Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

I had a season in Tucson when I was discontented with my life and where I was. I was frustrated at my lack of progress; I started to dislike where I lived, and a friend looked at me and said, “What if you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be? What if where you are right now, with how your life is, this is where God wants you?” I looked at him and said, “If that’s the case, then I don’t like God now.” But life and where we end up is a battle of contentment.

I was talking to a friend recently who lived in a small town and wanted to be at a larger company in a larger city. Where things are happening, and life is exciting.

Yet, nothing came up for him.

Part of this is personality-driven, but there is also something in the water of our culture. We like new, shiny, and big things.

Regularly I talk to people about the same topic: Wishing they were somewhere else.

Not necessarily physically (although sometimes that’s it), but wanting to be somewhere else.

You can move somewhere and change your life, but that’s a different blog. 

The reality is many of us need to learn contentment where we are, patience as we wait on God, and be where God has us. 

For 5 years, Katie and I tried to leave Tucson. We felt our hearts were somewhere else, that God had something else for us, but nothing happened. Some of that was God moving us and loosening our grip on things. 

In those 5 years, God showed us things we needed to learn as a couple. God showed me things I needed to learn and deal with. 

Recently, someone at my church asked me if I’m happy in New England. 

We love New England. 

But then I told them something that made me happy. As I’ve reflected on our time in Tucson, I am starting to see more and more why we walked through the things we did, the experiences we had in the churches we were a part of, and how all those seasons have prepared us for this one. I can see why God said, “Not yet,” when we were ready. I can see why that situation with an elder or staff member happened. 

Not everything, but it has shown me that my friend was right. What if we were exactly where God wanted us so we would be prepared for what came next?