This is it – the week of our move is finally here! It’s been a crazy past couple of weeks, as we were in Chapel Hill for one of my good friend’s weddings this past weekend, and we went to Niagara Falls for one night the weekend before. Thankfully we don’t have to pack ourselves – we have movers coming Thursday to pack everything up – literally everything, drawer-by-drawer, other than things we want to move ourselves. Jon and I will be driving one car down to Raleigh on Friday and having the other car shipped. Everyone says they absolutely hate moving, and I might too if we had to do everything ourselves, but when it’s mostly done for you like this, I actually kind-of like it. I like going through my things to purge and clean often, so I don’t mind that part of it!

Last night we dismantled our living room/dining room to start priming over the yellow color, so it looks like this right now:

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My friend Jamie is so kindly going to help me prime more this afternoon! Other than that, we need to finish taking things off the walls, organize our things a little more, and pack up the things we want to move ourselves, plus what we need for a few days in Raleigh. Our things will be delivered early next week, but I still haven’t heard the exact day…

We’re so thankful to have lots of help moving in from both of our parents this time! We have plans to paint the master bedroom, build a headboard for our bed, and repaint some  furniture. My mom is also going to help me make valances for our bedroom windows, a lumbar pillow for our bed, and possibly find a piece of furniture to repurpose. Jon and I will both have all of next week to move-in and work on these things before starting our jobs, which is awesome.

With all the change that’s about to take place, along with some other emotion-triggering circumstances recently, I’ve felt like a basket case of emotions. This morning I was needing some extra encouragement to start the day, and I just happened to be on the last chapter in Luke. This is the chapter on Jesus’ resurrection and ascension. I was struck by the disappointment and discouragement the apostles and those with them felt at the time of Jesus’ resurrection when they still did not fully understand all that had happened. Jesus appeared to two men who had been with the apostles and had heard that Jesus had risen. Their faces were “downcast” (Luke 24: 17). Jesus asked them what they were talking about, and part of their response was: “The chief priests and our rulers handed [Jesus] over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who he was going to redeem Israel” (Luke 24:20-21). In Spanish, this last phrase is “pero nosotros abrigábamos la esperanza de que era él quien redimiría a Israel.” Abrigar means “to cherish,” “to take shelter,” or “to wrap oneself up.” It literally says, “but we were taking shelter in the hope that he was the one who would redeem Israel.” I like how the Spanish version emphasizes how much they were hanging onto this hope. They were discouraged because they did not understand that what they were hoping for HAD come true. They were basically living in denial of the truth.

At the end of the chapter, after Jesus opens their minds to fully understand, they are overcome with joy. “They stayed continually at the temple, praising God” after Jesus was taken up to heaven (Luke 24:53). I love how Scripture so simply portrays truths like this: when you don’t know the truth of the gospel, or aren’t living in light of it, you will be downcast, confused, discouraged. When you know the truth of the gospel and live in that truth, you can have joy. The joy of the gospel is part of our inheritance as receivers of the gospel, and it can never be taken away. Even with the knowledge that this joy is ours, sometimes we need to specifically ask God to fill us with it. And in reference to asking for good gifts like this, Jesus said, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you” (Matt. 7:7).