Finally I’m back with you all. It has been a time of change and tension.Despite our carefully laid plans our move, as Heather explained to you, did not go the way we hoped. First, our internet provider managed to mess everything up leaving us without internet coverage for several days before the move and then weeks afterwards. Arguments and pleas got us nowhere. Eventually when nothing was resolved, we switched providers. The hassles took some of the excitement away from the move. But move we did. And for once even managed fine weather in which to move, which is a first for us.
It’s a scary feeling watching all your possessions leave while we remained behind, praying that settlement on both houses would take place the next day as planned with no hitches.
After the van left with all our furniture except for a blow up bed, the house looked eerily empty. We raced around doing last minute cleaning jobs, made easier by the absence of furniture. Then we collapsed onto the blow up bed for a few hours sleep before setting off to follow the removalist truck, which had left hours earlier.
At 1am we left for the 6 hour drive to our new home, hoping to arrive about the same time as the removalists, who were taking an overnight stop for sleep en route. Because we had a dog there was no chance of us staying overnight in a motel, which was how we ended up leaving at such an peculiar time.
We gave the dog a sleeping tablet, before setting out, intended to help make the journey less stressful. It had no effect. However, confined as was with boxes all around him on the back seat, he couldn’t get into too much mischief. When we stopped to let him have walk we lost him in the dark – the problems of a black dog at night. When he eventually came to our call, we put him on the lead so we wouldn’t lose him again on the next rest stop.
The last couple of hours our eyelids grew heavy and we found ourselves changing driver every half hour and taking a brisk walk around the car to keep us awake.
Watching the sun come up over the water was magic,as was the sight of our new house. After all the years of planning and dreaming and months of waiting we had finally arrived. It still seemed like a dream from which we would wake up.
The removalists arrived and we started the process of unpacking and deciding where furniture would go. It’s not easy trying to think on the spot about the best position for a lounge, cupboards, bed or dining room table. Some pieces ended up being moved before the day was over.
I don’t think we fully relaxed until we heard from the solicitors that both houses had been settled. Right up to the last minute, it was a matter of testing as a couple of unforeseen problems presented themselves. We had to keep trusting the Lord and not giving into fears that the whole plan would come unstuck. But it didn’t. By the need of the day we were tired but happy with the way God had provided and the special place he had brought us to.
Even then it still didn’t work without complications, as the day after we moved I broke my arm in a fall. This slowed down the unpacking somewhat. Thanks to all of those who prayed, I’m sure the prayers resulted in quicker healing and removed the necessity for plates and pins being inserted in the arm as doctors first thought. But more about that another time.
Throughout those weeks in plaster from fingers to elbow, I was conscious others were praying for me. We need to pray for each other in our daily struggles of life. As Zephaniah 3:16-17 says, ‘do not let your hands fall limp. The Lord your God is in your midst.’ What a joy it is to know that! What a blessing to know as we pray for each other, God is in our midst. We are reminded again in Matthew 18:20, ‘For where two or three have gathered in My name, I am there in their midst.’
Bible verses taken from The New American Standard Version
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