Nearly two years ago, fresh on the heels of the death of both of my parents, my family and I made the painful decision to leave our home church. The church where I met Jesus. The church my husband rededicated his life to God, the church that saw all five of my babies born, the church where we said good-bye to our daughter, the church where two of my children chose to be baptized.

To say it was hard is an understatement, it was like another loss, another death, yet we knew for sure this was the path God had set before us.

God does not always promise easy, but He does promise to carry us.

Leaving carried, not only the pain of separation, but also of a several deep wounds... wounds that needed time, and space to heal.

While we knew we were walking the path God laid out, it was hard to bring our children on the journey. They, too, were leaving home. The familiar. Friends and adopted family. The older kids knew, they saw all of the reasons we were making this move, and it was still difficult. The little ones though, to them, everything was just changing.

I wondered if my sweet baby would ever know the comfort and familiarity of our new church? Would it ever be a place she knew to be just an extension of home?

And Jackie, not shy but not quick to warm up, a quirky kid who doesn't love change. A kid who had his routine and his people, and was the only one truly vocal about how much he missed what our old church had that our new church appeared to be missing.

Jackie, who after months of attending our new church, didn't really know any of the kids in his class.

I would be lying if I didn't wonder, often, if we'd misunderstood God's leading. If we might be hurting our children, yet God continued to whisper...continued to reassure.

Then, yesterday, without even knowing she had captured something holy, Aunt Stacee sent me this photo. A photo of three hilariously goofy friends.


Three friends that laugh and goof around and passionately love baseball. What you can't see is that these boys all also love Jesus. And that these boys all attend our new church.

That's right, God, in His infinite grace brought all of these boys from our new church together on the ball field. God knows my boy enough to know that the connections would be easier, and more fluid here. That the friendships would form differently and more naturally.

I am forever amazed that God loves us for our unique quirks, and not in spite of them. That He finds ways to love on us in ways that only matter to us.