According to Plan - Glimmers of The Road's End

Moving boxes, crinkled newspaper scraps, & lots of "oh, I forgot that I had that!" moments.

We've been surrounded by these items and experiencing these moments since returning from our family trip away after Christmas. The house itself is now complete, so we've received the green light to move our things in. With the abundant wet weather we've been having the septic/drainfield system hasn't been able to be installed, so we can't officially take up residence in the house yet.

The first moving box that was opened was like reliving Christmas morning as a kid. The anticipation of seeing our things that have been packed away for 18 months was high and it has been a treat to simply unpack and envision our family living this "second chance" together in this new home.

The other day I played a song for my family that sort of illustrated our journey to this home. It's about a Christian's journey to their final home in Heaven. While this home of ours that we're journeying into doesn't compare to glorious Heaven, the ups and downs of any trial teaches us about our Heavenly Father and in many ways it makes us long for Heaven. When I think back to when downsizing was just a brief consideration, it's been a long way from the first seed of it all being a thought to making a new house for our family into home. The journey hasn't reached completion yet, but with each glimmer of hope, what an awesome view of God's answer to prayer we experience.

Long Way Home by Steven Curtis Chapman

I set out on a great adventure
The day my Father started leading me home
He said there's gonna be some mountains to climb
And some valleys we're gonna go through
But I had no way of knowing
Just how hard this journey could be

Cause the valleys are deeper
And the mountains are steeper than I ever would have dreamed
But I know we're gonna make it
And I know we're gonna get there soon
And I know sometimes it feels like we're going the wrong way
But its just the long way home

I got some rocks in my shoes
Fears I wish I could lose
That make the mountains so hard to climb
And my heart gets so heavy with the weight of the world sometimes
There's a bag of regrets,
My should've beens, and not yets
I keep on dragging around

And I can hardly wait for the day I get to lay them all down
I know that day is coming
I know its gonna be here soon
And I won't turn back even if the whole world says
I'm going the wrong way

Cause its just the long way home
When we can't take another step
The Father will pick us up and carry us in His arms
And even on the best days,
He says to remember we're not home yet

So don't get too comfortable
Cause really all we are is just pilgrims passing through

Well, I know we're gonna make it
And I know we're gonna get there soon
So I keep on singing and believing
What all of my songs say
Cause our God has made a promise
And I know that everything He says is true
And I know wherever we go
He will never leave us

Cause He's gonna lead us home
Every single step of the long way home
Keep going, we're gonna make it
I know, we're gonna make it
We're just taking the long way home

It's just a long way home