September 2, 2010 in Uncategorized with 17 Comments

What I Learned from Moving (again)…

For those of you that follow us on Twitter or Facebook, it’s not news to you that we have moved this week. The house that we moved into in July 2009 was a rental house. The owners of the house wanted to sell it, and we didn’t want to buy it. So we found a house, and planned on moving within 30 days. When I met with our property manager, he said we could go ahead and be out by the 31st. Which gave us 12 days. :)

It has been crazy.

We don’t have Internet at our new house until Monday…so our blog posting times may be a little inconsistent. We’ll be back to our regular schedule hopefully next week.

This is Trisha and my 13th move in 15 years of marriage. Some of those were from one apartment to another, 7 of those were to different cities. We are done moving. We want to die in this house. (It too is a rental, but we have an option to buy it! Yea!)

So today, I thought I’d share with you a few things that I learned while moving on Tuesday.

1. We have more than we need.

We sold a bunch of stuff on Craigslist before we moved, we took a ton of stuff to the Goodwill before we moved, but we still have more than we need. I think it’s easy to forget this, at least for me, when I compare my stuff to other’s stuff. I tend to compare my stuff to people who have more than I do, and rarely compare my stuff to the billions of people who live below poverty. I was reminded how much I have and how thankful I should be.

2.  I long for home.

When we moved to Nashville last year, we moved from our dream home. We felt at home in our Indiana house.  We loved the schools, our neighbors, the location. But more than anything else, it felt like home. When we walked into this house a few weeks ago, Trisha said to me, “This feels like home.” I long for that feeling. Sadly, I’ve never stayed anywhere long enough to make this feeling a long lasting reality. I am praying that changes with this move. My kids long for home…Trisha longs for home. I think we are home.

3. We’re blessed with amazing friends.

I knew this…I was just reminded of this. The list is too long to type of how many people helped us move. We started moving at 4pm on Tuesday…by 8pm everything was out of our old house and in our new house. We had about 20 different people do all kinds of things…paint all day before we moved; clean our cabinets and bathrooms; load our stuff; bring their trucks and trailers so we didn’t have to rent a truck; bring us food; take our kids for pizza and Laser Tag so they weren’t bored out of their mind; put our beds together; clean our old house; celebrate with us!

We were blown away with the love and generous hearts of our friends. As I was drifting to sleep about 1:30 AM on Wednesday morning, I just thanked God for our friends.

So it’s your turn…have there been any events in your life recently that God used to remind you of something? Share with us!

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  • http://rainingatmidnight.wordpress.com/ James Raven

    Congratulations to both of you on being blessed with a new house, awesome news!

    • http://refineus.org/ Justin and Trisha

      Thanks James!

  • http://10thingsaboutkelli.blogspot.com Kelli

    So…this isnt the question you asked, but I have to comment and say that its a blessing that you feel that you are “home”. My husband and I are still searching for “home” and long to be able to look at our children, and look each other in the eye when we lay down at night and truly feel at hOME. i read your posts and follow you on twitter and it gives me hope that one day we’ll find the ministry and community that will be like home. And to have more than enough? What an incredible blessing.
    Thank you both for being so willing to share your journey. Its encouraging.

    • http://refineus.org/ Justin and Trisha

      I know how you feel kelli! I will be praying for both you to find the “home” that you long for! Thank you for sharing with us and keep us updated on how God continues to move in your life!

  • http://silenthearts.wordpress.com/ Morgan MacGavin

    Great post! So glad we got to help ease some of your stress. Each of those things you mentioned I can relate to. As I was telling trish Tuesday I’ve moved a LOT in the past 14 years…the last couple of times I’ve been forced into a smaller living space and I’ve really had to figure out what I needed to keep and what could be taken to goodwill. 9 bags of clothes went there last year! I also long for home….I feel like Nashville is it…now to get the dwelling I shall reside in. And everywhere I’ve lived I’ve been blessed with friends that ultimately have become more like family.

    Honestly I think God has been trying to remind me daily of things. lately it seems like moments after expressing to Him in my heart how something is bothering me, the Lord has immediately used someone or something to say or do something to erase that fear and doubt. Like He is trying to get it through to me that He’s got this and I need to just chill.

