LIVING FULLY RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE

So, I wanted to talk about this subject because to be fully transparent with you, its something I struggled with for quite a long time. 

When my husband and I were first married, I wanted it all.  I wanted a bigger and better house, I wanted a newer car, the nice wardrobe, a better job…all of it.  So, at first, my lack of contentedness was from a selfish stand point.  Then when we moved from Alabama to Georgia, God was gracious to me and I definitely was becoming more content.  I was becoming deeply satisfied and thankful to God for what we had been given. 

Looking back I’m quite sure that’s only because so much had been stripped away from us at the time.  We had been through our marriage struggles and been humbled.  I was unable to find work and my husband’s new job was not what it was promised to be. 

It brought us to a place of gratitude for what we did have.  That was a good thing.

As it turns out, it was also actually a good thing in hindsight that I couldn’t find work.  God saved that time for me to be able to be with my mom during her cancer treatments. I took her to her treatments and spent valuable time with her.  We were also a part of a truly amazing church family that loved on us as if we were their own family.  It was a truly great time.  God eventually brought me a wonderful job that I truly enjoyed (especially the introvert in me as it was a one person office…me being the one person) and Todd also was able to find more suitable employment and get back to what he knew and loved career-wise.

Then, when my Mom’s wreck happened, all of life as we knew it, went out the window. We eventually got rid of most of our earthly belongings except for a few things we would put in storage in a friend’s basement.  So, moving in to take care of Mom was eye opening and for another article or book another day; however, what happened was a place of forced in the moment living. 

Fast forward to when we had our first daughter while still living at Mom and Dad’s and still being her full-time caregiver and I began to have the strong urge and itch for our own privacy and peaceful space even more than already had during that time of living there.

So, we got our own place in a nearby town and even that was hard, although we found our way. We got fully invested in remodeling the house we just bought, and the girls’ school, and still keeping up with mom’s caregiving and all that came with that nonstop job. It wasn’t until right before we found out we were going to move from there that I really decided to get invested in life in other ways and then found out we were moving. 

So, with that, once we moved from Georgia back to Alabama, I couldn’t get there fast enough as our family was desperate to figure out what our family life even looked like.  Our marriage desperately needed our own space and time to figure out what we looked like.  There had been enough pain and suffering through moms cancer and wreck and enduring behind the scenes hell through caregiving that no one else saw, and multiple miscarriages, one that had endangered my own life. 

But, even with the move back to Alabama,, I wanted to stay inside our house and not hang pictures on the wall and just wait for the next move.  I just wanted to be greedy and private with my own family.  Of course, the girls were getting older and wanted to go do activities and be out and about but to be honest with you I was struggling with depression and anxiety and shame and fear and wanted to be near no one. 

Well, God has a way of chasing after us through people and situations we may only recognize later on.

I had this neighbor…this beautiful young vivacious lady who had a young husband and young child.  One day I was out with the girls on their bikes on the sidewalks just trying to feel what “normal” must feel like with the sunshine and kids doing life and I heard a voice.  It was my neighbor’s husband…a good solid country boy.  So, I met him and his little boy and later, I would meet his lovely wife.  She became a dear friend to me.  But it’s interesting because as I look back she was more like an angel, in that she pursued me when I needed it most., She would come knock on the door and say her little boy wants to play with the girls and we would spend afternoons with the kids playing in the baby pool together having life chats or watching them play on the trampoline while we sat sipping wine.   

She was probably the beginning for me of learning to live fully wherever you are right now. 

I would even tell her I was having a rough day and feeling guilty for walking outside when my mom couldn’t and know that I left her in good hands but couldn’t shake the guilt that I should be there.  She would say, “Well that’s fine, but talk about it outside in the sunshine with me, and bring the girls. see you in a minute.”  She didn’t give me the option…which I find to be beautiful and refreshing.  She was so unlike anyone I was used to…she was so …….. normal.

