You Know What I Really Don’t Like…Moving

Moving is not my favorite thing.  I have moved so many times in my adult life, I just really do not like it.  There is a lot that goes into moving.  First, it is difficult, it is just a lot of work.  You have to research places, visit different ones, weigh your options, create spreadsheets, figure out if the cost is worth the move, buy wine to drink during this whole process and get frustrated with what is out there in your price range.  It is exhausting to sort, purge, pack, store, unpack, organize and reassign all of your stuff.  Then you have all the forwarding of mail, updating of addresses with every entity you are a part of or have ever owed money to. Then there is the actual moving day.  Blah.  It is the best workout ever though with all the cleaning, lifting, lunging, squatting, climbing, pushing, pulling and sweating.  After moving day you wake up in a strange home and you the most sore you have ever been in your life because you are in fact older than you were the last time you moved (even if that was only a few months ago).  Moving is very draining.  Not just physically draining from moving, but mentally from all the prepping and number crunching.  Then there is the emotional drain.  Oh boy, the emotional drain!

So here I am again, about to move.  I have been at my current apartment for three years, which is the longest I have lived anywhere since I lived with my parents.  It has also been over 12 years since I moved out of my parents’ house, so for me three years is a long time.  I have to say I have gotten very comfortable in my current living situation.  It is a cute place, perfect size for me and has little amenities that were a desire in my heart when I was looking for places last time I moved.  Over the past three years a lot has happened here in my apartment, for better and for worse.  I have accumulated a lot of memories, some I will cherish always and some I would rather forget.  It is funny how emotions and memories get attached to places.  This has been a three year season in which I have grown greatly, but I was also challenged greatly.  Most often, I failed greatly in those challenges, but ultimately that lead back to the growing.  I am going to miss this home very much. 

I do live alone currently.  I have a pattern of going back and forth between living with people and living alone.  I grew up in a large family, I have four siblings and my parents are together.  Which means, growing up there were seven people living in a four bedroom, one bathroom home, which was about 1,000 square feet.  It was tight when all seven of us were there.  Thankfully, as number four of my parent's five children, I was pretty young when we all lived there together so I do not remember everything and that, my friends, is a blessing on so many levels.  So when I moved out of my parents’ home I was bound and determined to live on my own, even if it meant having little money.  I was not afraid of living lean because I came from a community where we already did that.  After I moved out I was able to make it for a while, but this world really does catch up to you quick.  After a tough two years out on my own, I decided to go back to school to get my degree to make more money and get a job I did not completely loathe.  For the two years that I went back to school to get my Bachelors I lived a bit of a gypsy lifestyle.  I lived with 3 other roommates in college, but felt like I lived out of a duffle bag because I was back and forth between school and family/friends through the school year.  Then in the summers I would nanny for one of my sisters and live with them.  I did that for two years and then planned on going to law school.  After the law school plan fell through and I realized that was not really what I wanted to do with my life after all, I continued to live with my sister, brother-in-law and their three children in their home for a year.  Thankfully, my sister kicked me out (my sister and I are really good honestly, it was just time for me to go) and I moved into a friend’s home and rented a room.  That one was fun because I moved in on a Saturday and then on Sunday her boyfriend proposed.  So pretty much immediately after unpacking I knew that I had to be out of there in six months. 

Thankfully I got a better job and was able to move out as scheduled and get my own place again!!!  (Insert choir of angels singing here).  Praise the Lord, I was able to finally live on my own again after all that bouncing around from place to place.  I ended up living in that apartment for two years, once again money was tight.  Even though I was barely making it in my first apartment, this time was worse because now I had student loans from the Bachelors.  I had paid for my Associate’s in full when I was still living with my parents, so when I got in my first apartment I was debt free, just poorly paid.  Now I was on my own again, but with two years’ worth of student loans…from a private institution (because I thought that was a good idea, it was a good education, but still).  Even with scholarships and grants, I still owed a massive amount.  So even though I was getting paid better, it did not matter because my debt was far greater.  After two years, I moved in with a different friend and rented a room from her for a year.  I obtained a Master’s degree during that time, which I did not owe any money on, but boy those student loans from my Bachelors were still hanging out and those lenders really wanted their money.  I was still struggling, but I honestly at that point if I was going to struggle I just wanted to live alone and at least get my stuff out of storage again.  I had been through a really rough personal few years and I was just ready to be in my own place, even if it was a meager existence.  God is good though, I found the place I am currently in and loved it!  I loved the location and got the best deal in the area for the money.

