Where You Go, I Will Go

At supper last night when discussing Anton's post-graduation future, Daddy asked Anton, "If you got a job in some obscure place, and you end up marrying Kayla, would she go with you?" To which Anton responded, "If I got a job in Irma, Wyoming, yes, she already told me she would go anywhere with me."

Now for the record, there is no Irma, Wyoming, but his point was that wherever the Father led him, Kayla - were they married - would support that move and go wholeheartedly.

I can understand that. After all, I followed your Daddy to Tennessee, then Green Bay, WI, then Athens, GA, then Appleton, WI and now Montgomery, AL. I didn't always want to move to a different location, but I knew I always wanted to be with him.

In the book of Ruth, Naomi tells her daughters-in-law, whose husbands have both died, to go back to their families, as she was planning herself to go back to her homeland from Moab where she currently resided. One daughter-in-law, Orpah, went home. The other, Ruth, made a very profound and often quoted statement in 1:16 “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God." While this is a daughter-in-law to her mother-in-law, it is absolutely applicable to husbands and wives. 

When I was growing up, people rarely moved away. You lived near your extended family and celebrated all holidays and birthdays with them. All of my family, except my paternal grandparents, were in Pittsburgh. Now for your Daddy, while he grew up 6 hours away from extended family, every bit of them was in and around Green Bay, WI. The days of adult children not living near extended family are becoming more common. Most of my friends' kids have moved hours away from home and started families of their own. My own daughter is more than 9 hours away, and hoping someday to move back to New England. And who knows where God will lead Anton. But as you, Ayla, once so wisely said to me after we moved to Alabama, "I have learned that home isn't where you were born or the state you grew up in, but where your family is." Amen to that.

I am excited to see what adventures and new locations lay ahead for my children. While in an ideal world we wouldn't be too far away so we could visit, I think your Daddy and I realized long ago that when our little birds left the nest, they would not build their own in a tree nearby. But as long as you in your married life are together in those moves, all is well.

We know many couples who have tried the long distance marriage thing after job relocations, and honestly, while some are successful and unavoidable, we don't recommend it. When your Daddy got a job, I never stayed behind. I always went with him, even if our home hadn't sold. It was important to me that we be together. Marriage is difficult enough without adding distance to it. Make it a priority to stay together. God intended for you to be together, so make every effort to do so. Even if it's Irma, Wyoming. 

Discussion: Would you go wherever your future spouse goes? Is there a place where you would not want to go? What do you think of long-distance marriage?

Prayer: Father, we do not know the future or where you will send us all, but we know you are in control. Lord, we pray you guide our steps and make the path smooth enough that we can journey together. In Christ, Amen.