Today, Kiefer Partridge talks about his moves from Georgia to Montana, then from there to Wyoming. God used both these moves in a huge way for his family. (Kiefer also has a paper he wrote a couple years ago on the idea of the Ripple Effect that I posted on my other blog. It will be posted on here tomorrow.)
My family and I live in Wyoming. Have for about nine years. And before that, we lived in Montana for four years. So it’s a little odd when I tell people that I was born right outside of Atlanta, Georgia.
The story of how and why we moved is a tour de force of God’s providence and perfect timing. (It’s a long story, too, so I’ll try to shorten it.)
My dad, the youngest son of a career military electrician, had moved about a bajillion times throughout his childhood. He’d lived in the West and dreamed about going back someday. My mother, meanwhile, the oldest daughter of a private school headmaster, had lived in every major city along the east coast except for Boston. And somehow they both ended up going to a dinky little college in St. Petersburg, Florida.
By the time my sister and I came along, we were living in a suburb of Atlanta, watching drugs, crime, and other symptoms of the inner-city creep closer and closer to our backyard. Dad began to feel God urging him to move us to somewhere that offered a safer and healthier environment for us to grow up in. He picked Montana.
It wasn’t an easy decision. He had no job there, no house for us to live in. We didn’t even know anybody in Montana. Mom and Dad talked, prayed and agonized for a long time over whether they were doing the right thing. But God wanted us there; He made that abundantly clear and He used a calendar to do it.
You see, in our home in Atlanta, we had a Bible verse calendar sitting on a bookshelf. One of those verse-a-day-keeps-the-doctor-away kind of things. (Hey, it’s not a bad idea!) And one morning, right before he had to leave for work, Dad knocked it over. He was in such a hurry that he didn’t bother to pick it up; in fact, no one picked it up until that evening. And the verse it was open to? Genesis 28:15 “Behold, I will keep you wherever you go.”
Sometimes you just know when God is speaking to you. My dad says that was one of those times.
So we moved. And God provided in a million ways, small ones and big ones. And then we moved to Wyoming. And God showed Himself just as faithful as He had before. And He’s still the same God today that He was then.
If we hadn’t moved, we wouldn’t have rescued a little American Eskimo dog from being abandoned at a truck stop, and my sister may not have discovered her love for animals and talent for working with them. If we hadn’t have moved, my dad wouldn’t have switched careers; and then we wouldn’t have gotten to see a large part of American and some of Canada from the cab of a semi truck. If he hadn’t switched careers, he would have never had the idea for our family business; and then we wouldn’t have needed a website*, and so I may never have discovered my passion and talent for design.
And if we hadn’t moved to Montana, we almost certainly would never have ended up here in Wyoming. My sister may never have started her nonprofit organization (which sends care packages to soldiers overseas**). And if didn’t move to Wyoming, then * horror of horrors* I may never have gotten involved with TeenPact***, an amazing ministry that has impacted my life in a huge way.
The list could go on forever, but you get the point. God knows what He’s doing. Every tiny incident in our lives, every miniscule happening that seems completely random, is actually a tiny thread that is being woven into a much grander plan than we could ever imagine.
So let Him handle your life. He knows what He’s doing. In the surrender you’ll find a peace that can come from no one else; in the crises, when you watch Him move, you’ll know a joy that’s deeper than any other you’ve ever known; and in the living, the everyday drudgery of existence, you’ll find a purpose that just wasn’t there before.
Why? Because He knows what He’s doing.
* betterdaysleep.com
** soscarepackages.com
*** teenpact.com
Thank you for sharing Kiefer, this is an amazing story. I'm very blessed and happy to have met and become friends with you through TeenPact. God bless you. *heart thump*
Send your Ripple Effect story(s) to: rippleeffect.arj@gmail.com
Don't forget to spread the word!!
I'm considering starting a Facebook group so as to better circulate The Ripple Effect. Your thoughts/ideas for this are appreciated!
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