BE ANXIOUS FOR NOTHING!

So, we’re finally here!  We’ve been here many times before, as vacationers, but now Florida is our HOME!  And I’m just loving the sense that Jim and I are on a grand adventure!

Every day reminds me of what a great partnership Jim and I have.  We enjoy puttering together – him with outdoor projects, me with indoor ones.  We’ve been to the library, local stores, the post office, companionably doing what needs doing.  And during the warm afternoons we go our separate ways to read, or swim (I like this, he’s not keen), or sit outside and work on the computer (he likes this, I think it’s WAY too hot!).  This morning we each tried out a Bible study at a local church, he to the men’s class, I to the women’s.  We are loving being together.

I’ve noticed though that in the last week my sleeping life has been filled with anxious dreams.  I don’t really believe that my dreams “speak”, but I sure do dream vividly.  This week I dreamed that I was supposed to give a Bible Study Fellowship lecture to a huge class of women, plus the Area Advisor, and I hadn’t prepared it.  Then there was the dream in which a special needs child was not picked up by her parents because of a fire, so I, as the teacher in charge, decided I’d drive her home.  In my dream, I unfolded a map and checked to see how far from school she lived.  It was like an hour away, so then I thought maybe she should stay with me overnight.  Crazy, right?

Thinking back on these unforgettable dreams, I realized that they were the result of anxiety in my real life.  But life has been so calm.  I have few activities to distract me from spending time studying my Bible and praying for others.  I’m swimming in the afternoons, and reading.  What do I have to be anxious about, I thought?

So, in the hope of getting some insight, I shared my anxiety with my daughter, Becky.  She is NOT a therapist, but I’m sure she’d be great playing one on TV!  She is very wise and insightful for a 35 year old.  And she reminded me that I had only just recently left behind all that is familiar.  Family, friends, my church.  She also pointed out that while we are indeed in Florida, this part of Florida is our temporary home.  At the end of the winter, or early spring, we plan to make another move, three hours north, to be closer to her, and to be in Orlando where there’s more to do.  So I’m not as likely to be able to get involved with people or a church, or they with me, when we know it will be short term.  She’s right, of course.

So, I’ll look upon this period of life as a gift from the Lord, and ask, “What would You have me be about for the next several months until You move us on?”  

I’d hate to miss this particular part of the adventure being anxious.  God’s got this!