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Transitions-we all face them at sometime, and they can be a welcome change or a stressful adjustment whatever they are. My husband and I recently moved to a new house after 44 years in the same one and it was stressful. Although we did so for the purposes of downsizing and having a property that’s easier to maintain, the key reason was living in a home that didn’t have any stairs or large hills to traverse. While I could blame it on our little nineteen-year-old dog who had great difficulty walking up and down the hilly driveway, in all honesty, our own bodies have transitioned with new physical limitations, so it was a necessity for us too. 

Still, it was hard to leave the beautiful home we’d designed and built. But, after giving it much prayer and consideration, we concluded the only way I could say good-bye to our house was to find one I could get excited about and look forward to.  So, when our realtor found us the perfect place in the same community, we did. Naturally we still had a lot of adjustments to make in moving from our large home into something less than half the size. 

Aside from the hard work of packing and moving, the toughest thing for me was deciding what things to keep and what to let go of. During the process one verse in Mathew 6, came to mind frequently. “Do not lay up for yourselves, treasures on earth.” Part of my struggle was letting go of two special items that kept sticking into the deepest part of my soul. One was our formal dining room set and the other was the many paintings that I wouldn’t have room for in the new house. You can likely imagine the struggle of letting go of one’s creative passion of art for more than 35 years. Thankfully the joy of donating some of my paintings to worthy causes, giving several of them to family and friends, and selling several to folks who would appreciate and excitedly hang them in their own homes, helped me tremendously with that issue.

Why the formal dining room set, you may ask? It certainly is a beautiful set of rich carved solid mahogany, but it wasn’t just the quality and beauty that made it so hard to let go of. No! It was the treasured memories it held. Memories of setting a beautiful table and creating the best experience I could for family and all who gathered round it, prayed, and gave thanks. You see, it was the essence of my heart’s desire and the emotions attached to it that held me captive.

There have been, and continue to be, much harder transitions for us than moving, changes and challenges related to health and family. But, gratefully, none as difficult or life-changing as the ones my character Elise faces in my book “the Buzz @ Chicky-Pie’s Café”. And much like the tough challenges and transitions Elise grappled with, God’s hand of grace, mercy, and generous love have helped me through them too. 

Another similar help to what my character Elise drew from, is creativity. Just as she used imaginative & resourceful means to escape abuse and later rescue Bea, I often use creativity to help with certain kinds of struggles. You see there were other things that had me grappling with what to do with them this time. There were beautiful glass, and ceramic items along with two other pieces of furniture that were heirlooms from my grandparents and great-grandparents. When my mother transitioned into her heavenly home 13 years ago, I had inherited those pieces and at that time we had room for them. One special piece was a beautiful rocking chair that’s over 150 years old, yet in terrific shape. Thankfully I found a great spot in the new house for it. But the other was a large oak halltree, and it just didn’t seem like it could possibly fit in. 

We LOVE our new home and using my creativity to help beloved pieces work there became an extra blessing to me. So, I dug deep into my creative self and figured it out. You can see pictures of the hall tree’s transition on my instagram page @iriscarignanbooks and the photo here shows the solution I used for the colorful glass items. Much like our need to let God’s light shine through our problems with His solution, the garden window in our new home was the perfect place for the various colored glass items in our former house. 

The refurbished halltree that I painted black and gold now sits beautifully decorating and functioning in our new entry hall, something we didn’t have at our former house. Ironically, weeks later, as I gazed at the two creative solutions for the other items, God nudged me to read Mathew 13:52. In it He tells his disciples that there “newfound understanding makes them like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.” 

Bottom line to this subject of transitions—some things are best helped through faith and letting God get you through them. Others can be assisted with creative thinking, a little physical work, and letting God’s light shine through them, (like the colorful glass items that now reside in a garden window). 

Let me know what you think of my “new” looking halltree and the stained-glass effect in the new window. I’d also love for you to tell me your story of a transition and how you got through it. Leave your story in the comments here.