“How beautifully and miraculously He is changing your narrative. Day by day, He weaves the pieces together that seemed too broken just a few months ago. In the  morning mercy shines; Brighter than the dawn itself and in the evening, His presence is  more evident than it’s ever been before. And after all this time, you know you are seen. You see all around you that He is working. Through all the tears and the laughter, how beautifully and miraculously He is changing your narrative. Day by day, He weaves the pieces together.”  –Morgan Harper Nichols

It’s been 5 short and glorious months of living in the middle of the state of Tennessee. A welcomed change and calling over our lives. We have made a little old farmhouse in the hills “Home” with our four pups. With an abundance of acreage and a lake surrounding us, the word “Peace,” has taken on a whole new representation of life and what we had been missing out on. Nights so quiet we can only hear the tree frogs sing, and fiery sunsets that remind us more of the west that we love so dearly, the closer we get to it. The cattle dance and the birds fly freely, but the slow-down is what has made us capable of appreciating it with our own eyes. A life that was once beautifully chaotic has now positioned us into being still and welcoming what’s been around us this entire time with such innocence.

We get so many questions of “How is Tennessee?” or “How is life up there?” And we say “good” or “great” in quick conversation, but in all reality, it runs so much deeper than just that simple word. On the surface, it is great. But the roots that are beginning to burrow deep down into our lives and spiritual walks are feelings that are transcending every single day.

We have learned and grown in ways that we could have never dreamed in the 5 short months that we have been living here. As if we went zero to one-hundred in the matter of one divine calling and a decision to back that up. New jobs, new careers, new callings, new marriage, new state, new friends, new mentors, new church, new climates, and the list could go on. As scary as it was, we can still say it’s the best decision that we have made. We look back now and there wasn’t any doubt in going, just simply a “Yes, we will follow.”

When God is taking out walls and putting in new windows or repairing fences in our very own lives it can be and will be uncomfortable. The most glorious part is in the heart of it all, before you even realize, you begin to wake up and look out the window and into the lives of not only yourself, but of others with a transformed viewpoint. Where we once were blind, we now see.

It’s as if one day you are walking along, stressing and fearing, while barely holding on to our own will, and before you know it, you are dancing through life in full trust with your hands held out in excited anticipation of where He is taking you. You begin to welcome those very transformations with each work in your lives, knowing with confidence that He said, “It is done.” I don’t think there is any greater feeling.

{My strength looks a lot different in this season than it did in my last.}

At one point where I can honestly say that I was trusting in myself to make life run smoothly and to keep bills met, I now know full heartedly where those very things come from, and they weren’t from me! Where a hundred-dollar bill was just another piece of paper, we now get excited about the pennies that come in. Where each call out of our comfort zone, is another opportunity to grow in the ways that we are weak. It’s ironic at how there is a gentle sweetness to life that grows within that knowledge.

Trust has grown immensely for John and me both through the ways that He is working in our lives. I find myself journaling non-stop, simply so that I don’t forget how faithful He has been, Is, and always will be to us. He never ceases to amaze us. And because we have let him have full control over it all, we can fully see His faithfulness in it all.

{We’ve realized that some of the most cherished moments are those done in simplicity.}

It’s ordinary days that make me realize what seemed so insignificant at one point, are treasured and divine today. We live for the simple moments. For his promptings in the most delicate of places now. For whispers when the stillness comes. For growth opportunities that look like trials. For the unexperienced moments in new seasons. For the chances taken in the past and the possibilities of the road ahead. For realizing that it’s not on the mountain tops that we are maturing, but it’s in the valleys that we feed and drink for the nourishment of our growth.

We stay busy pouring in and pouring out, but the overflowing feelings that our hearts feel, is a desire that we will always welcome and pursue. We wouldn’t trade where we are for anything in the world.

Since our story began, and having no understanding of where God would have us today, both of us have had this awareness that there is a strong calling over our lives for something big. We believe that this is just the beginning as the pages in our book are beginning to come alive. There is a stirring in our hearts and our desires that sometimes we can’t even comprehend. Tears flow freely at the conversations, opportunities, and anticipation of fates ahead. And here lately, we hear God loud and clear saying: “Follow me, trust me, and I will lead every step of the way.”

{We feel blind at this point. A good kind of blind and a safe kind of blind. With hands held out open wide, we will follow where He leads.}

Moving to Tennessee was nothing short of our next step in obedience, and it’s proving itself to be a pretty sweet season.