“Maybe I’m supposed to move there before you.”
I took my eyes off the road for a second to glance at my daughter who sat in the passenger seat.
“I heard the same thing,” she said, “but I wasn’t going to say anything because I didn’t think you’d want to do that.”
Did I want to do what I had suggested? We had been talking about where my daughter and her family planned to move and settle down when her husband retired from the Marines in 2026. Without hesitation, I voiced my immediate thought.
Maybe I was supposed to move to Boone, North Carolina before them.
Doubts, fears, and grief of leaving our loved home, family, friends, community, and mountains of Colorado occupied every one of my conversations with God for the next three months. What harm would it do to pretend the thought of moving had never entered my mind? None, if that’s all it was. A thought. But it wasn’t. It was an answer to the cries of my heart over the last year. Cries to thrive again and not just survive, to live again and not just breathe. To arise and shine.
It's impossible to lean on Jesus and on your own understanding. It’s one or the other.
The unexpected happens when you lean on Jesus. You might decide to do things you’ve never considered before and make choices that seem nonsensical. When you lean on Jesus, it could make people uncomfortable, bringing their own doubts and fears to the surface to spill all over you.
I surprised many people recently, but none more than myself. I’ve always longed to live out Proverbs 3:5-6 that says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and he will make your paths straight (NASB).” This summer, by God’s glorious grace, I think I truly trusted Him and not myself. Leaning on Jesus, I didn’t lean on my own understanding.
However, that is not the miraculous part of this story. It’s not that I moved across the country to a state where I had no family, friends, or job waiting for me, or that I bought a house sight unseen (other than a tour via FaceTime), or that I obeyed when God nudged.
The miracle has nothing to do with me and everything to do with Jesus.
The King of the Universe, Creator of all things, and the One who calls each star by name (Psalm 147:4 NLT), is as close as our next breath, a voice behind us saying, “This is the way you should go (Isaiah 30:21).” He never leaves our side, yet goes behind us and before us, and chooses to make his home inside of us.
While it’s beyond our comprehension, nothing is truer, and “his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children (Romans 8:16).”
The miraculous is more real than anything we can lay eyes on, and it’s worth leaning our whole heart on. Wouldn’t you agree?
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