Familiar Setting; New Beginning

Today I went and signed my new lease.  I'll be living in a single bedroom apartment in the same complex where I stayed my senior year at college.  It was such a blessing that I'm able to move into a complex that is familiar to me;  anyone who knows me at all realizes how very little I like change.  My preferences as to location of apartment were all met or exceeded; I am in the building closest to the office, third floor (my preference for security reasons).  As a third-floor resident, I also have the blessing of vaulted ceilings in my living/dining/kitchen area, which helps the small space to feel a little larger.  I am also very close to the laundry facilities, which is convenient since I do not own a washer and dryer, nor is there room in the apartment to accommodate them.

The complex itself is great in that it is closer to work, closer to church, and closer to my favorite grocery store (Aldi of course!).  The only downside is that the apartments here are slightly smaller than my previous complex, and if I stay through next year it will actually be further from the new school location.  However, I will take that all one step at a time.  It is such a blessing that I was able to get a 6 month lease so that I can be flexible to move this summer to another complex or even another city if the Lord so wills.  I can hardly believe that a week ago I just found out that I would be moving, and now, with practically no effort on my part, the Lord has provided a wonderful place to live.  I think of the passage in Matthew 6 (quoted below).  Even though my situation is regarding housing, not food or clothing as the passage discusses, I am humbled to remember the care of my Savior.

Matthew 6:25-34:   “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?  Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
   “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.  Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?  So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.