Anticipation and excitement grew as we prepared to move to a new town that was five hundred fifty-four miles and four states away.

It was exciting and scary all at the same time.

We had just swept clean the house we had been living in for a year. We had already sold or gave away all of our possessions. Reserving only the bare necessities to start a new household.

There was a six week gap between lease agreements in our Virginia home and our Tybee winter home. We were living with my parents until December 2nd, when the beach house would be ready for us.

Leaves on the trees had already changed. Red, orange and yellow sprinkled forests that lined the country roads we traveled everyday during our daily routine of running errands and picking up kids from their after school activities.

I stacked split wood on top of small pieces of cedar kindling, careful to not stick my fingers with splinters. Crumpling pieces of newspaper stuffing them strategically in various spaces as ashes would drift out. Striking a wooden matchstick, I would light shreds of paper poking out from under the stack of wood.

Within minutes, pine and oak sizzled and popped from the stone fireplace. Soft warm light flickered off the walls and ceiling, hours before sunrise. Sitting alone in the quiet living room in my parent’s house, I spent hours asking God if we were doing the right thing. It all felt right. But there was always the uncertainty and long list of “what if… {fill in the blank} questions” echoing in my head.

In those quiet mornings by the fire, I read a lot of books. Authors like; Donald Miller, Frederick Buechner and James Altucher. Their words encouraged me. I began to see a common thread as I read about how things ended up working out for them after making big decisions based on faith alone.

During this time, I also found the blog of Micheal Elliott. Micheal is long time Tybee resident whose heart bleeds daily on the page about his life of ministry, heartbreak, and love sprinkled in with side splitting hilarity of stories about life on Tybee.
Micheal’s blogs were a small periscope window of what we might expect moving to Tybee. For the first time in years, I took ahold of hope for a new life waiting for us.

We did not know a soul on Tybee or in Savannah. We did not have jobs lined up and we had enough money for only a few months living expenses.

Somehow, I found peace in knowing that we were making the right decision for us. Right for our marriage and right for our family. It was a time of faith where we had to step out into the unknown and trust that there was a new life waiting for us on the other side.

Now, nearly four years later, I have people who have heard our story say to me “that must have been scary… starting all over again.” But in all honesty I reply “Scary was continuing doing what we were doing, and thinking we would wake up twenty years later still doing the same thing.”

Those six weeks of gap time were a gift to me. It was a time to prepare my heart for new things. It was a time when my faith was renewed and I chose to believe that good things were in store for our family.

Are you looking at making a big life change? It doesn’t have to be a big move like we did. Maybe it’s a career move, going back to school or starting a business.

Can you slow down long enough to light a fire and read some books that will encourage you? Take a little time to mentally prepare, then, begin working on making that change. Good things are waiting for you. Stepping out in faith can be scary, but the rewards are worth it.