Two years in Charleston, an introspective.
It's been two years since we moved to Charleston and two years working in apartments. I can say without reservation that the last two years have completely changed how we view the world. We chose a harder road than we realized, but really, we were given exactly what we'd asked. For a few years before moving here, we were dissatisfied with the life we'd made for ourselves. We looked like everyone else. We'd finished college, bought a house, started our family. We were concerned with savings and retirement. We'd surrounded ourselves with people just like us. We were very comfortable, too comfortable. If we were supposed to be Christians and Christians are supposed to be different, then why did we look, act, and worry about the exact same things as everyone else? Something wasn't right and we could feel it. We prayed for God to move and give us an opportunity to actually DO something instead of spending our time with our church friends (whom we love by the way!), teaching the Bible to people that already know everything we could say. We wanted a tangible way to put our hearts into action.
God answered that prayer in many small steps (so we wouldn't lose our minds!). First, Mr. Inc got a job in Charleston; a city far enough away that we'd be starting over, but close enough that we could still visit our family easily. Second, God made us wait. We needed our house to sell to be able to buy another house, but our house was not selling. We had tons of showings. It should have sold quickly even in the slower market. But it didn't. After 5 months of living apart, we were ready to trust. We knew we couldn't continue living apart, and we couldn't afford to pay for our house while living in Charleston. We'd decided to move anyway and hope the house sold quickly. God had us where He wanted us. By this time, I had absolutely zero interest in buying another house. I never wanted to go through the process of selling and separation again.
This is when we learned about the possibility to work in apartment communities planning events. It was an opportunity for us to meet a lot of new people, to help build community. It was also a long term commitment to apartment living. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into, and it's been so much harder than I ever imagined, but we absolutely LOVE what we do now! We've hosted 72 events in the last 24 months. Just think about that for a second. We still have our lives going on full speed. Mr. Inc still gets up and goes to work everyday. I still have 3 kids to take care of and educate. Yes, we get exhausted sometimes...okay, a lot of the time. I still haven't worked out my time management the way I need to. And really, after 2 years, I should have gotten it together better than I have, but that's what year three is for I guess. When we tell people we're not interested in buying a house and we actually like renting an apartment, they look at us like we're weird. That picture perfect, subdivision life is great for a lot of people, but we simply weren't made to live like that. At least not right now.
So God answered our prayers for a different life. We wanted to be around all kinds of people from all walks of life, and that's what we were given. We've been able to share our lives with people we would have never met if we hadn't pushed ourselves off the expressway we'd put ourselves on. I wish I could say the last two years have been beautiful and inspirational, but that would be a lie. They have been messy in a lot of ways. We were challenged on ideas and commitments we'd assumed were settled. We were stretched beyond our limits. We were forced to grow as people and confront those parts of ourselves that we didn't like. We failed personally a few times. Badly. I admit I wanted to quit everything and go "home" more than once. I missed my friends, my family, my church. I missed that comfortable bubble we'd made for ourselves, but going back was never an option.
And now we're starting year three. I have absolutely no idea what the next month holds for us let alone the next year. However, I can say with certainty that our year will NOT be boring.
God answered that prayer in many small steps (so we wouldn't lose our minds!). First, Mr. Inc got a job in Charleston; a city far enough away that we'd be starting over, but close enough that we could still visit our family easily. Second, God made us wait. We needed our house to sell to be able to buy another house, but our house was not selling. We had tons of showings. It should have sold quickly even in the slower market. But it didn't. After 5 months of living apart, we were ready to trust. We knew we couldn't continue living apart, and we couldn't afford to pay for our house while living in Charleston. We'd decided to move anyway and hope the house sold quickly. God had us where He wanted us. By this time, I had absolutely zero interest in buying another house. I never wanted to go through the process of selling and separation again.
This is when we learned about the possibility to work in apartment communities planning events. It was an opportunity for us to meet a lot of new people, to help build community. It was also a long term commitment to apartment living. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into, and it's been so much harder than I ever imagined, but we absolutely LOVE what we do now! We've hosted 72 events in the last 24 months. Just think about that for a second. We still have our lives going on full speed. Mr. Inc still gets up and goes to work everyday. I still have 3 kids to take care of and educate. Yes, we get exhausted sometimes...okay, a lot of the time. I still haven't worked out my time management the way I need to. And really, after 2 years, I should have gotten it together better than I have, but that's what year three is for I guess. When we tell people we're not interested in buying a house and we actually like renting an apartment, they look at us like we're weird. That picture perfect, subdivision life is great for a lot of people, but we simply weren't made to live like that. At least not right now.
So God answered our prayers for a different life. We wanted to be around all kinds of people from all walks of life, and that's what we were given. We've been able to share our lives with people we would have never met if we hadn't pushed ourselves off the expressway we'd put ourselves on. I wish I could say the last two years have been beautiful and inspirational, but that would be a lie. They have been messy in a lot of ways. We were challenged on ideas and commitments we'd assumed were settled. We were stretched beyond our limits. We were forced to grow as people and confront those parts of ourselves that we didn't like. We failed personally a few times. Badly. I admit I wanted to quit everything and go "home" more than once. I missed my friends, my family, my church. I missed that comfortable bubble we'd made for ourselves, but going back was never an option.
And now we're starting year three. I have absolutely no idea what the next month holds for us let alone the next year. However, I can say with certainty that our year will NOT be boring.
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