I never thought this would ever happen, yet it is happening this week. I, who grew up in the country, will be moving to an apartment in a city. I grew up in the middle of one of the smallest county’s in the state of Florida. My parents and grandparents owned several acres of land which was also surrounded by family who owned land as well. We basically had free reign of all that land to roam and play on.
My family had all sorts of animals. We has chickens, geese, turkeys, dogs and cats. We raised on occasion hogs for 4-H. We grew a garden almost every year. My grandma lived about 100 yards from my house. I practically lived at her house during the summer months. We didn’t have a whole lot of money, but we had each other. My parents loved us a lot. I grew up with 3 brothers and loved being the only girl.
I got married at 17 and moved to a small town of about 350. When our oldest was 4, we moved out to my husband’s mothers’ land. Which was surrounded by more land. We got us a dog and had a garden. I loved it.
The time came though that we needed a change for our family and that is when my husband received a job in Sylva, NC at the local community college. While we were moving to a larger area, it was still in the mountains and we still had a sense of being out in the country/mountains. When we bought our house, we had wild animals come in the yard all the time. Huge flocks of turkeys crossed our path often. We saw bears and even a deer on occasion.
Times change though and we felt God calling us to move again. This time, it was cross country to a much larger city. This has scared me, but also has challenged me in many ways. I love the openness and the freedom of living in the country. I love seeing the wildlife. Most of all, I love the peace and quiet that comes with being in the country. I feel like I am closer and more connected to God. Life just seems to be at a slower pace in the country.
However, I feel like God is trying to grow me. He is definitely pulling me out of my comfort zone. I have already had comments about my southern accent. Sometimes I feel like people are making fun of me, however, I know they really don’t mean it and I need to just let it go. I can’t grow if I am in a comfortable place. While I will miss this little piece of heaven in this vacation rental that is out in the mountains, I am excited about what God has planned for me. Am I scared? Yes! Am I a little apprehensive about moving to the city? Yes! However, I know God will be with me every single step of the way.
One day, I know I will be back in the country because I feel like that is where I really belong. For the time being, God has something in store for me and I can’t wait to see what it is. In the mean time, you can take the girl out of the country, but can’t take the country out of the girl. 😉
