So glad

Any idea what you were doing seven years ago today? Hard to recall, unless you were loading up your family and all your belongings to move 800 miles from everything you’d ever known, loved and held dear.

It’s been seven years since we drove down my parents’ driveway, waving to them, my sister and her family. At that point, I was still pretty sure we’d be in Michigan two years, three years, tops. We plan; God laughs.

With each passing year, I realize how God orchestrated this move for our good. Trust me when I say I did not see this on March 28, 2005. But God is patient. He slowly showed me how the move was good for our kids. How the move was good for our marriage. How the move was good for me.

There’s an Amy Grant song that perfectly captures my thoughts about the move (because there is an AG song for every situation, don’t you know?). When I was ten years old I had no idea the song I was listening to would mean so much to me 31 years later:

I had laid some mighty plans,

Thought I held them in my hands.

Then my world began to crumble all away.

I tried to build it back again;

I couldn't bear to see it end,

How it hurt to know You wanted it that way.

Long before my plans were made,

I know a master plan was laid,

With a power that superseded my control.

And if that truth could pierce my heart,

I wouldn't wander from the start,

Trying desperately to make it on my own.

And I'm so glad,

Glad to find the reason,

That I'm happy-sad

That You've torn it all away,

And I'm so glad,

Though it hurts to know I'm leaving

Everything I ever thought that I would be.

Once I held it in my hand.

It was a kingdom made of sand.

But now You've blown it all away.

I can't believe that I can say,

That I'm glad.

I am glad we live where we live. I am glad we go to church where we do. I am glad we've met the people we've met.

On the one year anniversary of our move, I quoted Lamentations 3:32-33, 55-58:  

Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love.
For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men…
I called on your name, O LORD, from the depths of the pit.
You heard my plea: "Do not close your ears to my cry for relief."
You came near when I called you, and you said, "Do not fear."
O Lord, you took up my case; you redeemed my life.

More than anything, I am glad to know a God who is more concerned about my sanctification than my comfort.

I am so glad.