looking forward in 2019.
Two thousand eighteen. It was one of the craziest years yet. I'm pretty sure almost everyone saw my post from the summer when we had decided to move to Texas. And then we didn't. And then my parents moved to California. I've yet to tell the rest of the story, so I thought it'd be fitting to cap off the year. Which also points to the year ahead.
My word for last year was follow. As we pursued God's direction in our life and for our family, we were wholeheartedly stepping out on faith and willing to follow. Any where. There were countless things that lead us this direction and so many beautiful things that came from this pursuit that I don't even have time enough to share it all. And the rest of the story is long enough in itself. But God was in all the details.
Our short term goal was to move to Texas for a of couple years to spend some time with my family, whom we've never lived close by. Our long term goal was to move back to San Diego when Silas began high school and Eva began Kindergarten, which would coincide with my dad retiring. We had been talking for years of them moving to San Diego when they reached retirement. Everything was set, short of our house selling. This was one of our giant leaps of faith, trusting that it would sell in time. At that point, there was no reason not to go ahead and move and just let the boys begin school in Texas {since school was beginning in 2 weeks.}
It was a Thursday morning. I was blow drying my hair, getting ready to go to my office to clean out my desk. Dusty was supposed to bring home moving boxes that day. I got a phone call that changed everything. My phone was ringing and it said, "Jack Huckabee" on the screen. I didn't think much of it. My parents were flying out the following day to help us pack up our entire house and move us to Texas. What he said changed everything.
"I need to know something. If we could move there right now, would that change anything?" Basically, would we still want to move there?
{Silence}
I don't even know what to say at this point. We were moving in eight days. We had bought plane tickets. The kids were enrolled in school. We had already begun saying our goodbyes. What did he even mean? He continued.
"I just got out of a meeting and was offered early retirement." Suddenly this dream of them being here could actually be a reality. My dad had not spoken to my mom yet at this point. He was driving up to her work to tell her in person. What is so crazy about this whole scenario to me, was my mom. Though we had all dreamt together of my parents moving here eventually, my mom was probably a little more resistant to it. It wasn't that she didn't want to, but at the same time it was difficult to think about leaving the life they had built in Texas. I was nervous how she was going to take this news or what her thoughts would be. My dad retiring didn't necessarily have to change anything - I mean, we could still move to Texas. I told my dad that I would pray for their conversation and wait to hear back from them. The next phone call I got was from my mom.
"Hey Mel. I just spoke to your dad. We are just supposed to move out there. I don't know why, but I just haven't had a peace about y'all moving here, even though of course, I'm excited. I believe we are supposed to be there. We are supposed to move to California."
Her calmness, confidence, and peace in that moment blew me away. It was God. And we all knew it. We had already told everyone we were moving. The details were in place. And yet somehow in that moment, everything changed. Maybe that's what is so hard to explain. Up until that point, we believed we were supposed to move. But as I said before, God was in every detail up until that point and even still. The things that came from us "moving" were things that would not have happened had we not been willing to take that step of faith. I cannot possibly get into all that happened, but just trust me on that. {wink, wink.}
My dad had always joked {and dreamt} about retiring at 59 and a half. You cannot draw from your retirement without penalty before that time. He was told he had to give his decision on the early retirement in 45 days. In 45 days - you guessed it - he would be 59 and a half.
When we initially put our house on the market, we received a cash offer the very same day. Long story short, I didn't feel a peace about signing the contract immediately. I waited 24 hours and when we responded, the family had already accepted an offer on another house. Escrow would have closed the same Thursday that my dad went into that meeting and called me.
