Straight from a Navigating Heart
By Lisa Elliott
Believe me when I tell you, that there is much to navigate as I enter into this new season of life. After all, my husband and I have never been this way before.
It doesn't matter that we are back in a city we lived and served in for eleven years. It doesn't matter that there are still so many beautiful friends here. Or that we are back in a community that surrounded us with love, in many forms, through the most difficult time in our lives. It doesn't matter that I left my heart here twelve years ago. It doesn't matter that everything is so familiar. It is still new and, therefore, needs some serious reorientation and intense navigation.
So, in this new season of my life, I've been pulling out some of my own notes-to-self to help me navigate. I'm learning that it comes with a little give and take.
- Give yourself permission to feel a little disoriented, out of sorts, and off-kilter for a while. Transitions and moves are big. And, the effects of them cannot be underestimated.
- Take the necessary time to adjust. Don't be surprised if it takes longer than you think to find your bearings and settle in.
- Give yourself a break by lowering your expectations. It doesn't matter how much planning you've put into this new season or how familiar your new setting is, it is open game for the unexpected.
- Take the initiative to be a friend, rather than waiting to be befriended. No matter how you slice it, it's hard to be the new kid in town. Muster some courage and introduce yourself to a few people. Start with one.
- Give yourself the gift of doing something for yourself every day. What has brought you joy in the past? Don't feel guilty about self-investment and care.
- Take time to talk to someone who has been where you are. A good friend, your spouse, a mentor, or possibly even a professional counsellor if you find yourself really struggling.
- Give yourself permission to grieve what you've left behind. That way you will better be able to embrace all that God has waiting for you.
- Take the pressure off yourself to "have to do". Instead, consider what you "get to do" as you enter this new chapter.
- Give some thought to where God has led you to bring you to this point on your journey. Rejoice in His faithfulness.
- Take time every day to invest in your relationship with God. His Word is life-giving. His promises are true. His love is unchanging amid all the changes you're facing.
If you're, like me, entering into a new season of life, let me just say that it's always a bit of give and take.
“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland” (Isaiah 43:19, NIV).
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Need a little extra encouragement? Discover more inspirational blogs by Lisa Elliott, Straight from the Heart.
About this Contributor:
Lisa Elliott is an inspirational speaker and award-winning author of The Ben Ripple, Dancing in the Rain, and A Ministry Survival Guide. She’s also a writer for Just Between Us Magazine, theStory, and Good Ground. She and her husband, David, have four children (three on earth, one in heaven) and serve the Lord together in Stratford, ON, Canada.
Dear Lisa, I have been incorporating many of your practices into my life, and I, too, am on a new journey. I am living life without my precious husband, who had so much joy and passion that he lived out every day. But God has left me here, alone, but never alone. Jesus walks with me through every situation. I look back at this year and can see where God sent an angel to direct me and to soften my falls. I seek to be a blessing and an encourager and in the process, I am fulfilling God’s purpose in leaving sickly me alone. Thanks for your honesty and your encouragement to me. We as a family just celebrated our grandson’s too soon going to Heaven. He was only 15 and would now be 27. We’ll understand it better by and by. Love you, my dear Lisa. Love you, Shirley