God blessed the broken road.

Today is a good day.

It's the day I place the final lock on a door, that has been needed to be closed for a while now.

When I hear the click as the lock takes it's place, I will turn around, walk away, and take a big deep breath and exhale.

A sigh of relief.

Relief that it is done.

Finished.

It began with a simple word.

Move.

Well, we've moved.

In every sense of the word.

We are only a few weeks into being settled back into our old house.

I'm home again.

It's funny how I can say that, when I said it about the other house we just moved out of, only a couple of years ago.

I've learned that when God moves our hearts, He moves it wholly...not missing anything.

I was pleasantly surprised to hear my youngest daughter say only two days into the new house, "Ya know...I don't even miss the other house."

Like I said...He missed nothing.

Even our children's hearts had left the other house the moment the last box was removed from it.

We are all settled in nicely and things are as they should be.

Things are the way they were meant to be.

Life is back to normal with everyone and everything.

It has brought us closer.

Thank you God for your perfect peace.

I wish I could say that it came easy.

Without any bumps.

But, there were bumps.

Big ones. Small ones.

They made us stronger.

Better.

There were moments where I doubted my obedience to God.

I felt as though things were falling apart. Things felt broken, and it was all my fault.

The enemy had whispered, yet another lie, into my ear.

There were days that I struggled to get through the emotion of it all.

I remember talking with my best friend, as I told her I couldn't go another day.

Things were hard.

I wanted to give up.

I began to stagger around within my doubt.

Feeling motionless and numb at times.

Getting through a day without crying was impossible.

She was there to listen to it all. My fear, my complaining, my doubt and all the craziness inbetween.

I can still hear her sweet voice saying,

"Then don't get through the next day. Get through the next hour. And the hour after that, you just get through that one. And the next hour and the next hour. You move forward one hour at a time. You keep going one hour at a time, until another day has passed. That's what you do. And as you do that, I will be praying for you."

Thank you my friend...

Those words were my anthem and comfort for the days and weeks to come, as things got a little harder.

Then one day...they got a little easier.

And easier, and easier.

And here we are.

In our new place.

A peaceful place.

The place that God had prepared for us.

Isn't that what God asks of us.

To just move forward.

To move ahead towards Him.

Even if it seems impossible and the waves are beating against you.

Even if it's one small step at a time, or one small 60 minute hour.

To keep moving forward in obedience to Him.

That is where we will find our peace.

I was driving home a day or two after we had moved, down the winding country road that leads to the little gravel road where our house sits.

I realized, that I had somehow driven home from my job without even thinking twice of which direction to go in.

I was on the road going home, but couldn't remember even driving there.

Maybe my mind was in a million different places. Maybe I was daydreaming and driving. I hadn't realized, without putting any effort in reminding myself which way was now the way to drive home, that I was already down that winding road towards our house. I had been driving to another house every day for two years.

But now, my road had changed.

It was different, but familiar.

At that moment, I realized...that God had been truly leading me the whole time.

Just a few short months ago and probably a few weeks before, I thought all was lost.

Our lives were broken in so many ways.

God was just changing our path.

Giving us a different road to travel.

Making necessary adjustments to get us on the road to His purpose for us.

God sometimes allows something to break so He can fix it.

He may allow a situation to fail on our behalf.

For our protection.

For our benefit.

And ultimately...for His glory.

Once again, He has brought beauty from the ashes.

God blessed the broken road.

It's good to be back where He wants me.

Jeremiah 29:11

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to give you hope and not to harm you."

"