A Cross-Country Move!

I was on the fence about writing this before we knew officially- but now that we have decided... WE ARE MOVING TO OREGON!

Currently, I live outside of Boston, Massachusetts, and in 3 weeks, we will be moving to the Greater Portland area in Oregon. I am SO excited.

Honestly, for the past 2.5 years, we have been hoping and praying for a move. We didn't see any doors open. In fact, we saw a lot of doors shut in our faces. Especially this year. Daniel was interviewing left and right, and I was searching as well. I love my job here, but there was something about the place we are that hasn't felt like the right fit, and that's been hard. What's been harder is that we haven't figured out quite why this isn't it for us.

I think this has happened to a lot of us in life; we feel like something is off, and we pray and pray and pray for change. We try really hard to make the "wrong" thing budge. We PUSH against it, but sometimes the timing isn't right. 

What God opens cannot be shut, and whatever he closes cannot be opened.

I feel like that has been the story of the last 2 years. 

And it was devastating at times. 

FINALLY, we had breakthrough!!! Praise God! I feel like the message I kept hearing through sermon after sermon, conversation after conversation, and quiet time after quiet time is that the focusing on the destination leads to frustration (espeically when we are impatient... ahem, like me!). However, when we let up on the impatience, we find that God has something for us amidst the waiting period. He is growing us into WHO we are meant to be, either into becoming more like Him - i.e.,  patient, loving, gracious - or we become like the world... angry, impatient, spiteful.

I wish I could say I was patient, loving and gracious the whole waiting period. I wasn't. I am not going to choose to be upset about that. I know that I was feeling VERY human in the middle of our waiting season, but I also know that God MET ME THERE. I think that was part of the "who" God was developing within my character. He was engrainging in me that God is faithful, to trust His timing, and to know that while we can get angry and frustrated, He holds our destiny and development in His hands. Trust Him. Trust His process. 

Our process, if I could have fashioned it in my own way, would surely have cut corners. I would have sent us somewhere, anywhere, to get out of Massachusetts. I simply cannot share how uncomfortable it is to be somewhere that you initially felt called to only to find out that it is a hard place and not where you are meant to be for the long haul. The community was so hard-hearted here. Spiritual growth was very siloed for the first half of our time here. Friendships were the hardest they had ever been. People acted in their own interests more than for others. Love felt so selfish and guarded. Not like other places I have been.

Granted, I don't know for sure how Portland will be. I do have some friends in Oregon. In Portland! Can you believe that! Good friends from my undergraduate studies. I have never moved anywhere that I already know people, and I even have friends in the nonprofit sector that have organizations there in Portland. I feel so preemptively that I will have some semblance of community when I arrive. These are friends that have already been praying for my journey, long before we knew of the certainty of our move. They prayed us through the hardest part- the waiting.

And I think that is what I am feeling the most grounded in. I really feel like God is going before me. I don't have housing or job stuff lined up for myself yet. But Daniel has a great job lined up. My family will be closer. My brother will be closer. I couldn't be more excited for those things!

Moving is exciting. But what will stand true even when the initial excitement of the move is over, is that God is so dang faithful! He pulled me through and sustained me through the hard, dark, uncertain seasons. He was with me and loved me when I was bitter and unhappy. He was not holding back goodness to spite me, He was teaching me more of His character, and now I am rewarded with the blessing of a cross-country move and strengthened understanding of the Truth of God's character and how real He is to me.

Thank you all for your prayers as we move!

Love,

Melissa