BIG NEWS!!! (and dancing in the rain...)

"What if I fall?"

Oh but my darling,

What if you fly?” 

― Erin Hanson

It was 6:00am when I finally gave in to my insuppressible desire to prance out my front door and dance like a fool in the rain. It was so glorious. (Why don’t we do that more? Dance in the rain?) As the wet drops landed on my bare skin and the fresh grass clippings stuck to my naked feet, I felt God say to me,

This is a season to dance in the rain dear child. Enjoy. Let go of what you cling to. Be okay with getting messy and just enjoy what I am doing. Lay underneath my best plan and be filled with JOY just as you are freely basking in the joy of freely dancing in the rain right now. 

Just as I finished tip-toeing back into our house I saw my oldest turn the corner wiping her sleepy eyes and finishing a yawn. I listened to her recount the details of the dream she had the night before and when I couldn’t hold it in anymore I squealed with excitement while asking her to come and do something CRAZY with me. I love her adventurous spirit. She didn't even hesitate for a beat, and out the front door we went to dance in the pouring rain together. We laughed so hard and just enjoyed the moment as if it was the only moment that mattered. 

When the chill from the brisk morning air set in we danced inside and sat on the couch giggling together. Then leaning over, I told her what God wanted me to share with her… 

Jesus did crazy things when he was on this earth. Heck, God still does the craziest things in his kids lives all the time. Things that look crazy to the world. Dancing in the rain in our pajamas in the early morning hours probably seemed a little crazy to our neighbors as they watched from their dry, warm house, but it also felt freeing and joy-filled and soul satisfying to us. It was so worth it! I want us to live like that sweet baby girl. Willing to do the crazy things that Jesus calls us to. To go to places and talk to people and love and serve and open our home to the wildest things because Jesus himself lived that way. What an adventure life is meant to me! 

And thats when I saw it click for her. 

She understood that our family is going on an adventure. And it will be worth it no mater how hard it is to leave behind what we've know and loved. 

So, here's the BIG NEWS.....

We are selling our house, picking up our life and moving to South Dakota.

Because Jesus said, GO. 

And we said, YES, and THANK YOU. 

So here we go. Onto new adventures together. A new career opportunity for my husband means a new adventure for our whole family. And we are in awe of God’s crazy ways of working it all out. He does that, you know? When he calls us, he works it all out. Every detail. Every need. Just met. Because he is God. It's never seamless, it's messy and it takes work but it's still so perfect when God is in the driver seat. 

If I teach my kids anything about Jesus I want it to be that he is love and love is adventure and it is freedom and it is beauty and it is exciting and it is dancing in the rain because God’s love never takes us where we shouldn't be. It is a safe love that allows us to embrace new adventures while being tucked under his wing.