It is well...

I've often heard people say, "we knew it was God's will because our house sold in a day" or "it must have been God's will because all the details just came together." That has not been my experience.

I know God asked us to join the organization I am working with, obeying that request meant a move to North Carolina. I owned a condo in Kansas City. When I bought it, renting it out was an option - they changed the bi-laws months before we moved and did not grandfather in old residents. I had always thought it could be an income property when my circumstances changed - well, my circumstances changed and that option was no longer available. Kenyon had to leave his job, with the hope that he could find something in our new location.

The house didn't sell in a day. It didn't sell in a month, two months or three months. Nearly a year later the house sold - during the depths of the recession, which meant we couldn't even ask the price I had paid for the property a few years earlier. We took a loss on the sale. A big loss. It wasn't because I had made bad financial decisions. I wasn't in a mortgage I couldn't pay or a house I couldn't afford. The economy just tanked. Property values fell. That had not happened any time in recent history, but it was the reality I was living. Does that mean moving wasn't God's will, because my house didn't sell quickly and I didn't make any money off the sale?

Kenyon looked for work every week while in North Carolina. Two years later he was still unemployed. That was mostly attributed to the economy and being in a small town with limited options. There are three major employers in the small town we were living in - one was laying people off every quarter, another was in a year and a half hiring freeze, and the third was my employer that only offered desk jobs which he wasn't interested in. Does Kenyon's extended unemployment mean it wasn't God's will, because the details didn't just work out?

The step to move overseas hasn't been easy. We believe it is what God was asking of us, or we wouldn't be here. Again, the details haven't just come together in a magical constellation of divine alignment. Things aren't working out as we had hoped or planned. Does that mean it isn't God's will?

Contrary to popular opinion, I don't believe that when we follow God's will our life suddenly becomes easy. Remember what it says in Matthew - the road is narrow and few follow it. If it was easy, the road would be crowded. I'm not saying we should complicate our lives intentionally with hardship and call it God's will either. What I'm saying is, God's will comes with challenges. Following that path increases our faith and dependence on him.

What I am discovering is he gives us strength for each new day to face the challenges that lie ahead. I am learning to say, whatever the circumstance...it is well with my soul.

So, on this Thanksgiving Day when I am spending the day working and far away from friends and family. Where it is just another day that looked like the day before and the one to follow - I am still thankful. I am thankful, that I have a God who is faithful in times of struggle. I have a God who offers peace and rest to a troubled soul. I have a God who offers strength to the weary. Despite the hardship, I have never regretted following where he leads me - it has been beyond my wildest dreams. I am thankful for my God - even when the details don't just work out.