Houston // Goodbye // Hello

Goodbyes are tough. They don't roll off of the tongue as "hello, how are you". Instead they feel like sticky peanut butter coating my mouth, taking far too long to get out, and making a mess along the way. My farewells are ugly so instead of writing my adieu to Houston, I will write my praise of the marvelous things God has done in me these past four years and the wonderful things God is doing!

Four years ago is about four life stages ago. Almost exactly four years ago today I was on the road heading towards Houston without a set return date and the full intention of spending at least four years there to go to school, get my degree, get married, and then move up to Dallas or something a little less urban. Almost exactly four years ago today, I was confused and broken and lost. If I had to choose one word for my four years in Houston it would be healing.

Over the past four years, I matured, like all people my age, but not in the way that most do. I took a more difficult route to find my individuality. I found my identity in Christ and sparked passion within myself for things I never really thought about. Four years ago I was broken and I had women who reached into my life and showed me the value and worth that God saw in me when I didn't see it in myself. I found a sisterhood of Christians who encouraged each other, lead each other towards God, and loved on each other. For two years, these lovely ladies fed into my life in ways I didn't deserve and could never repay.

God used my time at HBU to reaffirm my callings and to teach me about relationships. He used that time to prepare me for now. Four years ago I was alone in a city where no one knew my name of my story. I started from scratch.

God used my first two years in Houston to show me how to make connections and genuine relationships with others. More importantly, He showed me how to discern the types of people who I wanted to surround myself with. He restored my faith in relationships. He showed me how to trust others, because when you're in a big city on your own you have to choose virtual strangers to trust.

Two years ago, Kevin and I were newly weds and God healed our relationship. The Lord showed us how to function as one. God restored our relationship with each other and our relationship with Him as a couple. The Lord healed a relationship that I thought was fatally flawed. He exceeded my expectations in His goodness and mercy.

Over a year ago, God gave Kevin and I the opportunity to worship and serve together. God prepared us to do ministry together in a functional and God-pleasing way. God gave us a challenging situation that revealed talents and callings in both of us that would have otherwise stayed dormant. God showed us the ways that He could use both of us together. In that time, God restored my view on serving in the church and my Christian duty.

God gave us a church this past year that functioned without us serving in it. We were not piling more into our boat and praying we stayed afloat. For the first time since we got married, we were able to attend church and be fed without worrying about what needed to be done. We were able to serve from the heart and not out of obligation. God gave us a time of restoration. We were restored in the way we viewed church. We were restored in our relationship with God and the church. We were replenished, filled up so we could go back out and fill others up.

God gave us the beautiful gift of unemployment for nine months. He showed us how we could trust in Him for all of our needs. He showed Kevin and I how to cling to God and stay united in one of the hardest nine months of our life. Moving across country seems easy after not working for nine months.

Today, I am in a new place, but God prepared me beforehand for the task set before us. Today, I have a family with me and a ready-made church family welcoming us. Today I am ready to serve. Today, I am revved up. Kevin and I are strengthened in our relationship with each other because of the trials God has given us and our past experiences. We are not saying goodbye to our home or our church. We are simply moving our home. We are worshiping in a different building, but we are still part of the same body of Christ.