Following Him

Nearly five and a half years ago I walked into the James Avery store in Tulsa and bought Brandon a ring. Things were beginning to shift for him at work and he was at a crossroads. Pursue the new road? Or flee altogether and try something new? Whatever he decided to do I wanted him to know I was with him 100%, so I bought him this ring.

The Hebrew inscription comes from Ruth 1:16 and translates "Whither thou goest, I will follow". I meant it that day I bought it. I just had no clue I was about to back my words up with actions.

Within a week Brandon was offered a job in Little Rock. I scoffed and laughed. Me? Leave the comforts of Oklahoma and my family? Me? Give up my dream attending OU College of Nursing? Me? Really? And then I looked at Brandon's hand and it was a visual reminder that's it's not all about me. He is my husband. He is the leader of this house. And wherever he goes, I will follow.

Within a few months we were being packed up and heading southeast to the Little Rock area. I will never forget the circle of prayer at our little house in Oklahoma. The hugs, the tears, the goodbyes. It rocked me to the core. But then it was time to leave and followed my husband I did. He drove off in our black Ford Explorer and I literally followed him in my ruby Oldsmobile Alero. I cried for two hours straight.

And with that we began a new chapter in our book. We said goodbye to Oklahoma and hello to Arkansas. Bye-bye Sooner state, hello Natural state. And the Hogs. Oh, those silly hogs. They are EVERYWHERE here. There's no escaping those pesky little characters. ;)

It took some adjusting -- including a couple of years I refer to as "the pits". It was hard. A lot harder than I expected. I missed my family. I missed my church. I missed the familiarity of everything around me. I even missed going to Wal-Mart and running into people I knew. I never in my life felt so unknown. I grew up in a town of 1200 where everyone knows everyone. Now I was in a town of 25, 000 and lost in the ebb and flow of it's booming school district and traffic issues.

But you know what? I made it. We made it. Not only did we survive those hard times, but we thrived. We found a church - our church. They became our family when our family wasn't here. Our girls have grown by leaps and bounds and they both accepted Christ as their personal Savior here in the natural state. Brandon and I have grown closer to each other and closer to Christ. This move, the move that I thought was going to tear me apart, turned out to be the best thing for our family.

So here we are again. Almost exactly five years after we left Oklahoma we are about to leave Arkansas. We weren't looking to leave - just as we weren't looking to leave Oklahoma. Instead, God opened a door and we are walking through it. Although this time He's taking us a little further east. He's leading us to Charleston, South Carolina. Exactly one year to the date when we first stepped foot in Charleston, Brandon was offered a new job. And the next day he accepted.

The last two months have been spent in a lot of prayer. Yes, we fell in love with Charleston last year when we spent a month there for a "working vacation". But we never thought we'd be living there a year later. Was God really leading us to the east coast? Or were we just in love with the thought of living near the beach? And then over and over again, God made it known this was His direction for our family.

The thought of moving any further away from all our family in Oklahoma is almost too hard to bear. It pains me to think of the separation and the hurt we will all experience when we move further. But you want to know something remarkable? There's been a peace about this move unlike I can explain. Yes, it is scary to move across country and there are times I get overwhelmed, but at the very core of me is peace. A peace that passes all understanding. And that peace is from Him. I can look back five years and see how He walked right beside us when we moved to Little Rock. And I know He's right there with us as we move yet again. That doesn't mean things are going to be easy. It just means we don't have to do it alone.

We're at another fork in the road and we are about to step out on faith and trust where God is leading. Because wherever He leads, we will follow.