Nashville

Here I am! --sitting on my porch overlooking Clinton St in Nashville, TN.  This is my new home!  Almost everyone is here and we're getting ready for our new lives as musicianaries (musicians + missionaries) in the Hood.  Tomorrow we will get the run-down for the week, maybe a little sneak peak into the year, and our individual jobs will be assigned to us.  I am eagerly waiting to have a clearer picture of what my life will be like in 2014.  :) 

(May apartment is the top right.  I share with two lovely ladies!)

I have to admit...  More than once the thought popped into my head,

"Hannah, what on EARTH are you getting yourself into?!  Basically signing your life away for a solid year, not having a CLUE what the details are of where it will take you, and not only having virtually no money, but not even being able to provide for yourself...?  I  mean, who would do that to themselves????"

Well, the answer is simple.  Many in history have taken this risk in order to follow God in obedience to His will, and I am no exception.  Take Abraham for instance.  God literally tells him, "Get out of your country, from your family and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you."  (Genesis 12:1)  He didn't even know where he was going, let alone what he would do there.  God told him to go and he went.  No questions asked.  "...So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him..."  (Genesis 12:4)

If we really think about it, as Christians, we never really know what the final outcome will be from an act of obedience -- if our lives are fully surrendered to Him.  He typically only shows us one puzzle piece at a time.  In retrospect we see that He carefully planned every step, but in the moment it seems ludicrous to march around a city seven times, to send home over 90% of your army, or even walk naked for three years.  (Exodus 6:15, Judges 7:2-8, Isaiah 20:3)

Sometimes fear and control get in the way and cause us to reject the Lord's plan because it's not going the way WE want it to...  Yet, how can we so easily forget that full surrender to God's will is the only way to escape complete disaster?  We know all too well the story of Jonah.  I know I can't hide from God, but I certainly don't want to run from Him! 

The truth is, if I would have run from God and His call back to Nashville, I would have a storm raging inside me right now.  There would be no peace, there would be no excitement and anticipation; there would be no hope or purpose.  I would be thrown and tossed by the waves of directionlessness, until finally I throw myself overboard in full surrender.  Then God would somehow swallow me up and take me to the horizon of Nashville.  God doesn't have a plan B.  Either you submit to His plan, or He gets you there the hard and fishy way.  I know for a FACT God would bring me right back here, no matter how much I might have kicked and screamed.

Thankfully, I didn't put up a fight.  I know I am in His will!  And that's exactly where I want to be -- not in the belly of a smelly fish...  I have hope; I have purpose and direction.  I have SO much anticipation because I know that God takes pride in what He does and He wants to use ME!!! 

Even if this were a horrible place to live with the worst case scenario, I would still be content to be in His will.  I heard a story today of an old missionary lady who said she is happy everywhere she goes, because Jesus is in her heart and He is her home!  I couldn't agree more.  Thankfully, this is far from the worst case scenario at the Foundry.  Though some things are tough (i.e. my apartment hasn't had water for days) I am surrounded by a loving, encouraging community of people who Love God and Serve People.  This is home!

...And so Hannah departed as the Lord had spoken to her, and Davina went with her.  And Hannah was 22 years old when she departed from Winchester, KY...  then Hannah took Davina her sister, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and they departed to go to the land of Nashville, TN.  So they came to the land of Nashville...  :)

Until next time,
Hannah Garrett (The Musicianary Midwife)