37.One Girl. One Journey – Step 4 of Plan A – 2013

December 31, 2013 – A friend came to pick up my bed and the pieces of furniture I decided to leave behind. The last piece of furniture that I had purchased when I moved to my condo… I loved it. But, life changes. I had spent the rest of my time at the house packing up what I wanted to keep in boxes and stored them in one of the rooms.

Excerpt from diary:

¨As I swept the last specs of dust into the dust pan, tossed them into the green garbage bag that was sitting on the floor, I felt a combination of homesickness and tremendous relief.

I loaded the rest of my belongings into my already stuffed car, carried Bear , my cat, out to the front seat in her carrier, and went back to lock the door of the house that was the stepping stone that led me to my next journey.

I got into the car and started the engine.  It was below 30 – I think it was the coldest year I could ever remember – and as I pulled onto the snow covered road, the tires squeaked on the frigid hard snowy ice and they moved like blocks of frozen metal.  But the feeling that came over me was one of complete freedom.  For the very first time in my entire life, I was making my own choices.  I and I alone have made the decision to quit my job as a real estate agent and just take off.  I have decided – not my husband, my children or my family – I have decided, on my own accord, to walk away from my old life and begin a new one.  I don’t have any idea what I will be doing for money or where I will be once my 6 month visitation rights cease to exist in Mexico, but I am doing it anyways!  And I feel so unbelievable liberated!!  I am simultaneously choosing to live 2 new lives.  One being the life here on earth, and the other being that I have given my life to God, and have invited His spirit into my body.  I will live with His will, and His word will guide me to His way. I will live my life doing what He wants me to do.  I already feel His work being done in me.  

We are on our way.  Today is the day I begin this new journey.  I was headed up north to spend New Years with my family.  Then I would stay with my sister until I figured out where I was going to live until I leave for Mexico.  The plan was to stay with my brother, but a couple days before I was to leave, he told me he was allergic to cats.  That left me in a predicament.  I now seriously had no where to live.  

His friend offered to take my cat, but I wasn’t comfortable with that.  I can’t just give Bear to strangers – she’s my best friend!  So I declined and decided to just roll with it – I’d figure something out. He´d figure something out.

As I pulled onto the highway, the snow squalls they were calling for arrived.  It was a complete whiteout and it was 5:00 pm – the daylight was fading behind me.  I began getting scared, but then reminded myself that I am not alone on this journey – He will take care of me, and I relaxed.  Ahead of me were 2 red tail lights.  My guiding light.  I followed them until the blinker went on. They were turning! Now what??? They turned and I was on the road alone. It was almost as soon as the car disappeared, the squalls also disappeared and the road in front of me became clear. The storm was passing. That was the first sign that He was with me on my journey.  I made it in good time.  

I got to my sister’s and she told me that she was talking to her friend about my living situation, and her friend offered her furnished home to me for the duration I would be living here!  They built a house on the water and their old one was sitting empty.  She didn’t want any money for it – it was sitting empty and she was happy to help me out.  I stood there in disbelief.  Could this really be happening??  One minute I’m homeless, the next minute I have a furnished house to stay in, and at no cost.  This was the next sign that He is taking care of me.

I am thankful.

So strange… the house is right across the road from my childhood farmhouse I lived in.  As a child I played in the house I was going to be staying in.  My friend lived in the house I was going to be staying in.  And now I’m going to be living there.  

As I thought about this, I realized that He, again, was guiding me.  

When I was young, I didn’t start my journey into my young adult life right.  I left the house in Dunchurch and moved in with my boyfriend.  

This time, 30 years later, as I feel 20 again, I am starting out on this journey at the same starting point.  How unbelievable that He put me back at the same starting point.  He is giving me a second chance to live my life the way I need to live it.¨