The sale of my parents home didn't go as quickly as we had thought. The market was hot and houses were flying off within days of being listed. We knew this, because we had been looking for a home in Tyler. It got a bit discouraging when it took quite some time for their house to sale. While they were waiting, my mom wanted to have a garage sale. My dad didn't really want to mess with hit. At that point they'd had several low ball offers on their house and it was getting frustrating. They finally decided to have the garage sale. They were five minutes from closing up the garage sale when a man stopped by the house. He said, "I have been watching your house on Zillow. We were in contract on another house and while in escrow a car ran into it and damaged it. We got out of contract. Do you mind if I take a look at your house?" My dad walked him through the house and he fell in love. My parents home was pretty rustic, with beautiful beams they had installed years ago. It had kind of a cabin like feel - very country and charming. It definitely was a particular style that you'd really love, or not. So far they hadn't had much luck. This was a guy that worked at Pine Cove and he and his wife absolutely loved it. The guy marveled at the beams, which made my parents so happy. This was their home for 29 years so it is obviously hard to walk away from that. The couple made an offer and my parents accepted. They closed escrow and my parents drove from Tyler to San Diego, pulling into our driveway on Thanksgiving Day. And oh, we were so thankful.
The past 6 weeks have been a beautiful thing. Being able to live day to day life together has been such a blessing. Of course, it is an adjustment - but also so amazing. We have a plan in place for the days ahead. We plan to re-list our house in the very near future and will buy a property with enough land for my parents to build a granny flat. We are super excited about this and are continually seeing God's hand at work. I have a feeling another really cool story is unfolding {I cannot wait to tell it!}.
As I prayed for God to give me a word for 2019, the word "abandon" came to my mind almost immediately. The lyrics to the song, The Stand, then came to my mind.
The past year required oh so much faith. To the point that I so often felt at the end of myself. It required surrender. 2 Chronicles 16:9 says, "For the eyes of the Lord move over all the earth so that He may give strength to those whose whole heart is given to Him." That is my desire. To give him my whole heart. Not the parts that are easy... but even the parts that are not.
I believe this "follows" my word from 2018. When Jesus was speaking to the rich young ruler in Mark 10, it says, "Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” The ruler was happy to follow Jesus as long as he had his safety net. His back up plan of safety and security. Jesus desires us to follow with abandon. I pray that I will not look back, but look forward, with arms high and heart abandoned to Him.
I'm excited to see what the Lord has planned for two thousand nineteen. I believe greater things are yet to come.
My word for last year was follow. As we pursued God's direction in our life and for our family, we were wholeheartedly stepping out on faith and willing to follow. Any where. There were countless things that lead us this direction and so many beautiful things that came from this pursuit that I don't even have time enough to share it all. And the rest of the story is long enough in itself. But God was in all the details.
Our short term goal was to move to Texas for a of couple years to spend some time with my family, whom we've never lived close by. Our long term goal was to move back to San Diego when Silas began high school and Eva began Kindergarten, which would coincide with my dad retiring. We had been talking for years of them moving to San Diego when they reached retirement. Everything was set, short of our house selling. This was one of our giant leaps of faith, trusting that it would sell in time. At that point, there was no reason not to go ahead and move and just let the boys begin school in Texas {since school was beginning in 2 weeks.}
It was a Thursday morning. I was blow drying my hair, getting ready to go to my office to clean out my desk. Dusty was supposed to bring home moving boxes that day. I got a phone call that changed everything. My phone was ringing and it said, "Jack Huckabee" on the screen. I didn't think much of it. My parents were flying out the following day to help us pack up our entire house and move us to Texas. What he said changed everything.
"I need to know something. If we could move there right now, would that change anything?" Basically, would we still want to move there?
{Silence}
I don't even know what to say at this point. We were moving in eight days. We had bought plane tickets. The kids were enrolled in school. We had already begun saying our goodbyes. What did he even mean? He continued.
"I just got out of a meeting and was offered early retirement." Suddenly this dream of them being here could actually be a reality. My dad had not spoken to my mom yet at this point. He was driving up to her work to tell her in person. What is so crazy about this whole scenario to me, was my mom. Though we had all dreamt together of my parents moving here eventually, my mom was probably a little more resistant to it. It wasn't that she didn't want to, but at the same time it was difficult to think about leaving the life they had built in Texas. I was nervous how she was going to take this news or what her thoughts would be. My dad retiring didn't necessarily have to change anything - I mean, we could still move to Texas. I told my dad that I would pray for their conversation and wait to hear back from them. The next phone call I got was from my mom.
