“The Lord your God, who goes before you, He will fight for you, … who went in the way before you to search out a place for you to pitch your tents.”
Deuteronomy 1:30, 33 (emphasis added)
“I’m praying that you move here.”
Shocked, I asked the friendly stranger to repeat her words. I had retired just a few weeks prior, at least on paper, and my little schnauzer and I were on a six-week road trip. That Sabbath, I landed in northeast Washington to visit friends and attended a church in Chewelah, Washington, for the first time.
Shirley, the church organist that day, turned around from her pew to ask, “Who are you?” She knew only three things about me when she spoke the words that would take me on another adventure with the Lord: 1. My name is Debi. 2. I’m from Michigan. 3. Barry and Anita are my friends.
When Shirley made her query, the date was September 11, 2021. Exactly twenty years before, I was on the other side of the country. As the events of September 11, 2001, unfolded, from my office in northern Virginia, I could see and smell the smoke rising from the Pentagon on that fateful day.
After two other significant moves in those twenty years, I knew God was on the move again. I had fallen in love with “real” mountains when I met them decades before. I had lived in Maine near New Hampshire’s White Mountains, but those were foothills compared to the mountains of the West that enamored my heart.
Before I left on the driving tour, the Lord had already closed one possible door in future ministry. Just about a week after I left Washington State, He would close another.
When I heard the words from the church organist, I knew God was calling my heart, calling me to the mountains. Micah 4:2 and Isaiah 2:3 relay essentially the same words: “Many nations shall come and say, ‘Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.’ For out of Zion the law shall go forth, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”
Centuries before, God had promised the Israelite nation that He would show them where to pitch their tents. Thus, I began to claim that promise in Deuteronomy 1:33. Where would God show me to pitch my tent?
In January 2022, I spent two weeks looking for housing for my little dog and me. Nothing turned up, but I knew God was leading. All divine directives pointed to the Pacific Northwest, so I purged my household things and packed what was left.
Another friend in Chewelah, Washington, Michelle, homeschools her girls. In her homeschool group, she had friends whose family owned an empty house and needed someone to live in and maintain it. April 23, 2022, God showed me where to pitch my tent. She took me on a FaceTime tour, we settled on rent, and I was one step closer to pitching my tent in the mountains.
From the front of the truck to the rear of the trailer hauling my car, the 47-foot rig carried everything I owned 2,200 miles to the mountains where God had made it clear I was to pitch my tent. Gus, my mini schnauzer, has always been a great little traveler in the 15 years we have been together. Except for stretching our legs at rest stops, we drove through heat and hail to meet God on the mountain in Washington.
Call to Action
God is always on the move. While He may or may not ask you to move your residence, He does want your heart to be moved. He will show you how to pitch it in the palm of His hand. Will you let Him?
All scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
