Flip Flop Fifty. Is life giving you flip flops?

Dear Mid-life me,

Don’t ever think that you are settled in, having regular daily life all figured out for the foreseeable future. Nope. As soon as you get too comfy God will shake it up. Shake YOU up. Time for a flip flop!

From 49 through 51 (so far), life has done flip-flops for me. And those aren’t normal “Let’s go to the beach ” flip-flops. These are God saying “You’ve gotta trust me ” flip flops.

A few of life’s flips…

The list of flip flops is getting lengthy: Sell the family home, move to another town, leave a career of nineteen years, help the hubs navigate a new job that isn’t all we expected, move in with MIL (for eighteen months), find a place to rent, start a new career, go back to school, study, and work on passing State licensing exams (prayers I pass exam #3 please). I’m the mid-life lady who is just starting over! And this was all before we even began muddling our way through 2020.

We all know how 2020 has been so far. A virus, crazy economy, protests, riots, conspiracy theories, out of control media, uber-important elections, and pure confusion as to what to believe in the world.

Through it all, I can see a glimmer of the “why” we are on this road. We had family willing to take us in and it was our turn to give back. Bethany and her husband needed to live with us while they weathered the storm between college graduation and finding jobs in the midst of a COVID19 economy. I know that isn’t what they expected, but God is faithful and has provided them jobs and a future in another town. After a stall, they’re moving forward again and the rest of us will too.

For me, I’m growing in my new job and meeting new people. For the hubs, his job is finally settling into something that can be managed. We will all move forward and embrace life again. As for the virus, the economy, the hostility, and the election? Those, as well as the other things, belong to God.

God is good and I will be gold.

The point of this ramble is to just say “hang on”. I’ve been absent and weathering the storm for a while. I thought I had a plan. I was wrong. God has the plan. My plans looked nothing like this, I assure you. What I’ve seen again and again during this time is that I must return to my foundation and that foundation is Jesus Christ. What does HE say? Remember, His Word never changes. Only He can turn these stomach squeezing flip flops into relax at the beach flip flops. In HIM and HIM alone do I place my trust and my thoughts. Not the media, politicians, or even the CDC. In God alone.

If you are in the middle of a flip-flop fifty style episode of your own, keep the faith. We know that our God is on our side and when this is done, we will come forth as gold!

But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold. Job 23:30

All my love,