The Lines Have Fallen

"The Lines Have fallen for me in pleasant places Psalm 16:6"

These days it's hard to tell exactly "where" the lines have fallen. It seems a little less clear with modern day technology. The lines can extend oh so far with facebook, twitter, e-mail, cell phones and cars. All of which I take advantage of and enjoy greatly. But still the lines fall and one must pray for wisdom to see where.

When we first talked about moving to the west side, one thing I kept hearing and telling myself over and over, was that Gilbert was only 45 mintues away. Just a car drive. Pop on a sermon, give the kids some good snacks and bam, I'm back to the home I love. This helped soothe the pain of moving. A few months back, actually shortly after I wrote "confessions of a church planters wife", I felt the Lord challenging me, where had the lines fallen for me in this new life? We have lived in Peoria for about 6 months now and I think it's fair to say that I spent the first half working hard on my home, getting school work done with the kids, then spending my extra time driving to Gilbert visiting my friends. I could drive and see my friends once a week! Who wouldn't?! But was that what God was calling me to do? Did we really move to Peoria so that I could spend what very little spare time I had driving back home? Is that where the lines had fallen for me?

I committed this to the Lord and felt like almost everything changed in a week. I began to connect more with a neighbor down the street who doesn't go to church. We had a great lunch together which extended into the afternoon. I hosted a playgroup for some awesome moms on my street. We hosted a block get together with some more neighbors at our home. I joined a P.E. group for Taylor & Trevor where I made friends with even more new people! Not much time in that week to spend a whole day driving back and forth to Gilbert. I remember driving home from the P.E. group so encouraged and full of faith for all the new friendships the Lord was bringing my way. I felt like that week I had committed to the Lord that I would indeed embrace the west side like I hadn't before and he above and beyond blessed my efforts. I drove and wept. Moving became real like it hadn't before. There was this strange sense inside of me that I was betraying my friends in Gilbert. Like somehow making new friends was saying I didn't need them too. And nothing could be further from the truth. I'm thankful that not only is that not true but that none of my friends ever make me feel that way. They too know that lines have fallen for us in Peoria. And if we are ever to build a church out here we need to take full advantage of every opportunity we have to get to know believers and unbelievers. I used to run into friendly faces everywhere I went while living in Gilbert. Having roots and pouring your life into an area will do that. I long for that here. I can't wait to for the day I go to the store and run into a friend. I know that will come but it can only come if I invest.

Here I am on the later half of our six months here and I can't imagine my life outside of Peoria. I am coming to treasure my new friendships and the strengthening of my friendships with those in Grace Church. Not at the expense of my dear friends in Gilbert of course, but in addition too. The lines have truly fallen for me in pleasant places. It's just taken me awhile to embrace them.