Sycamore Tree.

Let's make it 6 moves in 6 years with 3 toddlers.

Now before you go thinking who is this girl and why is she bragging. I share this with you mamas because life opens opportunities and we can grab the adventure or we can settle in and watch it. Adventure for you might not be moving a bunch but for me it's been all about putting my life in God's hands over and over again, and trusting Him with the next season of our lives.

I don't even know for sure if this move will happen but right here, right now, today I am declaring to you my friends that I am a terrified mama facing the biggest choice of my life so far and I'm trying with all the strength God gives me to step out in faith and grab hold of this adventure. 

We recently went to Hilton Head Island, SC for a vacation and my husband had a job interview. I mean whaaaaat?! Living on a island? Are you for real? This all seems crazy and surreal. Baby Cora is coming in 3 months, our house is not done, I could drive myself nuts with all the details and the unknown. I . . .have. . . never. . . been. . .more. . . terrified. . .in . . all. . .  my. . . life or been worked up and worried about the timing of everything, my faith is being rocked here. Who's with me? I know some of you mamas would be hyperventilating at the thought and I could too if I let myself. 

But when we were there just us, just my little family, exploring hidden treasures, climbing trees, biking under the massive trees, and just taking a step back from the headaches of life, all I could do was watch my sweet boys and feel so happy they could run free in a beautiful piece of God's country.

The opportunity is in front of us. What will we do with it? What would you do?

I'm here challenging, encouraging you (and myself) to think outside the box, to put your faith into action. I can't even begin to tell you how my heart leaps when I hear about other people who are doing something dramatic and courageous and bold, taking some leap across the world, even I've talked the big talk, but when the opportunity is staring me in the face I'm tempted to climb a tree where no one can see me.

So it got me thinking... .  there's so much debate within the church about God's will and God's good plan for our lives, which side of the fence we lean on with how much choice we have and yada yada, but so much of that debating just doesn't matter. If we didn't have a choice in this move then that would make me a robot. If we didn't have a choice to trust God then that would make me a hypocritical Christian. God isn't asking me to go this time or even calling me to go like Jonah, it's not always some dream in the night. He's giving me a choice to trust Him, to love him wherever we go next and I'm choosing to say "yes" and continue to walk forward in faith until He redirects us.

 I'm choosing to once again put my life completely in God's hands and trust this could be a great opportunity for my family, an adventure, a chance to grow my faith and teach my boys to be courageous with their choices.

 I'm choosing to see this as a blessing, a good gift God wants to give us and we'll keep loving Him and loving others doing whatever we do next.

Maybe it's not some heroic effort to reach out to the lost people in the shanty towns of South Africa, but we Christians glamorize that effort. Apart from all the church debates, the differing views, what God's will is or not His will, what really truly matters is that we are taking steps of faith forward when there is an open door otherwise we can become stagnant in our faith and we risk becoming lukewarm. 

I never want to stop growing in my faith or close a door out of fear.

Jesus looked up in the sycamore tree at Zacchaeus and told him to come down so he could go to his house. Are we going to jump off the tree at the chance to go where Jesus goes or are we going to climb further up the tree in fear? 

God is too big and too good to open a door that would take us down a wrong path.