This morning, I am thankful for the warm sunlight by my dining table. One good part of living in a townhouse is that you live so up high that you feel that much closer to the sky. I suffered from the tightened heart muscle pain for the first few days of my city life. It resulted from not having any access to the nature as I previously have in my country house. I felt like sleep-walking Heidi from Alps suffering from her homesickness. Visiting my old abode and running like a wild horse in the open field had an immediate healing effect. Then it only took two days for the pain to accumulate. This time, I went to a nearby dairy farm to unload the heaviness in my heart-field. My daughter and I rode a wagon and a carousel ride. It may not be the open back yard of my country house with our beloved dog by our side, but for now, I must do what I can manage to do and keep going.

“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you…” (John 15:7) — that is the way to keep going. 

I read in my daily devotional book, My Utmost for His Highest. Oswald Chambers wisely states that where we are placed is then a matter of indifference to us, because God sovereign engineers our goings. It is just the right answer to my wondering mind full of doubts about my current move. The move happened out of blue. It was like a slow-brewing volcano that erupted without any forewarning. Or an emergency evacuation.

When I close my eyes, I still see the never-ending greenery of my backyard. The trees in the woods, and the birds chattering in the morning, and the smell of cows… The country road I used to walk with my toddler admiring the sunrise, and the sunset I never missed right on my deck. I miss it all. And the small pang of pain grows and it becomes slightly more than I can bear and I know it is time to go into the wild, into where I find my rest, where I feel completely myself.

“Come to me, all of you, who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” (Matthew 12: 28-29) 

So it is into the arms of my Jesus that I run. And cradled in His arms, I finally see all the blessings He has bestowed on me through this temporary move back to Virginia.

This morning I am so thankful for the warm sunlight by my dining table.

I am thankful for this new abode in the high-rise townhouse because the sky literally feels like it is within my grasp.

I am thankful for the new opportunities and the new experiences that Jesus has sent in my way.

My mind was clouded by the longing for what I have left behind. But now, after a week of being here, I finally see the open door. Through which a newly paved wide open road can be seen. Every morning, I am reminded that I must keep going, and the only way to do it is to abide in Jesus wherever He places me.