It’s amazing how God changes your plans in the blink of an eye. We recently moved our family of 4 (plus the dog and the cat!) from the States to Germany. Six years ago, we left the country of Germany for a new assignment in the States. While we loved the 4 ½ years we got to spend in Europe, we NEVER thought we’d get to come back. In the intervening 6 years, we had a “surprise” baby, had our oldest move out to go to college, and a lot of other life events take place. My husband is now just a few years from retirement eligibility with his job, so we never dreamed they would go to the trouble and expense of moving us back here.
When we got the news, we were both delighted and shocked. All last summer, as we went through the process of getting moved, we asked “God, are you SURE???” As much as we were looking forward to living in Europe again, all the logistics involved in getting to Europe, and then possibly retiring from Germany back to the States were overwhelming to consider. But every time we started to get overwhelmed with things, God would work out some detail with our move, the arrangements, the timing, something–the kind of thing only HE could have done.
One example: when we’d been in the country about 36 hours, still jet-lagged and bleary-eyed, we were told his job was changing, and instead of moving to one city to do one job, we were being, sent to another city a couple of hours away to do a completely different job. This particular job within my husband’s work was something he felt completely unqualified to do, yet, here we are. Again the question came: “Are you SURE about this, God??” Especially because we were having a hard time finding a hotel room that could take us and our pets, and couldn’t find a kennel that had openings. What would we do with the animals?
When my husband’s new boss showed up to help us move to the new city, he said, “Oh, by the way, when I stopped at the hotel to get some paperwork, they mentioned that they’d had a pet-friendly room open up a just few minutes before, so I booked it for you.” So now the whole family—including the pets—were able to be together. And the hotel was situated within walking distance of most things we needed, another bonus since our car was still being shipped.
Just because things don’t work out the way you expect, doesn’t mean God’s not in the move; sometimes that can even be evidence that He IS in the move–because if we could look ahead and know all the answers, would we need to rely on Him so much?
When we got the news, we were both delighted and shocked. All last summer, as we went through the process of getting moved, we asked “God, are you SURE???” As much as we were looking forward to living in Europe again, all the logistics involved in getting to Europe, and then possibly retiring from Germany back to the States were overwhelming to consider. But every time we started to get overwhelmed with things, God would work out some detail with our move, the arrangements, the timing, something–the kind of thing only HE could have done.
One example: when we’d been in the country about 36 hours, still jet-lagged and bleary-eyed, we were told his job was changing, and instead of moving to one city to do one job, we were being, sent to another city a couple of hours away to do a completely different job. This particular job within my husband’s work was something he felt completely unqualified to do, yet, here we are. Again the question came: “Are you SURE about this, God??” Especially because we were having a hard time finding a hotel room that could take us and our pets, and couldn’t find a kennel that had openings. What would we do with the animals?
When my husband’s new boss showed up to help us move to the new city, he said, “Oh, by the way, when I stopped at the hotel to get some paperwork, they mentioned that they’d had a pet-friendly room open up a just few minutes before, so I booked it for you.” So now the whole family—including the pets—were able to be together. And the hotel was situated within walking distance of most things we needed, another bonus since our car was still being shipped.
Just because things don’t work out the way you expect, doesn’t mean God’s not in the move; sometimes that can even be evidence that He IS in the move–because if we could look ahead and know all the answers, would we need to rely on Him so much?
Old Rathaus (City Hall) in Weiden, Germany, October, 2016.