The Biggest Decision of Our Life
How we made the decision to move to Germany
You might assume that because we moved to Germany with the military, that we didn’t have a choice in the decision process. It's true that the military can totally decide to uproot us at any time and for any reason (because they basically own us). However, when it comes to this move, we were actually given the unique opportunity to decide what we wanted to do. One thing I’ve heard many times since moving over here is “It is so cool that you can travel Europe for a few years while you live there!” Even though it is incredibly cool, and a big reason we personally chose to move to Europe, I want to tell you that you too, could choose to move to Europe! Maybe not the exact way we chose to, but since being here we’ve met tons of people that are living here and working here as civilians (not military). The logistics behind moving across the world are not for the faint of heart...but after settling in for a few months, I can tell you that if you enjoy traveling and experiencing other cultures, it is 100% worth it.
If you’ve been following along with my life on the gram, then you may not know our moving story because this is the first time I’ve shared it! Moving to Europe was the hardest decision Joe and I have had to make in our adult life so here’s a glimpse into what it looked like for us.
A random weekend at the end of 2018…..
Joe called me on a Thursday morning to tell me that we had been offered a job with the Air Force at Ramstein. To give some context, Joe had requested a position with the Air Force that entails a lot of travel and there are only five main bases across the world from which they are stationed. This is Joe’s DREAM job, doing exactly what he wants to do with trial work and from the Germany base (Ramstein) he would be getting to travel Europe while he worked (hopefully with me). But, as soon as Joe took the call he knew I would have doubts.
The irony is when we asked for 10 different places on our “dream sheet” four years prior, we weren’t given any of our picks. Instead, we were sent to Shreveport, LA. This time, we were given exactly the position that we asked for and we had the perfect plan. I would stay working as a sales manager and live out of the house that we owned in Shreveport. Joe would work out of San Antonio on paper but he would come home to me when he wasn’t traveling. Eventually, we would look for a place in Austin, TX if a job opened for me. We were offered the exact position that fit into our perfect plan which RARELY happens in the military. And then, we were asked if we wanted to scrap that plan and move to Germany instead.
I went to bed on that Thursday saying no.
On Friday morning at the gym, Joe told one of my closest friends that we were offered the chance of a lifetime. That friend, being the faith-filled woman that she is, offered to pray for me at the top of every hour that day so that God could give me clarity in the decision. I had had an exhausting week and the magnitude of this decision felt too monstrous to make in three days. Oh, did I forget to say that? We got the call on Thursday and the Air Force needed to know our decision by Sunday night.
I went to bed on Friday saying no.
Luckily, a full night sleep had me waking up with a fresh perspective. When Joe and I got to our Saturday morning gym class, we were greeted by a friend leaving for Korea the next week. He said, “You absolutely have to go.” The excitement in his voice was changing my fearful heart. God was working.
This is a story about redemption and walking in obedience. Even when you aren’t really sure how, or even what’s going on, God can still work. Joe and I had our own plan when really, God had an even better plan. Obediently walking in His plan is hard but, it’s the only way I want to be walking. Surely my plan pales in the shadows of God’s plan for us.
When I got home from the gym that Saturday, I knew I had to talk through the decision with a trusted friend. She listened and let me process the things that felt like they would be the most challenging. The blow to my career, the potential of having to pay my company back a large sum of money for the time I owed them for business school tuition, leaving sooner than expected from a community that I have grown to love, being even farther from friends and family on the east coast, and of course the issue of getting all the pets overseas. (Yes, I am a crazy cat lady with three cats and a very large dog. I love them and if they couldn’t come with me, then it wasn’t going to happen.)
After this conversation I found that none of the barriers were too large to overcome. There would be challenges, but none too big for God. So, I messaged a friend who had lived in Germany. She had dropped everything to move there with her then boyfriend. She responded saying, “You have to go.”
Originally it felt strange to me that I didn’t want to go. So much so that I thought that it must be a sign that we weren’t supposed to go. This type of opportunity had always been a dream of ours. I loved traveling abroad and living there sounded even better theoretically. I could have let the momentary emotions of being tired at the end of a long, stressful week keep me from clearly looking at God’s hand in all of it. (This part is scary to me- why do I make decisions on SUCH A WHIM?) Lucky for me, God interjects when necessary and when you are willing to listen. I have an amazing community of believers that I can rely on for prayer and counsel when I am emotionally drained and seeing things sideways.
By the end of Saturday afternoon, Joe and I were writing a pros & cons list. Joe had told me from the moment we were asked that he would happily reject the opportunity if I didn’t agree that this was the right decision for our family. God redeemed this area in our marriage because I no longer had any resentment over his job priorities when he said this. Instead, I was given the option to weigh the decision without feeling like I would be dragging his career down by putting mine first. This is the fun part of having two very driven people married to each other *she said sarcastically*.
Saturday night we had dinner with our best friends in Shreveport. Instant tears come to my eyes when I think about leaving them. They are the biggest blessing I could have ever dreamt of when we made the big, terrifying move to Shreveport. They listened to our pros & cons list and how we were processing the decision, although selfishly they never wanted us to leave. Thankfully they respected God’s call on our life over anything we selfishly wanted for ourselves.
I went to bed Saturday thinking an anxious, excited, nervous maybe.
Sunday morning instead of our normal Sunday school class, we had missionaries from the Czech Republic visit. We didn’t know this was happening but it sure felt like a crazy coincidence. The missionaries visiting live in a city bordering Germany and would be just a few hours away by car. Joe and I have dreamt of the opportunity to participate in international missions and it is so incredible that God would give us this chance when we least expected it. Just two weeks prior to getting the call about the potential to move to Germany, David Platt, a Christian pastor and author, had visited our church for our missions conference and challenged our church to send missionaries to places that had never heard the gospel. There are places and people in the Czech Republic that have never heard the name of Jesus. I stood during the service and said send me even though I knew we were restricted by the Air Force. Joe stood alongside me in the middle of church while our friends watched. We stood in faith that God would use us to spread His glory. With tears falling from my eyes, we were surrounded by the congregation as they prayed. We had no idea that two weeks later we would be asked to go. You see, we do not have to understand how God plans to use us. All we are responsible for doing is standing up and being willing to go. Use me however You see fit for the glory of your kingdom is what I prayed. I had no earthly idea that two weeks later we would be asked by the Air Force to move to Germany. Europe puts us much closer to many countries that have less than 1% of their population that are believers.
The timing of these circumstances can only be from God. I know I’ve said this a few times, but I don’t think we recognize God working in our lives enough. There is no way we could have ever dreamt these plans. And, it would be a shame if we didn’t recognize and see with eyes wide open that these plans were laid by God, but only if we were willing.
In God’s goodness, he offered us a place that both Joe and I have experience visiting and living in. Joe studied abroad in Dresden, Germany during his undergrad for 6 months and I studied German in high school and did an exchange program in Stuttgart, Germany. Tell me, what are the odds of that? Our first big move with the military was daunting and scary. We didn’t even have a single friend or family member living in the central time zone at the time. In many ways, moving to Louisiana was more scary for us than moving to Europe. I had extreme peace with the decision to move to Germany even though there were more unknowns than I had ever experienced in life.
Needless to say by Sunday afternoon, the answer was yes.
