The Big Move

Written and Submitted by Monifa S.

When my husband lost his job of 20 years 12 years ago, we undecidedly discussed opportunities to start over in places other than our hometown of New York.

Our conversations mainly focused on areas in close proximity, such as New Jersey or Pennsylvania, but then it started to drift further out into Delaware, the Carolinas, or Georgia. Florida only became an option because that’s where his family lived. I come from a big family so I didn’t want to move too far away from all that I knew and loved; however, daily life was becoming more difficult to maintain. —THE STRUGGLE WAS REAL— We had two young children and the income from my part-time teaching job wasn’t keeping us afloat. As much as I resisted and debated against it, we ultimately made the decision to move further south.

I thought that moving away would be a little easier for me to deal with because my mother had passed away not too long after my husband’s job loss, but there was still much resistance on my part. Through plenty of tears, advice, and support from family, good friends, and, of course, lots of prayer, we packed up our lives and took flight to the Sunshine State.

I had sacrificed all that I knew in lieu of the expectation that a better life was awaiting us. However, the journey from then until now –12 years later– has certainly NOT been easy; we fought the good spiritual warfare fight! I may tell that story another time, but by the grace of God, we made it…because I am Rahab, too.