SOCIAL MEDIA

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

[ Guest Post: Jen from The Arizona Russums ]

 Hi everyone! I hope you are all having a great Wednesday so far! 
I wanted to introduce you to my friend Jen, over at The Arizona Russums. Her blog was one of the very first that I found when I started actively blogging. And I was very excited to discover that she did not live too far away from me in my new state of AZ. I love her heart for God, her adoration of her sweet hubby, and her incredible passion for life... the girl is working on her PhD, teaches full-time, blogs daily, and is involved with her church and friends! Phewwww. She is amazing. I'm so blessed by her friendship and I am really excited for the day when we get to meet face-to-face for coffee :) 

You will find me over on her blog today!!

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Hi there! I’m Jen and I blog about life and faith and my newlywed adventures over at The Arizona Russums. Heather is my newest Arizona friend who I’ve never {yet} met in real life. We live just a mere two hours apart from each other in this desert paradise of a state  and we definitely plan to meet someday soon. Until then, we are quickly becoming great bloggy friends and have decided to guest post on each others blog today. I am so excited to be here with y’all!

Heather and I are both fairly new to Arizona. My husband and I moved to Scottsdale a few weeks after our wedding last summer {we packed up our Budget truck and headed down here TWO days after returning from our honeymoon!} and Heather and Joshua just moved here last spring.


Moving to a new place is a beautiful struggle. It’s sometimes oh-so-difficult to feel at home in a new city or state. The roads are unfamiliar. You miss your favorite restaurants. It’s not always feasible to spend every holiday with family. You suddenly find yourself playing phone tag with friends who used to be able to meet you for coffee at a moment’s notice. You have to find a new church. Settle into a new job. Honestly, you spend a lot of Friday nights at home. Gone are the days of the booked schedules, the baby showers, the book clubs, the Bible studies, and the happy hours. It can be lonely.

But there is a certain sweetness to this time as well, especially for young married couples. I never would have learned to rely on my husband so fully and deeply if we had not moved to Arizona where we had virtually no friends and no family around us. I never would have been able to grow in my marriage so quickly if I had been distracted by girlfriends and co-workers and weekly commitments. I never would have learned to trust God in so many new ways if I had not gone into an unknown land to see what He had in store for me.

And think of all the things I would not have experienced if Micah and I had not gone on our newlywed adventure. I probably still would have never seen the Grand Canyon, floated the Salt River, or hiked Camelback Mountain {I only cried once on the way up…ha!}. I would not be blessed by our new church, delighting in our new city, or be following my dream of getting my PhD. I would not know all the new friends I’ve made in Arizona. In fact, I would probably not know Heather…


And Heather, I am blessed to know you. I know that it’s hard at times to be in a new place. But as someone who is now a year into Arizona life, I want to tell you that it does get better. Eventually you will be busy every weekend. You will feel settled. You will feel comfortable. You might even find yourself longing for the time when it was just you and Joshua trusting God in a new place. Someday this place might feel like home…

But that reminds me that we are never really HOME on earth. It doesn’t matter if we stay in our hometown our whole lives or venture to a new state or even a different country. It doesn’t matter if we settle down and start a family, or travel the world, or serve as a missionary in a foreign place. This world is not our home. We have a heavenly home waiting for us – a home with many rooms where we get to see God face to face. I can’t wait for the day I’m finally home with the Lord, but until then I am going to enjoy each adventure He has for me on this earth of His!

But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. 
Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.
 - Hebrews 11:16 -

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Isn't she amazing!?! I have a special place in my heart for this girl! Be sure to check out her blog here and become a follower-- you won't be disappointed! :)