    • http://refineus.org/ Justin and Trisha

      Sometimes just chilling is the best way to experience God! Thanks for your help moving Morgan! So appreciate it.

  • http://www.jcwert.com Jason Wert

    Glad you had all the people there to stretch the workload between them. I wanted to be there but unfortunately ended up getting sick. :( If you move again, I’ll be there.

    When we moved to Nashville, we found that we didn’t need a lot of the things we had and gave a ton of things to the local homeless ministry before we moved. I’m still looking around our apartment and feel like we have more than we need.

    As for feeling like home, for the first time in my life, I feel like I’m home. I honestly feel like Nashville is where Amy & I will go into the ground. God may have other plans but I’ve never felt like this about anywhere I’ve lived around the country.

    • http://refineus.org/ Justin and Trisha

      That is a great feeling Jason…not being sick…but feeling at home :)

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  • http://whisper-wisdom.blogspot.com/ Andie

    Freecycle.org is also a great resource but unlike Goodwill it goes right to the people that need it and they get it for free instead of having to buy it. I have met some amazing people offering stuff and picking stuff up.

    I so wanted to come help with the move but it was after 7 before I was heading home and when I sent Grant a text he said y’all had it covered. I’ve moved 11 times in the last 9 years which doesn’t seem like much but only 3 of them have been in the last 5 years. Nashville was not my original plan, it was honestly a flip of a coin, but I have been here since May 10, 2003 which is longer than I stayed anywhere since graduating High School (by more than double now). It has made a great home for me.

    I like how the feeling of home and great friends juxtapose the too much stuff thoughts.

    • http://refineus.org/ Justin and Trisha

      We did have it covered…thanks for thinking of us Andie!

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  • Mare

    Actually, my blog post today says it all. http://callmemare.blogspot.com/2010/09/power-of-your-name.html

    • http://refineus.org/ Justin and Trisha

      Thanks mare

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  • Josh branum

    It would have to be in regards to ‘being rich.’ Pete spoke how God has given each of us margins in our life, and how we should use those margins to help make a positive difference in the lives of others. My wife and I don’t have much money as a margin right now, but we do have some time that we can contribute.
    She helped me realize that we’ve been given margins in other areas of our life, such as how we’ve each been blessed with wonderful parents who always loved us and never hit or abused us.
    She’s been using this margin to help out with a women’s sexual abuse center, and she suggested I get involved in Big Brothers.
    God certainly reminds me and my wife how blessed we are, but more importantly, He reminds us that we should also bless others.

  • http://www.movingthroughlife.wordpress.com Joseph

    Wow Justin, so true. It is amazing how we complain about what we do not have and yet when we move we realize how much stuff we do have and will never use.

    Here is my event that God is slapping me upside the head with and saying “GET A CLUE”. I believed he followed that up with “dork boy” but I am not exactly sure :)

    Recently, and I have posted about this before, I have been in a major career crisis. I have looked for answers, prayed about it, you name it. The only thing that was happening was fog and no answers. Until this week.
    I decided to commit to making a move. Commit to the idea that no matter what, in two to three weeks, something had to change or I was.
    I have been career driven my whole life. It has always been about achievement, title and money. All I obtained, except happiness. Which I was certain would come along with all the aforementioned.
    This is where God stepped in. Until this week, I really thought I had to make a move….but a lateral one and that would make things alright. That’s why I think God was silent.
    It dawned on me that I do not have to go lateral. I can go down. And all in all, that’s ok.
    No one will think less of me for having a great job without a management title. No one will care that I do not have the financial opportunities that I have had. No one will care because no one ever knew before and it did not change our lives anyway.
    I can still have an amazing job and be what I need to be. A great husband and father.
    So, to bring this essay to a close. Once I admitted to myself that this was the case, options opened up. And a flood of them. God showed up with my family this weekend because the stress that has been looming over us was moving aside.
    Fingers crossed that this week I will enter into a new passage of my life. One that will allow me to be closer to my family and home.
    All this to say, God stepped in an reminded me and my thick skull, that it is not about money or title, it is about happiness and doing for others.