A Welcomed Fresh Start

Spring is beautiful, isn’t it? There’s nothing like watching the world wake up after Winter. The air smells fresh again, the trees get their green back, and my soul seems to take a deep, full breath. I’m convinced–I was made for the sunshine. I feel so alive in the warmth of Spring and Summer. It’s one reason of many why my heart feels so at home in Texas.

Every Spring feels like a fresh start, but none more than this year’s. I’m experiencing rebirth and renewal at present that rivals few other times in my life.

We’re in our home. We’ve put down roots. We don’t have to move again until we want to move again. When I moved last year, it’s no secret that I was met with challenges and difficulties, certainly the hardest of them being that I couldn’t truly settle. From the day we moved into our apartment, we were looking for a home in another city. I couldn’t get involved in my community because I knew that it was only a matter of months before we’d find a house and uproot again. Unsettling.

But we’re finally here, and these four walls are ours. We can paint them, invite the people we love into them, decorate them–we can settle here. I feel so at peace and at home already, though we have a long way to go aesthetically. In my heart, I’m home. What a blessing. We’ve prayed for this for nearly two years.

God is moving mightily through our lives, and watching His outpouring of endless grace fills me with awe. On the night before Easter, my husband and I still hadn’t decided where we’d go to church in the morning. We’re now new to town and our old church is much too far away–what now? Scrolling through Instagram, one of my favorite authors posted something like, “If you have a home church, post its name and city. That way, if someone is looking for a place to go on Easter, you can connect here and meet up tomorrow.” I thought If someone posts a church in our city, we’ll go, knowing that the chances were slim.

I sat stunned when I read the words–our exact city, a church just five minutes away from our home. I sent a message to the woman who had posted the information, and we arrived the next morning to worship. After the service, I found the woman I’d been chatting with the night before, and we laughed and hugged–how is this possible? I might have found our new church through Instagram. Is there anything God can’t do?

We have so much to look forward to this Spring as well. My parents are flying in for a weekend, and, for the first time ever, staying with us! My childhood best friend gets married in May to her high school sweetheart. Riley and I are going to Disney in a little over a month, and then spending a few days at the beach in late June. So much blessed time with the people I love most.

We’re decorating our home, we’re settling into our city, we’re so happy together. I’m in a really healthy place emotionally, spiritually, and mentally for the first time in months. It’s been a strange season of life–moving, figuring out marriage, feeling slightly nomadic, not knowing how to settle in, moving again. But I feel like I can breathe again–and this fresh start is abundantly welcomed. Happy Spring, friends.