As my time left in T-town comes to a close it has become harder and harder to leave the city – even for a couple days! This weekend I had to make an obligatory trip to Nashville to be fingerprinted in order to start my internship in August. I was excited about visiting the city since I had not been here since I interviewed back in January. So on Thursday I began my weekend adventure. Here are the highlights of my time here thus far…
One thing I have really missed is living in a big city because of the wealth of opportunities it affords; Nashville is no exception. This weekend I was able to check out some great local restaurants, visit two farmers markets, experience the largest arts and craft festival of the year in Centennial Park, and sign up for some cooking classes! I love the fact that there will always be something to do here! When I lived in New Orleans a friend of mine and I had what we called “Sunday Fun Day.” Cheesy I know, but it was a reminder to us of the amazing city we lived in and the vast amount of cultural opportunities that were at our fingertips. I hope to reinstate this tradition when I get to Nashville, and really make an effort to do one cultural/entertainment/learning experience once a week. That is one of the regrets I had when leaving NOLA was not taking more advantage of the opportunities – I hope to rectify that in TN.
Another major event of the weekend was seeing my new residence for the first time. The Lord absolutely provided me with a place to live! It is such a cool story, but the short version is that my college roommate (and one of my very best friends) ended up buying a house in Nashville and invited me to be her roommate. Amazing and a total answer to prayer! So I was eager to see my new digs and to paint my room. The painting turned out to be a major fail, but I love the house and am eager to move my stuff in so it feels more like home. Living with someone is also going to be a different experience for two reasons: (1) moving into someone else’s house instead of your own makes for different expectations and (2) neither of us have had a roommate in 4 years! I am thankful that we have lived together before, but it will definitely be a time of readjustment.
Directionally challenged….. that’s putting my skills nicely. My sweet brother refers to me as “wrong way Rachele.” Loving I know. But the reality is that I am terrible with directions. It usually takes me about a year to get really oriented in a city (the approximate length of my contract….), and I continue to think that the GPS system was sent straight from Heaven… But I am hoping that things will be different in Nashville! It may sound silly, but I am literally praying that the Lord will increase my navigation skills and orientation to direction! Especially since my job consists of a lot of driving to and from schools. I mapquested my schools and each are approximately 35 minutes away from the house…. so this will afford a LOT of car time – which means lots of time to pray for my directional skills. (Not sure directional is a word…. But it is now.) I feel like this will be one of the major challenges with moving, and I am praying the Lord will have grace. So I pray that the Lord’s answer comes quickly because I still feel very disoriented in this city. But at least I can usually find my house! And I do mean usually!
So all in all the weekend has been a good one so far. I am going to visit my first church in Nashville tomorrow, and to be honest I am very nervous. I didn’t expect to feel this nervous, but then again I didn’t expect to feel much of the emotions that seem to be bubbling underneath the surface. I really am excited to see what this city will hold and what the Lord has in store for my new church, but at the same time it is increasingly hard to realize what I am leaving behind. As I read that statement back I realize how much I am trying to remind myself to be excited. But then again I think that is part of the process of leaving – the feeling in your gut that this is crazy and scary, but the reassuring hand that is holding yours whispering that this is His plan and that everything will be ok. So I choose to rest in the knowledge that God brought me to this city, and will make a way where things seem unsure. God being true to his character; how much I love that about Him.
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