On that first visit to Texas in September (Part III) I remember telling Derek I was praying for open doors or closed doors. Derek said he’d rather have something less subtle, like a lightning bolt – that if we were going to even consider making such a major step, God would have to be that clear.
That night I was there I rode with my friend over to the school to retrieve a book for one of her kids. A lightning bolt lit up the sky right out the front of her windshield. Texas storms! We expected to see more but they did not come. I had to laugh out loud. Really God? Derek asks for a lightning bolt and you produce.
Lightning bolt aside, when I returned to California I had a million unanswered questions running through my mind. And it was challenging because I had been the only one there to put my feet on the ground. Derek had only been to Texas once, many years before.
So we continued to talk, and pray, oh, and train. A couple weeks after that trip Derek and I competed in the Lake Tahoe World Championship Spartan Beast. Most people dream of tropical venues to celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary. Not us. Instead we were hiking up and down the mountains at Squaw Valley, completing crazy obstacles, doing things we didn’t even know we could do. We were on the course for more than seven hours and it tried us – physically and emotionally. We stepped out of our comfort zones and we challenged ourselves. As I’ve always considered marathon running as a metaphor for life, I look back at the timing of that Spartan and see it as a metaphor for the big decisions, challenges, and obstacles that laid before us as a family. Would we be bold, step out, listen to God, and trust our training in Him?
Our Spartan Adventure
Return to Texas
In the middle of October we decided we needed to go back to Texas together. We flew in, met the realtor and checked out the area. We sat down to dinner that first night and just looked at each other across the table. After twenty-seven years together we probably didn’t need to say the words out loud but we did – “What are we doing here?” It was difficult to even get our minds wrapped around the idea that we might be considering a move. I remember suggesting to Derek that we continue to move through the process and wait to talk more until the next day after we had visited the school I had looked at a month earlier. We got up the next morning and drove in silence. We just looked out the window and took it all in.
At the school we toured the campus – the 5 gyms, the locker rooms for various sports, the boys’ weight room that overlooked the football stadium (and this is a small private school). We also met with several people including the Athletic Director. Raising a house full of athletes, we were interested in finding a place for them where they could have both a strong academic foundation and an opportunity to pursue multiple sports. As high school athletes ourselves, we especially wanted the leadership opportunities that come from team sports.
The weight room with a view of the football stadium
After agreeing to shelve any discussion for the previous 12 hours, when we left the school that day Derek spoke out loud what we were both feeling – “This is the kind of school I want for our boys.” I knew it too and I’d felt it on my last visit. There was just a little 1600-mile hurdle in the way…
Time to Pray
We returned to California and we did what we know to do when facing uncertainty and big decisions – we prayed. Truly, we were at a loss as to how to process such a major decision. We hunkered down in the Word and we asked for direction. In rereading my journal now I am comforted by how much God revealed to us in that season. I am grateful for His gentle hand guiding us. Sometimes in our lives we pray and ask God for direction and we don’t hear Him. Fortunately for us in this season of major transition, God showed up every time we asked. He didn’t necessarily speak to us audibly, but in a hundred tiny ways He was there showing us the path.
Psalm 1 reminds us “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly…but his delight is in the law of the Lord.” In the commentary it states that God promises prosperity in everything: your family, your children, your marriage, your business, your ministry, your job, and your health. God intends what he says, everything shall prosper. “However, no promise of God is without responsible action to be taken on our part. No one will prosper until he starts doing what God says. Many people want the promised results without responsible commitment, but none of us will ever gain anything truly worthwhile in just an instant…Do not expect God’s answers to leap to your schedule.”
Come on God. This is America. We want immediate answers. Instant gratification. In the age of Google, waiting on the Lord is HARD.
Because we had both felt “doors open” after our visit to Texas we continued to press on. We felt we had to do our due diligence on this end. In terms of the boys and school, that meant making a list of our options and doing our research. Interestingly, when we returned and decided we needed to do our homework, several of the schools we were considering had open houses at the end of that same week. It was like God saying “You want answers? Go check things out. Let me know what you find out.”
We were in church one Sunday not long after and we went forward for prayer. We explained to one of our pastors that we were in the process of trying to make a big decision for our boys and we were considering all of our options. He chuckled out loud and said “God does not have multiple options for you, He has ONE option.” He explained that we could certainly choose to do whatever we wanted to do, but that really there was one option that God wanted us to pursue. Seek that option…
Those words stayed with us over the following many months and that became our prayer. God, what is the option you want for our family?
Stay tuned for my next post – our boys’ first trip to Texas!
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