Five years ago today (and that was on a Monday, too) I drove out of Alder Drive and out of West Palm Beach and out of Florida. I followed a moving truck all the way to New Jersey, saying goodbye to a life I had created and known for 31 years and saying hello to a new and yet unknown adventure.

I had no idea what this life would look like. I didn’t know if I’d find another job in college health. I didn’t know I’d end up living in my childhood home with family instead of getting another place of my own. Along with the rest of the world, Covid took me by surprise. There was no way I could have prepared for lockdowns and masks and wild days on a college campus with testing and isolation and drama. And I figured I’d go to my family’s church, but I hadn’t envisioned a challenging time there with an unexpected pastoral change.

That’s the thing about starting a new adventure. So many unknowns. But what if I had known? What if God had laid it all out before me and there had been no surprises? What if I had climbed into that overpacked Honda on that hot August afternoon knowing exactly what was waiting for me in the days ahead?

My faith would not have grown.

If there are no unknowns, faith is unnecessary. If God allowed us to know exactly what would happen, we wouldn’t need Him. We’d be completely self sufficient. Or maybe we’d never attempt the adventure at all, holding back in fear, missing out on all God had in store for us.

Anniversaries are good days to stop, look back and then look ahead. Thinking back to August 19, 2019 and seeing just what has happened in my life in the five years since gives me confidence to look forward to the next five. And beyond.

The unknowns turned into blessings. I did get another college health job. I’m not missing out on important family moments anymore. We made it through Covid. Things have settled down at church and I’m finding new ways to serve there.

God has been faithful. He prepared me in ways I didn’t see and didn’t feel at the time. But I see and feel them now. I have grown. I have flourished. I have a different life now than I did in Florida. But it’s a good life and I walk with a good God.

He’s a good God who is the same yesterday, today and forever – in Florida, in New Jersey and beyond.

“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9

But He knows the way that I take. When He has tested me, I will come forth as gold.” Job 23:10

“Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1