On the move again!

Staying grounded when life tries to uproot you

Let’s chat about moving…and Abraham!

On the move again

As I write to you today, I am preparing to move…again.

Not that I mind…too much. I believe this house will be Johnny’s and my sixteenth address in our 37 years of marriage, so moving has been part of our lives. As I think about that I smile, realizing that we could probably host a season of an HGTV show with all the remodels being our own houses!

With that in mind, allow me to script the teasers for a few “episodes.” (This could be fun!)

Episode 1

In this episode, Johnny and Cathy are newly married and finishing degrees at Texas Tech University. They rent a house from Cathy’s student teaching supervisor and begin their renovations with a small project: replacing kitchen carpet. What led to this first mini-makeover? Their basset hound puppy, Dexter, ate a hole in the middle of the floor while they slept one night!

Episode 2

It’s time for the small-town couple to move to the big city of Ft. Worth. Now on unfamiliar turf, the couple faces multiple struggles including a home invasion while they are a few blocks away at a Sunday School Christmas party. However, they will overcome this and other challenges as they find strength in their faith and their commitment to each other. Bonus: Cathy learns inexpensive decorating tricks from her interior designer friend, Debby.

(Let’s skip ahead…)

Episode 5

Johnny shifts careers from public accounting to public school business administration, so the couple moves from Levelland to Dimmitt. His new position will allow Cathy to stay home with their children–if they can find a rental house to fit their budget. Watch as Cathy and her dad nail sheet metal over large rat holes and clean with gloves and masks (before masks were commonplace) to make the country house livable. Rejoice with her as she treasures time in this house creating special memories with her children.

Episode 6

To Johnny’s and Cathy’s dismay, the country rental sells, and they must house hunt in Dimmitt. After purchasing a home marred by 30 years of smoking, they learn how to block the smell and stains of cigarette damage. The process slows the renovation schedule, though, so the young moms from Cathy’s Bible study commit to helping her paint the entire house. Finally, Cathy and her dad install cabinets and her brother-in-law teaches her to lay tile. You won’t believe this transformation on a very tight budget!

Summary of remaining episodes

As you might imagine, the remaining episodes continue similarly: Renovation accounts of moved walls, dripped paint, and board and batten trim intermingle with stories of coyotes staring in the back door or deer and armadillos on the lawn. Scenes filled with high school students bring smiles as viewers see them enjoying weekend Bible studies or cooking steaks in the backyard on a 9-foot grill converted from a cattle feeder. Vignettes of football game-day lunches, students’ bridal showers, girls laughing…and crying, family reunions (one after moving into the house just two weeks prior), and other treasured times grace the screen as the mobile life of Johnny and Cathy plays out. Though frequently depicting the pressure-filled uncertainty of change, these episodes also testify to the absolute and unwavering goodness of God as He pours out abundant blessings regardless of location.

We now return to our regularly-scheduled devotion…

Obviously, several more episodes exist in this reality series. Have I ever tired of moving? Of course. And yet, each time I want to complain, my mind goes to Abraham.

Abraham…

• who was 75 when God called him.
• who left Haran where he had a house because God called him.
• who did not know where he was going, but he knew God called him.
• who lived the rest of his life in tents because God called him.
• who looked “forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God” (Heb. 11:10) because he knew God called him.

Abraham, like others in Hebrews 11, “died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth” (Heb. 11:13).

Somehow, Abraham grounds me. His life reframes the uprooting and frustration of moving with a perspective of peace and privilege. I don’t have to move; I get to journey with God!

Are you in need of a little grounding and reframing? Perhaps you have not moved like I have, but I’m guessing you have faced your own “uprootings”–times of radically altered life plans. Let’s use Abraham’s example to remind us who we are, who we’re not, what we do, and why.

Closing

Hebrews 11:16 provides a final word in this passage for those “on the move” with God:

“But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city” (Heb. 11:16).

I want God to be unashamed to be called my God! Don’t you?!

So let’s live grounded lives, full of faith and confident expectation! Whether our current “episode” feels like demolition, fresh paint, or an unfinished project, let’s live like we know where we are going: to a city prepared for us by God. No packing or unpacking required!

Count me in!

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Do you have a story about moving or how Scripture helps ground you? I would love to read about your experience. Please comment below.

Until next time, may you feel grounded in your faith even when events in life try to uproot you!

©2025 Catherine L Hill. All rights reserved.