Thank you to everyone who has taken time out of their day to like, comment and share my first post from Beck and Lane. So where did the name of my new blog come from? Charles asked me this question because even he didn’t know. HAHA! When I began thinking about creating a new space along with a new name there were a few specifics that I had in mind. First, the domain name must be available. Second, it had to have personal meaning to me. Lastly, I wanted it to be based on scripture.
I prayed about it, and I kept coming back to this scripture from Isaiah.
A little backstory for you…in August 2019, Charles and I made the decision to sell our primary house and the place we had called home for 9 years. Our plan was to sell it, live with his parents in the interim for a few months and then relocate to Edenton at the beginning of 2020. Charles and I began to feel God directing us to stay in the area where we were living rather than relocate 2 hours east as the end of the year approached. We began to pray for direction, and it became more and more clear to us that staying put was God’s plan for our lives even though this was not our plan.
Charles receives daily emails from a Christian radio station and when he opened up his e-mail on New Year's Day in 2020, the scripture from Isaiah was the verse of the day. To us this was confirmation that staying was the right thing to do. We were obedient.
In January, we began looking for a place to live and eventually found some land to build a smaller home on in April. We entered 2020 with obedience in our hearts. We were excited about the new thing God was doing and were excited to see His new plan for our lives. However, what should have taken about 8-10 months to build eventually turned into 2 long years. What I didn’t realize at that time was that we were getting ready to enter a wilderness season that would last for 3 years.
We were met with so many challenges while building our home, followed by sickness, family situations, unexpected expenses, and not to mention the stress on our marriage while living our lives in a bedroom. It was heavy, challenging and sometimes painful. Looking back, I can honestly say that the last 3 years have been some of the hardest that we have had to walk through in our 24 years of marriage.
Yet, during that time the scripture from Isaiah had been sent to us by friends and spoken over us. Those words offered some comfort and encouragement during these difficult years. Going into it, I don’t think Charles, or I could have ever expected or anticipated what we would encounter and experience during this season of life. I have often said that I was lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth by me happening during this time. It was not pretty. I have learned since then that when God begins to do a new thing in our lives that sometimes it may not look or feel the way we expected. It may be hard, difficult and test our faith.
Now that we are coming out of this season, I can look back and see that God was doing a new thing. Even though we were walking through some of the most difficult and darkest times in our lives that didn’t look good or feel good, God was doing a new thing…and that new thing was in me.
This passage from Isaiah is one that I hold dear to my heart. And oftentimes when we read it, we think that the “new thing” will be a change in our situation or circumstance. It can be. However, what the last few years have taught me is that the new thing that God wants to do is in US.
Now, back to the name…I kept going back to that scripture and I wanted to select something that represented those words. I referenced the thesaurus (I love a thesaurus) and looked for alternative words that meant “way” and “streams”. I found that another word for way is lane and another word for streams is beck. Both lane and beck resonated with me, so I switched them around to create Beck and Lane.
I am thankful that now I can look back and see the new things God was doing in me during our wilderness season and I look forward to the new things that He is going to do this year and through Beck and Lane.
Lastly, I want to encourage you that if you are walking through a season of hardship, difficulty, struggle or pain, to keep your eyes on God and his word in your heart because he is doing a new thing and that new thing is in you. Don't you perceive it?
I can't tell you how much I appreciate you doing this.