A Grand Finale

Panic set in.  Could it be that the Lord was leading us to live on an island in the North Sea???  We flew back to Edinburgh and then home.  For several months we battled the fear of invisible 'giants in the land' of Orkney...long, dark winters...epic gales...the isolation of island living.  The Lord patiently waited while we wrestled and argued, while we grieved the loss of all that was beloved and familiar.  I sat at the kitchen table, which had been my special meeting place with the Lord for almost twenty years.  Looking out the window, I remember willfully committing to memory the view...fearing I would one day be desperate for the memory of it.

Sunset in Graham...

Tears were flowing and I heard the Lord's gentle voice saying:  "I am EXPANDING your view!" 
I went to the piano, choosing to believe Him.
He gave me two lines, which I sang
over and over:
"Lord, make me willing to release,
Ready to receive...
Willing to release,
Ready to receive..."
I recognized these tears, this grieving was necessary.  There would be no room in my heart for what God had in store... until I released EVERYTHING to Him. I remembered a quote from A.W. Tozer that I had recorded in my journal in July of 2012:

---

"Possessive clinging to things is one of the most harmful habits in life.  We are often hindered from giving up our treasures to the Lord out of fear for their safety...so we WILL be brought to this testing place...our whole future will be conditioned
by the choice we make."  (The Pursuit of God)

The ensuing months would be spent tenderly, ruthlessly sifting through twenty-plus years of accumulated memories.  By God's grace (and I say this because I am NOT organized by nature) I managed to sort through it all, deciding what would make the journey to Orkney and what would be re-homed.  The movers arrived on Monday, September 15 of 2014. They went for the juggler!  First in the order of packing? The piano, then my kitchen...  My heart turned to jelly, which soon liquefied and spilled from my eyes. 

By Thursday of that week we bid adieu to our furniture, most of our clothes and all of our household goods.  The house was a shell...and I wondered how we would manage until our departure on November 3rd.

I strolled around our long, looped driveway, taking in the sights and scents of 'home'...crafting a collage in my mind:  little pillows of moss, ripe blackberries hanging on the vine, towering fir trees, yellowing leaves of Indian plum, bits of wool caught in the fence, the familiar odor of the sunbaked barnyard...

Then on Saturday the 20th, Richard C. Dahl proposed to our daughter, Kate!  Our hearts filled with gratitude to the Lord!  Wanting us to be part of the planning and preparation...they decided to get married on October 25!  We had just over a month to pull it all together.  I needn't have worried about being bored for our last six weeks in Washington! 

It was a glorious, God-honoring day...and an unanticipated opportunity to say  'auf wieder sehen' to friends and family.  The Lord's gift...a Grand Finale of sorts...some frosting on the cake of life.  How great is our God???

Nine days later we were on a plane to Scotland.