Sunday Sentiments

A few months ago I wrote a piece, mostly for my own purposes, describing what it was like to come here to Grabill...to Gateway Woods...when we first arrived. I don't know that the words of that particular piece will ever be for anything other than my own purposes, but one of the phrases I used as I wrote was that I unfolded from the car after the drive here.

Unfolding best describes this past year, I think.

My heart has unfolded.

My mind has unfolded.

My life has unfolded.

Today marks one year (in days) since that first unfolding. It was a Sunday, one year ago, when we last went to the church that had been our home for three years. The place where we had served, grown, and I had been employed. We walked out of the building that morning knowing full well we were leaving behind something that had become very comfortable for something completely unknown.

We went home and crammed as much as we could into our car. So much, in fact, that my seat was shoved forward and I managed to squeeze three big bags around my feet and in my lap for the drive. (No wonder I felt like I unfolded when we arrived!) 

On the way to our new home, we stopped at Ryan's sister's house to wish her little boy a happy second birthday. We drove away not knowing for sure when we would see the family again. We knew many of them didn't understand what we were walking toward, but we also knew we'd been called to walk that way.

I tried to memorize every moment as we rolled into town. I was acutely aware that we were arriving in our new home. I even tried to be conscious of my word choices starting that day, calling even our temporary apartment "home" and our life in Kokomo "our old home." 

We committed to this place fully and without reserve. We knew we had no idea what we were getting into. We knew we had no idea what all the job description would require. We knew it would be fun. We knew it would be hard. We knew it would be confusing. We knew it would be liberating.

And over the last year, we've unfolded. We've done so together and also in our own unique ways.

This Tuesday, by date on the calendar, we will celebrate one full year of employment here. One full year of unfolding.

Throughout this week, I think I'll share some of my thoughts on this past year and what it's meant to me - to us.

This weekend we had a new tenant join us in the building, so we won't be heading back to our old home to celebrate birthdays. We'll be on duty here, watching a new unfolding begin, even as ours continues. 

She'll experience her own blend of fun, hard, confusing, liberating unfolding. We'll continue with ours.

Because that's the thing about this place. We're all unfolding here. Team and tenants alike. We're all learning to leave behind what was before to reach for what is ahead, leaning on the Lord's guidance for each step!