I did it. I escaped. After months of planning, I am finally officially early retired.
Tonight as I am writing this weekend’s blog, it is only my second day of retirement.
It’s weird, but wonderful.
I feel like I’m free-falling through faith.
I was joking at work earlier in the week that retiring has got to be worse than getting married, because at least I’d know the man. Mr. Retirement has hardly said anything to me!
I do realize I am already relishing the freedom I have for my schedule.
A friend who moved to the state next door invited me and several other mutual friends to her daughter’s baby shower. I realized, yes, not only can I go, but, if I want to, I can stay a day or two over, although it’s highly unlikely. At least I don’t have to worry about going to work the next day!
Today, I bought an annual national parks pass and passport at Zion National Park in Utah. I look forward to filling that passport with stamps and certificates.
My real passport, the international one, should arrive some time next month. I look forward to seeing where the Lord will send me, how He will use me, and how He will provide for me to go.
I have lots of plans. For all you prayer warriors out there, pray I get my top two priorities done: 2 major book projects. One was 80% done, but I will spend the month of June revamping it so I can submit a book proposal to a publisher who is interested. The other is a book I started, but I need to finish something, so I need to finish the first book first.
I do believe that Jesus gave me these ideas and wanted me to act on them.
However, although I have all these plans, I still feel like I’m free-falling my way through faith. It’s just weird to be retired at my age.
You know how the Lord has this thing about changing all our plans, even the ones we thought were from Him.
I ended up working my entire adult life even though I had planned to be a missionary overseas.
How plans and desires and intentions change over the years.
Have you ever planned to do something for years, even for the Lord, and then when it came time to do it, you just couldn’t get it to happen?
Sometimes I feel like my passion for future things fizzled out when I didn’t get to go overseas when I thought I should have gone.
How do you deal with yourself when you disappoint yourself?
I have to continue to trust the Lord to move, guide, guard, and get me where He wants me. I’m a bit dense in some areas, and He knows exactly how to get my attention, make sure I understand, and teach me to obey so I will be less dense in the future.
In fact, I know that He’s already in my future. Nothing is a surprise to the Lord. He has plans for me, too, that I know nothing about, and that it’s good I know nothing about them.
He knows exactly what He wants to do in and through me, the areas I still need work in, the times He wants to bless me or discipline me.
His thoughts and His plans toward me are more numerous than the number of grains of sands in the sea (Psalm 139). Those thoughts and plans are good ones (Jer. 29:11), although at the time I’m undergoing them, they don’t feel good!
He has caught me in my free fall through faith and set my feet on Himself, the solid rock. Now I’m learning to steady myself walking gingerly on the foundation of His love, mercy, grace, and truth as I continue to grow in that walk as a daughter of God.
I am now looking forward to a time of renewal as I walk into the future He has for me. I’m looking forward to getting my faith and my complete obedience refreshed and restored. And I will keep you posted at to what is happening with me in the weeks to come. I already have several more future blogs coming out of this act of retirement, stay tuned! Thank you for praying for me, I desperately need your prayers.
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