When I received my Star Word for the year – abundance – I was open to experiencing everything that word had to teach me. And it did not waste any time. As you saw in Part One of this Reemergence story, from January to May there was an abundance of speaking engagements – including a cruise, retreats, prayer bead workshops, and opportunities to help others heal from trauma – as well as an abundance of orders through my Etsy shop for prayer beads and DIY prayer bead kits. I saw how abundance was calling me to live even more deeply into my calling, to step outside my comfort zone, to let down my guard and open myself to other people, and to recognize signs of God’s grace in the most unlikely of places.

And I was good with all this. I was busy and having a great time and hopeful and open.

And then March 21st happened. Right smack dab in the midst of this abundant work schedule, abundance showed up in my personal life in the most unexpected of ways.

Around 4:00pm on the afternoon of March 21 I was working in the Studio when I got a text message from my husband, Max.

“The D.S. just called.”

That was it. That was all it said. That was all it needed to say. Just four short words were all it took to begin the toppling of our heretofore settled home life.

For you non-Methodists, D.S. stands for District Superintendent. A D.S. is essentially the middle manager of the United Methodist Church hierarchy. You’ve got the bishops who oversee the D.S.’s who oversee all the ministers and churches within their assigned districts. Also for you non-Methodists, we have this quirky itinerancy system where the bishops and D.S.’s meet every year to look at all the churches and decide which ones need a new minister (because of retirements, requests to move, problems, need for growth, etc.) and then look at all the ministers and decide which ones to assign to the churches with vacancies. Essentially, it’s a big old chess game. And at least where we live, this game is played every spring.

So when my husband texted me in March to say the D.S. just called, I knew exactly what that meant.

In our 23-year marriage we’ve moved six times, so I know how this goes. But with every one of those moves we anticipated it. Either we had asked to move, or we felt it was time to move, or we knew the powers-that-be were considering Max for a move. Not this time. This move came literally from out of nowhere. We’d only been with our current church for three years and we loved it. We were happy, the church was happy, it was thriving and growing. Plus, our son was just about to begin high school, and we expected that we’d be able to stay put at least until he graduated. But suddenly we were being told we would be moving in June. It was a complete shock.

Max, Matthew, and I preparing to serve communion as we say goodbye to our beloved Inman Park Church

For the next two months we tried to absorb the shock. We grieved and we stressed about all that needed to happen. Remember all the traveling and studio work I told you about? Yeah. That was all going on as we were dealing with this move and all it entailed: finding a new place to live, packing, saying goodbye, moving, unpacking, saying hello.

I will say there were many moments when I wanted to close myself off from God and everyone else. It was all too much and I wanted nothing more than to just stay under the covers and forget. And from time to time I would indulge myself and just sit on the couch and binge Netflix as a way of checking out. But over and over the Spirit offered gentle nudges – moments of quiet peace, or assurances from friends, or laughter with my husband and son – to remind me that God was with me, with us, during this season of abundant change. And the more I responded to those nudges, the more I saw abundant signs of God’s deep love in my life. To wit:

  • For the last five years or so, Max and I have dreamed of downsizing to a smaller house. We wanted less stuff to buy and keep up with, less space to clean and take care of, more time and money to travel and play and save and give back. Since our new church – St. James United Methodist – offered a housing allowance rather than a parsonage, for the first time since 2000 we were able to choose where we wanted to live. So we chose an apartment. We moved from a 3,000 sq ft house to a 1200 sq ft apartment. This meant we had to seriously downsize, getting rid of more than half of what we owned. While the downsizing process was exhausting – rather than just filling up the landfill with our unwanted possessions, we wanted to downsize responsibly by donating, selling, or recycling as much as possible – it was so, so, so worth it. We love it, and I’ve decided I was born to live in an apartment in the city.
  • Our conference understood that we didn’t want to have to move our son to a new school, so they gave us permission to stay in our current school district. Our new apartment is within walking distance of Matthew’s school and friends, and his transition to high school has been seamless and filled with joy.
  • My Studio has always been in our house, but a 1200 sq ft apartment did not quite lend itself to extra work space. Thus, for the first time I have a free-standing Studio. I now rent space from Eastside Church, a progressive young congregation in a historic old building. With more space than I’ve ever had before, I’m now getting ready to offer spiritual direction, as well as classes on prayer beads, healing from trauma, and art and faith. This was an unexpected gift and opportunity to lean further into my calling. It is ridiculously exciting and scary and fabulous.

    My new studio space right after we moved everything. It is looking much better now. Stay tuned for updates!

  • Our new church is wonderful. It is thriving and generous and seeking new ways to offer signs of God’s grace to the community. It has opened its arms to us and warmly welcomed us. Max is busier than ever and loving this new challenge. I’m making friends and finding people with common interests in Richard Rohr, the Enneagram, spiritual formation, and even the Wild Goose Festival. And Matthew – oh my goodness, Matthew! My beloved son has found his tribe! St. James has an incredible, large, exuberant youth group full of kids his age. He’s already been on a mission trip with them, earned a new nickname, and discovered the joy of thriving Christian community. He cannot contain his excitement. I cannot contain my gratitude.
  • As if all of this change wasn’t enough, our dog, Gracie, was diagnosed with cancer on her front left leg in May. Her oncologist recommended amputation, so exactly one week after we moved, Gracie had surgery. As we continued to unpack boxes and settle into this new life, we slowly nursed Gracie back to health. Two months later she is as energetic and goofy as ever and has not missed a beat. She is also cancer-free.

    Gracie the day after her surgery

  • Lastly, in July we helped my mom relocate from Houston to Atlanta. Newly retired, she was ready to be closer to family and explore a new part of the country. Almost as soon as we finished unpacking our apartment, we were helping to unpack hers. Given that I have not lived in the same state as my mom since 1993, I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to have her close by.

By now, you may understand my radio silence. It was never personal. I have missed you and our conversations about prayer beads and healing and God’s deep love. And I’m so excited to resume them! And perhaps now I will have even more to contribute to those conversations. Now, I can talk even more about abundance. I can testify to the abundance of God’s love as we live into our callings. I can talk abut the abundance of God’s peace as we experience life’s inevitable twists and turns.

Gracie at the moment she learned how to chew a bone with one paw. She’s a rock star on three legs.

I can describe ways in which God has challenged me to lean into the unknown and find new signs of abundance in my life. And I can share the ways in which God has ministered to me through an abundant mix of people and moments and circumstances.

God’s deep love is abundant. That is for sure. May we be open to it even when we least expect it.