moving, so do our hearts.
So just MOVE.
