Never Too Old to Start Over

At least it feels like I’ll be starting over. 

What insanity drives a person to load up a car with only clothes and take off for an uncertain new life? How can I know what else to bring when no decisions can be made until I get where I’m going?

Worsening health issues have forced my husband and I to re-examine our long term retirement plan. Not that we actually had one but our big questions were: Stay in the frigid north country since our mortgage is paid for? Snowbird, gobbling up our nest egg, and then what? Or relocate? If we relocate, where?

Then winter 2010-2011 hit hard on the winds of a serious lung problem from which I hadn’t fully recovered. Bout after bout of acute and severe bronchitis has me worn out. I finally realized, I’m not invincible. Sometimes the cries of the body need to be listened to. It’s hard to admit that I’m vulnerable to the same infirmities that hit most of the aging population…reality enough. Now God has pushed us off the fence of indecision and forced us to forge ahead, even though the path will unfold little by little.   

So we made the decision…sort of. We will proceed with a relocation plan, our best financial option. But before we make a long-term housing commitment, we need to know that my asthma can handle the humid summers of northern Florida. That opens up a floodgate of decision-making…none of which can be made until I physically get there. I must go ahead of my husband, my right hand, who cannot retire until May 2012.  

How does one manage a year of uncertainty? One day at a time. Factoring what are the most immediate decisions and what can be postponed. Reorganization is a process like a caterpillar inside a cocoon. The caterpillar doesn’t know what to expect…he’s never been a butterfly before. He knows it’s time to crawl inside and let God do the rest.

So January is a month of reflection… a time to mentally prepare. February will be a month of travel, a slow crawl to the birth of a new life. March begins the process of cracking open the life God has prepared for me in advance. Will I have anxiety? Absolutely. But God has given me these promises to call upon when my courage fails:   

Psalm 55:22

Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.

1 Peter 5:7

Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

Let the adventure begin