What Tomorrow Holds

Then Job arose, shaved his head, tore his robe, and fell on the ground and worshiped. Then he said, 'Naked I came from my Mother's womb, and naked I shall return there; the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.' In all this, Job did not sin or charge God with wrongdoing." Job 1:20-22

I'm back in Florida for a very few days, doing things that I have dreaded but that I knew had to be done. Three friends from North Carolina accompanied me here to dismantle the house that has been my home for two and a half years and to move me from the place that has been my home for 22 years.

My husband and I built a house here in 1983, moved into that house in January of 1989, and were extremely happy there. No happy is not the word. We were more than happy. We were content. We knew that God had made that wonderful place available to us, and we sat on the floor of the living room when no furniture had yet arrived and dedicated the house to him.

Then Wallace went home to be with the Lord in 2007. I soon realized that the house was more than I could cope with, and in a terribly flat economy when nothing was selling, I sold the house and bought another, smaller and more manageable for a woman living alone. Once again, I knew that God had made the place available to me, and my children and I sat in the new house, thanked God for it, and dedicated it to his service for my lifetime in Florida.

Well, that time is just about to end. Once again I have been very content here, and the home has been just what I needed. I have felt terribly torn as I prepared to move away, but at the same time I knew that God was doing something in my life. I really did not understand, but I was so sure that I continued to move as I thought he was directing, not having any idea what tomorrow held.

Now suddenly, I am taking apart the house that we so carefully made comfortable for me and preparing to go to a place that is not my own--owned by someone else. I have not lived in a rented house for 50 years, but now I will. I'll have to ask permission to paint or plant or change. That seems strange.

My familiar rooms no longer seem familiar because all the things that have made them mine are gone--no pictures of my Wallace or our children, no little personal things that are so much a part of my life. All gone. Packed into impersonal boxes and put into a strange looking monster sitting in my once familiar driveway.

Surely the Lord has blessed my life mightily. Surely he has provided more than generously for many years. Now, just as surely, he is taking me into another tomorrow that I do not know, that I did not plan, that is very unfamiliar, that would never have entered my mind had I been planning my own life, and that scares me more than just a little.

I actually have some very wierd thoughts. If Wallace tried to find me, he couldn't. What if I can't accomplish in the new church what they want me to do? What if I only imagine that my ideas tried and tested here will work there? What if I blow it? Where will I go? What will I do? Dumb, huh? There just the same.

Last evening, after a day of packing and labeling boxes, I climbed once more into my familiar bed--possibly for the last time in this place--and quickly fell into a deep and restful sleep. This morning about 5:30, the Lord woke me with the verses above. I lay here and thought about them for awhile. How like him to remind me that he is Lord and I am his!

The Lord has given and now the Lord is taking away, and I will praise him! I don't know where we are going, but how wonderful to know that we are going together! I don't know if I will succeed or fail, but whatever is there, I know he will use for good. I feel so sad about leaving some friends whom I love so dearly, but I know that more friends are out there for me to meet and love.

I have thought many times about Job and his terrible troubles. But one thing seemed most important to me in that story. Satan told God that Job was only faithful because his life was so full and good. But God knew Job's heart. He knew that no matter what, Job would praise his God. And Job proved God's faith in him to be justified. I have said to God more than once that I would like to be such a Christian. That I would like to be the person whom he would know would always be faithful!

Well, I have not endured the misery that Job endured, and I am grateful for that. I do know, however, that God has given me much, and now he is taking some of that away. And that's okay. I shall drive away from here soon with all my life's accumulation of things on a truck in front of me, going to a very different new phase of my life. But I go knowing who my God is and where I place my loyalty! And as I go, I can only imagine what tomorrow holds.

Even as I write these words, another verse pops into my head. "Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has it entered into the mind of man the wonderful things that God has prepared for those who love him."

Exciting to contemplate.