Nose to Nose

To say it's been a "rough week" feels like an understatement. One week ago, after spending the previous two days loading the U-Haul and cleaning, Zach and I stood in our kitchen and said goodbye to our little house. Our hearts were breaking as we took our wedding picture off the wall (the last thing out the door), closed and locked the door and walked to the car. As we did, it started to rain. A gift from God...a reminder that He was grieving with us. That He cries too....

We made our way up to Minnesota only to find out apartment still in the 'half-finished' state we'd left it in over a month ago. None of the doors were up, it was still dirty, there was construction debris scattered about and, to our shock, no occupancy permit. We had no choice but to unload everything we own into our "new" apartment and hope and pray that it would be resolved before Zach had to leave the next Saturday.

It is now a week later...Zach left this morning...and we still don't have an occupancy permit.

As I drove back to the house where I'm staying (thanks to some of the most wonderful and generous people I've ever met, Donna and Ron) after taking my husband to his car and saying goodbye, I sobbed my heart out to God. And God heard.

A few months ago a friend spoke at Woodcrest about an unbelievable hard time in her life. She had lost her son in a tragic accident and she spoke about how she made it through. Every morning when she woke, she had the palpable sense that God was 'nose to nose' with her. That He was close in tangible ways she had never known before. I don't know that I understood that explanation at the time, that God was 'nose to nose' with her. But on the drive back home, God was 'nose to nose' with me. I've never felt Him so near and so 'palpable' before. And in the hours I've been home since then (dealing with the dog, cleaning our room, even eating lunch) that feeling hasn't left. God is 'nose to nose' with me...cause He knows that's the only way I'll make it through.

So I'm off to 'entertain' myself on my first Saturday without anything to 'do' in months. Thankful that, for today at least, I have God 'nose to nose' with me.