A series of unexpected crosses.

I moved back to Florida in July. But moving to Virginia three years earlier was a plot twist. I still can’t believe I did it. That I took the leap.

I, a lifelong wuss, moved 850 miles from home to be near a guy I dated. Back then, I wanted a marriage proposal. Instead, I got a breakup.

But I also got a breakthrough.

In Virginia, I tried. I fought. I failed. I did things I never imagined I’d do. Good things but scary things. I felt profound joy and profound grief and profound gratitude, often at the same time. I cried openly, in chapels, in church, and at the gym.

Life in Virginia had a series of unexpected crosses. But every single crucifixion was followed faithfully and relentlessly by a resurrection. Every single one. God turned every ending into a beginning. He turned finality into fertility. He turned me a few times into what He needed me to be.

Have you read the story in the Bible about Abraham and Isaac? God asks Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac, as a burnt offering. I learned while I lived in Virginia that I have to be Abraham. I have to be willing to give back to God what God has given to me. Which means I also have to be Isaac.

I learned that it’s actually possible to trust Him with yourself. With your future. We are so afraid deep down sometimes that He isn’t actually good, that He doesn’t actually know what’s best. We are afraid that He won’t catch us.

But He can’t catch us if we don’t leap.

So leap.