Even now we go hungry and thirsty, and we don’t have enough clothes to keep warm. We are often beaten and have no home.
1 Corinthians 4:11 (NLT)

When we decided to move from southeastern Virginia to the mountains of western North Carolina, we prayed all year long. I had read a book by Kevin DeYoung entitled Just Do Something: A Liberating Approach to Finding God’s Will. His approach helped shape our prayers.

We would speak each night out loud to our Shepherd in prayer, sometimes even physically raising up open hands to symbolize that we trusted Him to open or shut doors. For us, that posture meant that we were willing for Him to redirect us. 

God responded by selling our house in Virginia, locating a mountain cabin on ten acres, and providing me with a French teaching job in Asheville. All in five months and coinciding with Mike’s retirement from federal service. 

With such a green light, we packed up in June 2013, loaded our two cats, and convoyed down to our new life in the mountains. Our plan – Mike would work from home as a subcontractor while I commuted to my school to teach French. 

Naively, we assumed that being in God’s will would preclude major hardships.

Recently I was reminded of that “adventure” and our assumptions while reading the novel Return to Me by Lynn Austin.

Austin takes biblical facts from the first six chapters of Ezra and provides backstory, bringing to life the struggle of the first group of returnees from Babylon. They journey back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. I’ve almost finished the book, which spans almost 23 years. I’m seeing how our God takes the long view. He is in no hurry to have His good plans and purposes accomplished.

Clearly, these families journeyed under the will of God, since Cyrus, king of Persia, issued a proclamation fulfilling the prophecy of Jeremiah. The Persian ruler even goes so far as to supply the returnees with the gold and silver utensils and cups stolen from the Jewish temple.

But almost as soon as the returnees begin their work, they meet with resistance and violence. Life becomes stressful and terribly hard. Eventually, they are forced to stop their labor.

The reality is that, just like Paul and the early Christians, living according to His plans does not preclude suffering.

Our own personal ordeals since then have changed my perspective. Life is challenging in a world broken by sin and influenced by Satan. But God’s response is His promised presence:

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me;
your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
Psalm 23:4 (ESV)

So, what happened to us in North Carolina? We left after almost six years to move to Huntsville, Alabama. The different adversities and hardships were worth it, though. I came to know Jesus at a deeper level. Our trust in Him grew. And we are both very content living here.

I pray each day that I trust my Savior, who daily leads me in paths of ease?
No—in paths of righteousness for His purposes.