Everything in this room with me is labeled. "Do NOT take." "MAYBE don't take." "Probably Don't Take." Except for this computer.
It made it through the move because Walter told the movers not to take anything that was plugged in... that or maybe he'd hidden it in the closet with the boxes of items for the salvation army. I didn't actually check. I was busy unpacking our dresser, throwing clothes into garbage bags and, in turn, throwing those bags into our final remaining wardrobe box.
The moving company didn't tell us they wouldn't move our dresser with clothes in them. They didn't tell us a lot of things, in fact. Like an accurate estimate of our space needs, or the amount of warning they would give us before coming to pick up our things, or the time of the movers arrival even. As Walter put it, it was a day of expensive surprises. It would seem that God has plans for our summer that do not include a traditional vacation.
Regardless, the movers came, padded our furniture, took our boxes, and drove away. Now Walter and I are living in an almost empty home. We're lucky enough to have a borrowed air mattress and have use of a brand new refrigerator (our previous one stopped cooling on about Friday). I've missed our tv a little. We wanted to have friends over to play on the Wii but didn't stop to consider that we'd already shipped off the tv. I am really enjoying the silence that life without a tv can bring. We watch outside instead.
Our curtain rods are on their way to Arkansas and two beautiful storms have rolled through. This is the third thunderstorm I've seen in PA. Every rumble of thunder makes me smile. I love seeing the leaves turn up and the rain blow by. Another storm just started now. It's time to open the windows. What's the use of rain if you can't hear it?
This week is full of lasts. It's my last week working at HCS, my last in this house, last meeting with my small group, and last living in Pennsylvania. Normally I wouldn't be thinking much about the lasts. I'd be thinking about my new house, the new friends to come, the new jobs I can have and the new church with which I will get involved. But there is no new house yet and I don't seem to have a foundation on which to build my daydreams. Maybe this way is better. Maybe it will allow me to live in the moment and be more involved with my surroundings. Maybe the unknowns are a gift from God instead of just a denial of the house we'd hoped to have waiting for us upon arrival.
They say that God always answers prayer... sometimes he just says no instead of yes. I prefer to think that he isn't saying 'no' he's telling us something entirely different instead.
me: "God, please allow us to buy this house."
God:"I've got something far better to give you. Here, try this instead."
I've never thought of 'unanswered' prayers this way; but I'm learning to see that God is big. He's big enough for creating worlds, sustaining miracles, and saving whole people groups. On top of that he is also big enough to take care of me! I'm learning (a little, I truly hope) to trust him to act on my behalf. When I pray for myself or my husband or my friends I can be just as sure that he will act as when I pray for something that seems to me to be far more important. God is still big. He can handle little me.
