I have lied.
Well maybe not lied, but for years I have downplayed how many times our family has moved. Having people see me as unstable or flakey, I hid the number of times we’ve changed zip codes. Even though many of the relocations were work-related or school driven, I felt embarrassed. People, ever curious, would try to connect the dots. “Why are you moving again?” they’d ask with an odd scrutiny in their eyes. Of course it doesn’t matter now why we moved. What matters is realizing that God never wastes anything. Like my mother, who reworked hand-me-down clothes into outfits for me when I was a teenager, God reworks our life. He uses our experiences to help others. This website is the fruition of my moving experience.
Changingzipcodes.com sprung from a discussion with my friend, Peggy Sue. As an aspiring (or perspiring) writer I expressed to her my writing was progressing too slowly. She jumped into the conversation, exhorting me to write more about my expertise, moving. “You are the moving guru with all your tips, stories and experiences. Write about that.” I groaned inwardly. The last thing I wanted to think about was relocation. I’d much rather write children’s stories.
Well, God in his persistence placed people in my path to point me back to writing about relocation. At recent writing conference fellow attendees’ eyes glazed over as I recounted my children’s stories. Only when I shared my vision for a relocation website did fellow conferees began jabbering as if they had been on an all night drinking binge at Starbucks. They had all experienced difficulties relocating. I had hit a chord. I put away my other manuscripts and hit the keys. The result: www.ChangingZipCodes.com.
Everyone has points of shame in their life. Mine has been frequent moving. Yours may be different. Maybe you have a child with a drug problem. Maybe you are going through a divorce or a bankruptcy. Maybe you struggle with your weight or a sickly child. Life has many pits we can fall into. That’s a given. How we can survive and climb out is a mystery for many. Let me offer you hope. God knows where you live. He knows who you are. He knows what you have been through and He can remodel your life. When my mother took a tired black and white herringbone dress and fashioned it into a slim skirt and vest for me it became a unique creation. Well, our lives can also become reworked and used for greater good. Our weaknesses can become our strengths. What it takes is an admission that we don’t have the answers, and that we are separated from God. If anyone realizes this and asks Jesus to come into their heart and forgive their sin, He is faithful to give us a new life. I Corin 10:13 says that “if we are in Christ, we are new creatures, behold all is new.” Let Him rework your life today.
