Nine Years Ago ...

my family and I moved from Wauwatosa, Wisconsin to Canyon, Texas. It was the summer before my senior year in high school, and needless to say, the hardest move of my life. When my parents told me that they were feeling called to Canyon, they talked with me about the possibility of me staying in Wisconsin while they moved to Texas. I could have stayed and enjoyed my senior year with all of my best friends, but I would have given up my last year with my family before college. It was a hard decision - I loved Wisconsin! I thrived there and I had no clue during my junior year that it would be my last year at Tosa East. After a lot of praying, thinking and crying, I told my parents that I felt like God was asking me to go with them. I knew it was going to be hard, but I knew that it was what I was supposed to do.

Fast forward nine years - as I stood in the sanctuary of FBC Canyon this Sunday hearing my dad preach his last sermon as pastor there, these memories came flooding back. I reflected on the last nine years in the my life and you know what? God is so good! I'm not going to lie and tell you that the year that I lived in Canyon was easy - because it wasn't! It was definitely the hardest year of my life. But God used it in so many ways to change my life! During that year, I learned to rely on God, I found a best friend in my sister Lorin, I played dominoes with sweet older couples, I grew closer to my parents and little sisters, I enrolled as a student at Howard Payne University (which forever changed my life), I learned about sacrifice and love and grace and strength. So much of who I am today has been shaped by this time in my life.

It was a bittersweet morning, saying goodbye to the church members who have meant so much to my family. Canyon has been my family's home for the past nine years, and it was sad to say goodbye. I know that God used our time in Canyon to change each of our lives. I can see how He has allowed each of us to be challenged and grow into who He wanted us to be. I can say with confidence that as the Lowries leave Canyon, we are all leaving as better people.

At the same time, I look with anticipation toward what God has in store for my parents and sisters in the future in El Paso. God is mighty and faithful and a great provider. I know He is going to do some great things!