Fast forward three years, living here has been a challenge.  I have gone through a lot of uphill battles with the finances, but thankfully God has protected me along the way and I am still here.  I cannot tell you how many times the power and water should have gotten turned off and did not because God provided.  I cannot tell you how many times my internet and my phone did get cut off because I had to opt to pay rent instead.  I cannot tell you how many overdrafts and late fees I have paid.  What I can tell you though, is God provided throughout.  I never went hungry once, even when all that was left was a dying cucumber, baking soda and a can of tuna fish.  I always had clothes, even if I had to stitch up a hole, a button or pocket because they had been worn thin.  My car payment was always on time, simply because I knew I would not be able to get to the job if I did not have a car.  Truthfully, I am not sad about any of that, I am grateful for everything I have.  However difficult the finances appear to be at times, I remind myself that there are other people in the world praying to be in the situation I am in because they have it far worse.

Once I got my notice that my rent would be going up yet again this year, I decided I needed another change.  I would have to move.  As sad as it made me in the moment and as much as I did not want to give up my place, I knew it was inevitable.  I prayed for an opportunity because frankly, the cost of living in the greater Chicagoland area is expensive.  Side bar - Can we talk about that for a minute?  Why is it so expensive?  What are we paying for exactly?  We are in the middle of the country.  We do not get great weather.  There is no ocean and definitely no beach on said ocean (and Lake Michigan does not count).  What exactly are we paying for?!  Corruption and greed?  Yeah actually, that is probably it, but I digress.  After praying about the opportunity and seeing that there really just was not much out there in my price range, I was getting discouraged.  I knew I needed a miracle because frankly I was not going to be able to afford any of my options, so I kept praying.  Some days later I got a text from a good friend of mine letting me know that she would have a room for rent opening up in the next couple weeks.  Three fold answer to prayer and a miracle!  One, I will have a place to live in a really pretty house, closer to the job and church, which is also in a great location.  Two, my bills will basically be cut in half since I will have two roommates.  Three, they are awesome Jesus girls who will help keep me accountable and out of trouble (we will talk about that more in another post I am sure). 

I knew staying where I am now was not going to be affordable and I knew that God just wanted me to come to Him with my concerns.  What seemed an impossible situation from my finite human standpoint was actually very possible in the hands of God.  He can do anything and He does when we align with His greater plan.  For some of you, it may seem really silly that I am giving God all the credit for this miracle.  To you it may not seem like a miracle at all, but for me it was.  Do you have those situations though were something is a very big deal to you, but from an outsider perspective people do not get it because they are not going through it (and they are not you)?  When that happens in your life, whether it is moving or something else you know what the odds set against you to say.  You know how detrimental a situation will be if things do not work out.  You know that you are human and even with all the positive thinking in the world, you cannot work the situation out.  If you understand that, then you understand where I was at this time regarding the move.  If you do not understand what I am talking about you will one day soon because we are human and there is much in our lives and this world outside of our control.  My God though, He is in control.  He loves and cares for me and each person He has created so much that He will fulfill all our needs.  Physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually, He supplies all my needs.

I am excited to start this new chapter.  There will be sadness when I leave, but I know the next chapter is going to be wild.  So far it has definitely been an eventful life, I have a feeling that it is going to be even crazier for the next chapter.  Very glad all of you will be with me because it is going to be nuts, thank you for being with me so far!  So thankful that sometimes we have to do things that we do not like to get to the next thing that will change our lives.

“And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19 (NIV)

“Now to Him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us— to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21 (HCSB)