How many times in life have we been told, “there has been a delay”? I am sure many, whether in transit by plane, train or stuck in a traffic jam. Or, in my case at this time, it is a potential move and a book release date. Add the fact that I am going into my third trimester in the heat of a Florida summer, it doesn’t really help that the closing date keeps getting pushed closer to the due date of the baby, and simultaneously, the publisher is also taking longer than normal to get certain checkpoints done for a summer release. (before the baby like I had wanted).

I am going to try not to use this blog to just vent, but to be raw and real with life situations that are my present circumstance. Just to give a little bit of background, Timothy and I felt like we were supposed to get out of NY when we returned from Australia a few years ago. Only a month after our return, we had the unexpected loss of my husbands father (January 2020). Not only did we have a baby in March 2020 of that year, but now we were in charge of the estate and selling his fathers two homes which were two hours from the house that we were living at during that time. This pushed us a year back from the directive the Lord had given us-to move out of NY state. We took many road trips south to try to figure out where we wanted to have a home base and decided to live with Timothys mom in Vero Beach, Florida. Deciding we liked the area, we found a home last November that we signed a contract for, a smaller 4-bed 2-bath home about 45 minutes north of Vero Beach. The builder told us 3 months. Now, more than 6 months later, we are still staying at his moms without a definitive closing date. In the meantime, interest rates have doubled, I am getting bigger, the summer is getting hotter and we still don’t have a home (2 1/2 years after coming back from Australia). My midwife also lives closer to that home, whereas here in Vero, she’s about an hour drive, and when our plan is to do a homebirth, it’s a bit risky since Joshua (our last baby) only took a few hours to make his entrance! So here I was thinking we would move in the spring, during my second trimester, but now it’s looking like closer to the baby’s due date in July/August time frame. In addition to that, my book was supposed to be released by July, giving me about 6 weeks before the baby to market, promote and get ready for the big release, but now it’s looking like late summer/early fall, basically when the baby is due! Jonali’s big life changes were not nicely spread out like she had planned, but they seem to be all now within a month of each other (new baby, book release, big move).

Isn’t that life sometimes? Us with plan A personalities like to be in control and have on-time deadlines. Partially so we can plan out things and be in control of certain circumstances. I think sometimes it’s funny that God is probably thinking, “Jonali, let go and surrender these things to Me, and I will give you rest”. The situation sounds pretty intense if I look at it from Jonali’s earthly lens, but a part of me is excited that God will have to supernaturally do a lot, and am weary, but at the same time, excited to see it all enfolds. There is a scripture (Psalm 46:10), one of my favorites, that says, “Be still and know that I am God”. If I can just be obedient simply, and do what the scripture says, it will make all the earthly stress just melt away, and help me to have peace in a crazy situation. Also, allowing the God of the possible, work in an impossible situation. God continues to show me over and over that I can’t do anything without Him in my own strength, but only in His, I can function! Stay tuned, because around August is when the baby is due, and I hope to have some amazing testimonies with the housing situation and book release situation then!