Be all there!

The reality is that we have moved a lot.  Counting  both temporary and permanent addresses, we have lived in twelve different dwellings in our thirty-five years of marriage, not including a month-long stint in a motel when I was nine-months pregnant with our fourth daughter.  I guess that would qualify all of those places as "temporary," even though we may not have known that at the time.

Indeed, in the last four places where we have lived, we thought would live out our days there.  I have since reconsidered.  Heaven is my final move. This earth is not my home.  We are all only soujourners here.

Our family could re-write Dr. Suess's book Oh, The Places You'll See and entitle it Oh, The Places You'll Be.  When I married this adventuring man, I had no idea that I was joining a nomadic tribe.

Over the years, I have heard many say, "Oh, you are just used to moving," remarked mostly from those who never wandered too far.

Never.  It's just what you do with it.

With no exceptions, God has provided all of us -- including you -- with a place He has divinely appointed.

These are their dwelling places
according to their settlements
within their borders...

                      1 Chronicles 6. 54

God has given you a designated place to be in order to bring the name of the LORD there, to be faithful to His calling whether you see His purposes fulfilled or not, however long the LORD keeps you here.

There were many places I would not have chosen to live.  "You want us to go where?"  Once, I even had to look at a map to realize where Kansas was, having only known it was one of those square states out West.  But God surprised us incredibly -- move after move --where I would have previously thought a barren wilderness.  Through every one of those reluctant moves, in some way, God gave us front row seats to His blessings there.  I have seen too much to question God in this.

My advice to those many families who will move this summer:  Don't always be looking for the next thing.  Send down roots. Join God's work there. Connect immediately with a Body of believers. Finish well this assignment, realizing it may not be for you.

And even if you already think it is a temporary rest area, get involved right away. God has strategically placed you in time and place for His immense purposes and for His glory. God may not enlarge your borders until you have fulfilled the ones you already have and have learned to trust Him on this little plot of eternity.

As missionary and martyr Jim Elliot once stated, "Wherever you are, be all there!  Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God."

Faithful to God
          even here,
          even in this.