We started the summer out letting go of the house we had come to really love. To me, this house ( in Fort Wayne) was a home of healing for my personal growth. I found balance in this home. I was able to walk Nova every day to a beautiful park where I had some great time to just be at peace. I was happy there, but things just weren't falling into place for us to stay.
With Cain's Flight Medic position he had to get his Paramedic's license within a certain period of time because of the funds the Army was giving. So we decided that I would move home (Bluffton) to my parent's house, while Cain left to get his paramedic's license in an accelerated paramedic course. I was happy to be back "Home" (Bluffton) but the feelings of leaving my own "home" hurt.
We moved out of the house in Fort Wayne April 30th and Cain left for Bloomington, on May 1st. He was going to be gone for 3 months. But we were thankful for the chance I would have to visit him often and things were looking bright.
Until just 3 weeks into his schooling in Bloomington Cain got the word that the school was going to be canceled due to some bad paperwork on their part.
On my 25th birthday, Cain came home, without his paramedic's license, no job, we had no place of our own, living in my sister's old bedroom and no idea if Cain would be sent to another school or be left having to find a new job and new home! This was not what I had planned for my 25th birthday!
I was a wreck. I didn't cry, I was in shock of what was going on. I was just in slow motion not knowing what to think. What did God have in store for us? Was I missing something? Did we mess up big time? Or was this where God wanted us, in my sister's old bedroom living in boxes?
What happened next was what changed my attitude and spirit about the "Mess" we were in...
I didn't know this at the time but God was working in me. He was working in Cain and he was working in us together. What he did was strip everything away from us, left us pretty raw. But what He did was show Himself to us in ways I had never seen. He closed a door and opened a window for us. Looking back I wondered why I questioned it at all, but that's what we tend to do!
Cain came home on a Friday, he had a new job on a Monday! (God is so good!) That's when God really started working in us. Everyday Cain would come home with a glow about him (And it wasn't from the job!) We started leaning on each other more. We always have, we have always been close with each other. But the only way of explaining it is, we needed each other differently than ever before. We needed each other in a way we haven't needed before! It's not until you're almost jobless living in your sister's old bedroom at your parents home that you really "Need" each other differently.
We lacked a lot of alone time but the time we did find to be alone, we were more purposeful in that time than ever before.
God provided Cain a job, he had a place for us to live and he put peace in our hearts that where we were at was where we needed to be. I'd like to note: This is NOT where I thought we needed to be. But it's not my plans that really matter.
"God will either give us what we ask or give us what we would have asked if we knew everything He knew" - Timothy Keller
Cain finally got the news that he would be able to still get his paramedic's license this year. It would still be a 3-month course but in Texas. I wanted to be disappointed in that news because he would be so far and after spending the most amazing summer together for him to leave tugged on my heart. But because of God's unending love and reassurance, I knew that it was going to be OKAY!
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. - Jeremiah 29;11
And it has been okay! Since Cain has left Christ has continued to give us peace and also has kept growing in us personally and together in our marriage.
Would I do this summer all over again? YES. No questions about that. Who would have known living in my sister's old bedroom would be so rewarding?!
We would like to add a huge Thank You to my parents, they welcomed us in with no questions or concerns. Just love, unending love!
Here are some highlights of our summer together!
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