Jen’s Gem: God is faithful. Always.

For the past several weeks, my sleep patterns have been about as unpredictable as the weather in Connecticut. Some nights I rock the REMs. Other nights, it is as elusive as selecting winning Lotto numbers. This morning, I awoke at 4:30 a.m. and instead of fighting the “I should be sleeping” mantra, I decided to just give in and start my day.

Last week was my first blog of 2020. Today, I write my final blog post in my home office. This space has been the birthplace of hundreds of posts, boatloads of client work, and a decade ago, my baby gift business, Frittabello. More has been accomplished in this small room than in any other of my house. It has seen moments of jubilation, frustration, revelation, overwhelm, and more.

Other than my own room, I suspect I will miss this space the most when we move next week. I will no longer have a separate place to work and will need to adjust to doing so in a common area. There will be no door to shut when I need time for “heads down” work, no quick exit to the outdoors when I need a time out.

Change. It’s inevitable. It’s the only thing that’s predictable. We have a conflicting relationship with it. In some respects, we fear it. While other times, we crave it. Boredom tends to foster the desire for change. Yet when we are in the middle of an unexpected turn, fear and worry can grip us. Many times, that fear can paralyze us.

Change is a time of testing. Testing our resolve. Testing our patience. Testing our faith.

The process of selling my home and finding its replacement has been the biggest test of my faith over the past few months. It began with having faith that someone would buy my house. When that occurred, I needed faith that I’d find a new place in an extremely abbreviated amount of time. The next test came as monies had to be spent to address the issues found in the inspection. Then came mortgage approvals. Finally, a locked in closing date.

Each step of the way, God was faithful. He delivered the desire of my heart easier than I could’ve imagined. Oh sure, there were hiccups along the way, but as I look back over the process, it really was a walk in the park.

I had to trust many people throughout this process. Realtors, mortgage brokers, lawyers, bankers, service providers, and friends were relied upon for their expertise, support, and understanding. I had to rest in the fact that each knew what they were doing and would facilitate a positive outcome for me.

Likewise, I will need to have that same level of trust – possibly more so – as we prepare to move next week. I’ll need to trust the movers to bring our belongings safely to our new home. I’ll need to trust my friends who offered to help with various facets of the moving process. I’ll need to trust that my internet provider will hook me up quickly and easily or this might be the last blog post you receive for a while!

However, more than all of these people combined, I will have to trust that God will have His hand in everything. I’ll need to believe that He has my back at all times. I’ll need to have faith that just as He orchestrated this relatively painless transition that He will continue to do so as we settle into our new home.

This should be an easy task, yes? God has proven time and again that He is trustworthy. When rejection after rejection came about the sale of my house and I was minutes away from taking it off the market, He came through with a buyer. When a blip in my mortgage approval process occurred, He came through with a creative idea on how to make it happen.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall [a]direct your paths.” (Proverbs 3:5 NKJV)

Sometimes it’s easier to trust people, rather than God because we can see what they are doing. We have  a conversation about expectations and deliverables, and know that they’ll likely happen. With God, we may not have this same sense of surety. We can’t see Him. We can’t touch Him. And while He does speak to us, sometimes we’re not sure if it’s really Him.

I believe that’s why God gives us so many opportunities or tests throughout our lives. He presents us with these challenges so that we will learn to trust Him, not ourselves or even other people. Because even though we and our trusted peeps may be the sharpest tools in the toolbox, we’re a drop in the bucket compared to what God can do.

“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? (Matthew 6:25-27 NKJV)

This week, I’d like to encourage you to cast your cares into God’s trustworthy hands. Ask Him to show you the way out of your specific challenge and to give you strength along the way as you wait for His response. Ask Him to help you pass this latest faith test. I’m certain, like me, you’ll want to get an “A.”