Has God called you to leave your place of comfort - the garden in which you have flourished? Your new surroundings, or the ones to which you will be moving in the near future, may seem like a jungel to you. Don't despair.
God will never leave you. He has begun to plant a new garden. You are the seed He needs to attract others in your new community.

Move in so God can move you on to new heights!
"Behold, I am doing a new thing;now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? "I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert." Isaiah 4319

One of my areas of ministry is hospitality. I developed this gift out of a deep need for friendships. Growing up in a foreign country and returning to the US every other year left me feeling like a kid without a country. I didn’t feel welcome anywhere. I felt out of place everywhere. At some point in my life I determined to reach out to others. I know the deep longings of my heart. I can’t be too different from other wandering souls. I began to reach out to people and collect friends.

In the process I met lots of movin’ mamas – women whose lives where defined by their husbands’ careers. These were women like me who kept the home fires burning regardless their circumstances. They might be new to the neighborhood, but on the outside they maintained a since of stability for their families while their hearts twisted and agonized over the life they had left behind.

Then I began to journal about my moves and share them with others. Before long I had quite an extensive collections of devotionals related to my many moves- in fact I collected a year’s worth of writing – a devotional for every day of the movin’ year.

I have a friend who has must moved. She is keeping her chin up, but finding it hard to settle in a new environment. She is not alone. Every day thousands of families move in the US. Every day a home is broken up and moved cross country. Every day women say good bye to their best friends and bury their past. They walk away from a life that was to never see most of the people she once called friends.

I am going to try to revive my Moving Devotionals – actually I used to call them
In Him We Move based on the Acts 17 chapter verse 27: God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being.

So here goes a post to encourage women on the move.

A RING, A ROBE, SANDALS, AND CLEBRATIONS

“The father said…’Quickly bring out the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet …and let us eat and be merry…’ ” Luke 15:22-23


Animals in pain retreat to lick their wounds. They crawl off to cool dark places to recover. Humans, in emotional pain, retreat also. Unfortunately they retreat from that which could heal.

I have retreated. I retreated to my apartment one summer after a move. I remember my routine those three months. I walked my dog, visited the library, and shopped for groceries. I made no effort to develop relationships or talents. I kept to myself and didn’t reach out into the community. I gave nothing and received nothing. I walked to the library, checked out books and returned to my apartment to read for hours every day. One September day while visiting the library, a flyer caught my attention. The social services in cooperation with the public schools had developed a “big sister” program.

I couldn’t get the thought out of my mind and eventually made the phone call. It wasn’t long before I met my “little sister” and, together, we began a long journey toward the healing we each needed. As I put my selfish feelings behind me, God reached out in love. He had waited patiently for me as I wandered farther and farther off the path. When I came to the end of myself, I returned to what I knew was my true refuge. I came back to the mandates of the Father: “If you love me, feed my sheep.” I put my past behind and the celebration of life began. I was set free to inherit His goodness. I had been lost, but now I was found.

I’ve learned that God takes us out of our comfort zones forcing his children to get a broader perspective on life. What does God want to show in your new surroundings?