Anyway, all that to say that I started hanging pictures on the wall, getting involved in the community and would meet one of the best friends of my life. I fell in love with the place that I thought would be our forever hometown.  I was all in…activities, family, community, church, friends. THIS. WAS. IT.

Then we got moved again for Todd’s job. 

I started to fall apart inside, BUT GOD. He was gracious to remind me that He really did make a great big world. He reminded me that I would be foolish to think that this is the only place I could live,thrive and love life.  So, as He quite obviously led us where He wanted us (Texas this time to one of the largest cities in the entire country), we followed. 

This time, we decided from the get go….we are going to be all in from the very beginning.  So, I googled elementary aged kids community activities and different groups and got over-involved to make us get out and about in the community and to see where we fit in and kind of fall into life here.  It was a good thing and kept the solitude of living where we knew not one single person or anything about the area from turning to darkness.

We also decided to be fully happy about living in an apartment with kids (I know, I know sounds crazy right?).  We decided that to fully live wherever God puts us is to focus on all the positive attributes of where we live, right?

So, here’s our list of positives of where we live right now:  we don’t have to do our yard work or have any yard equipment (although we did end up buying some trimmers that I love for all our bushes) and yet we get to have a yard that’s bigger than most houses in our area!  We get to have a beautiful resort-style pool that we don’t have to maintain and can use 365 days a year (yes that’s possible in the deep south part of Texas).  We get to have someone hold our packages for us so that we don’t have to worry about it sitting on the front porch all day or getting ruined in the rain.  We get to have maintenance come and fix our AC when it goes out, or a bathroom faucet that leaks and it all has to be fixed within 24 hours!  We can pick up whenever we want and go for an adventure on the weekend without worrying about anything. 

There are so many advantages of where we live right now that we are choosing to focus on those. 

It doesn’t mean there aren’t negatives (as believe me there are plenty).  Every place has its negatives..believe me.  I have lived 10 places on my own in my single life before I married my husband and another 10 since we have been married, so I know what I am talking about.  There are always advantages and disadvantages to every living situation. 

Living fully right where you are means focusing on the positives of where you live and what that enables you to do.  If it is a dorm room, then it enables you to focus on your studies and not have a lot of things to take care of to distract you from the present work.  Maybe it is an RV, it allows you to focus on your travels and adventures or temporary living area and the freedom to move.  Or If it is an apartment, it allows you to focus on the inside of your home if you don’t have a yard and maybe lots of family together time and adventuring and traveling as we have had these past couple of years living in our apartment.  If it is a house with a yard, maybe your focus is on outside family time and having get-togethers.  Maybe it is a place with acreage, focusing on planting roots both literally and figuratively maybe your present focus.

Living fully right where you are also involves the other areas of life, like financially, emotionally, spiritually, physically, and so much more.  Living fully right where you are means fully giving yourself over to the present moment, and acknowledging that none of us are promised tomorrow, so today is what we have been gifted and whatever that looks like, making the most and best of it that you possibly can with what you have been given.

Living fully right where you are can mean pretending that you will live there forever (fake it til you make it) as a way to force yourself outside of your comfort zone and get involved in your community, whatever that looks like for you and your family.

Living fully right where you are is a true statement you make from your heart saying, “OK Lord this is where you have me right now.  Show me how I can serve you and others and give me wisdom to do it fully.”

Living fully right where you are can also mean being willing to move at a moments notice and being ready to cry when you leave because you have made worthy investments of time and friendships and love in the time you were given while you were there.

Living fully right where you are can be very difficult especially if it’s not what you wanted or imagined, but, if you choose to do it, you will discover a level of gratitude to God for everything you have been given and most especially the life you have been given. You may also see that He loves you so much you are free to live, REALLY LIVE, fully right where you are and carry that in your heart wherever the Lord takes you.

Comment below with a list of positives about where you live right now and accept this FREE custom printable as a gift from our family to yours to remind you to live fully right where you are in this moment!