SETTLING INTO ADVENTURE
Rachel has always had a bit of a restless soul. Growing up, her family moved around a lot and each new place brought its own set of adventures. This “on to the next thing” mentality has carried itself full-force through to her adult years. Since graduating high school she’s moved a total of 5 times:
College Station to Bloomington to Nashville to Bloomington to Dallas to Bloomington.
Do you see the common thread there? No matter where she ran off to, she found herself forever retuning to the place she swore she would never live. Feeling embarrassed that her ever-present need for adventure couldn’t be satiated by even the most extraordinary of cities, and bracing herself for the barrage of “back again, huh?” questions from curious onlookers. The default answer to these questions has always been a noncommittal “for now,” acknowledging that while yes, she was back, she had no intention of staying.
This past March, Rachel was offered a job that if accepted, meant committing to life in Bloomington for a while longer. After a lot of wrestling with God, and with herself, she pushed back against restlessness and fear of staying and accepted the job.
This was an especially difficult decision for a couple of reasons. Part of her has always felt like she was meant to live a life marked by adventure, and that part did not equate adventure to life in Bloomington-Normal, Illinois. There was this overwhelming feeling that if this was the place she chose to put down roots, she’d be choosing to live a lesser version of the life she wanted for herself. She felt that in some way, she’d be settling, that God couldn’t do the things here that He could do elsewhere.
But then,
Our perfect Creator began lovingly and patiently showing Rachel that the only person limiting the work He can do here, is her. He showed her that He is not bound by location and that she allowed herself to live vulnerably, there is so much goodness that comes with being all in somewhere. He showed her that there is so much sweetness to life in this town.
For Rachel, this has been a year of saying yes more and waiting well. It turns out this is also the year for her to put down roots. This is the year that she commits to being all in, in the place she said she would never life. A year that, perhaps, will be the start of her greatest adventure.