"Hey Mel. I just spoke to your dad. We are just supposed to move out there. I don't know why, but I just haven't had a peace about y'all moving here, even though of course, I'm excited. I believe we are supposed to be there. We are supposed to move to California."
Her calmness, confidence, and peace in that moment blew me away. It was God. And we all knew it. We had already told everyone we were moving. The details were in place. And yet somehow in that moment, everything changed. Maybe that's what is so hard to explain. Up until that point, we believed we were supposed to move. But as I said before, God was in every detail up until that point and even still. The things that came from us "moving" were things that would not have happened had we not been willing to take that step of faith. I cannot possibly get into all that happened, but just trust me on that. {wink, wink.}
My dad had always joked {and dreamt} about retiring at 59 and a half. You cannot draw from your retirement without penalty before that time. He was told he had to give his decision on the early retirement in 45 days. In 45 days - you guessed it - he would be 59 and a half.
When we initially put our house on the market, we received a cash offer the very same day. Long story short, I didn't feel a peace about signing the contract immediately. I waited 24 hours and when we responded, the family had already accepted an offer on another house. Escrow would have closed the same Thursday that my dad went into that meeting and called me.
The sale of my parents home didn't go as quickly as we had thought. The market was hot and houses were flying off within days of being listed. We knew this, because we had been looking for a home in Tyler. It got a bit discouraging when it took quite some time for their house to sale. While they were waiting, my mom wanted to have a garage sale. My dad didn't really want to mess with hit. At that point they'd had several low ball offers on their house and it was getting frustrating. They finally decided to have the garage sale. They were five minutes from closing up the garage sale when a man stopped by the house. He said, "I have been watching your house on Zillow. We were in contract on another house and while in escrow a car ran into it and damaged it. We got out of contract. Do you mind if I take a look at your house?" My dad walked him through the house and he fell in love. My parents home was pretty rustic, with beautiful beams they had installed years ago. It had kind of a cabin like feel - very country and charming. It definitely was a particular style that you'd really love, or not. So far they hadn't had much luck. This was a guy that worked at Pine Cove and he and his wife absolutely loved it. The guy marveled at the beams, which made my parents so happy. This was their home for 29 years so it is obviously hard to walk away from that. The couple made an offer and my parents accepted. They closed escrow and my parents drove from Tyler to San Diego, pulling into our driveway on Thanksgiving Day. And oh, we were so thankful.
The past 6 weeks have been a beautiful thing. Being able to live day to day life together has been such a blessing. Of course, it is an adjustment - but also so amazing. We have a plan in place for the days ahead. We plan to re-list our house in the very near future and will buy a property with enough land for my parents to build a granny flat. We are super excited about this and are continually seeing God's hand at work. I have a feeling another really cool story is unfolding {I cannot wait to tell it!}.
As I prayed for God to give me a word for 2019, the word "abandon" came to my mind almost immediately. The lyrics to the song, The Stand, then came to my mind.
"So I'll stand, with arms high and heart abandoned. In awe, of the One who gave it all. So I'll stand, my soul Lord to you surrendered. All I am is yours."
I believe this "follows" my word from 2018. When Jesus was speaking to the rich young ruler in Mark 10, it says, "Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” The ruler was happy to follow Jesus as long as he had his safety net. His back up plan of safety and security. Jesus desires us to follow with abandon. I pray that I will not look back, but look forward, with arms high and heart abandoned to Him.
I'm excited to see what the Lord has planned for two thousand nineteen. I believe greater things are yet to come.
3 Comments
Thank you for sharing. This story makes me so HAPPY! Happy to see how God worked out so many details in your lives. FOLLOWING Jesus is so exciting! Love how HE has led and IS leading you...... Hearing your journey encourages my faith in our capable God Who has things worked out before we even know it! He.is.GOOD!
ReplyDeleteThis comment above was made by me - Sharon Aguilera....don't know why it said UNKNOWN. :)
ReplyDeleteLove you so much. So glad your wonderful parents are here with you.
ReplyDelete