Friday, February 27, 2009

Farewell Myrtle Beach

This week as I sat at the beach on my lunch break I nestled a restful period of prayer and reflection into my otherwise chaotic day filled with work, moving details, and packing. As I gazed out over the ocean my heart and mind finally started to grasp that I really am leaving this place that I've called home for almost five years now. I never would have known upon moving here the turns my life would take in Myrtle Beach... I never would have known how God would have used this move to draw me to Himself, give me a husband who loves Him, and a community of friends to share my life and my heart with. How He would use this five years as a huge transitional period, freeing me from so much of the pain and insecurities of my life before Him and teaching me who I am in Him, what that freedom means, the depths of the power of His healing, comfort, love, grace, and forgiveness. As I stared out over the ocean, just a few blocks away from where I was baptized just a few years ago all of these thoughts filled my head. I found comfort and security in God's plan. Reflecting on how five years ago I moved here as a person purely living life for myself, and now leaving with my life in the hands of Christ. How God has time and time again taken the worst of my circumstances, failures, and struggles and used them for His glory. How now when I am again heading into an unknown place and people (just as when I moved to Myrtle Beach) God still has a plan for me (just as He did when I moved to Myrtle Beach). And in all of this I find comfort. In knowing that God is so much bigger than me, my questions, my plans, my ways, and my desires. With all of this I bid Myrtle Beach a sweet farewell as she will always hold a special place in my heart, as so much transition occurred here. If I were in the Old Testament I would probably build an altar to God here and my name would be changed signifying my encounter with Him (as with Abram, Jacob and many others).

Shannon

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