Fish Out of Water

Moving and loss

This month, an encore publication of a mover’s story by Jesse Prentiss

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 

2 Corinthians 1:3-4

We lost our fish in the move

He endured 1100 miles in a large mason jar and even temporarily survived an accidental drainage of his water while we were stopped to eat. But a few days in, the stress finally took him. I worried for my daughter but marveled at her faith when she simply prayed through tears that God knows what he is doing because He is good and has a purpose for everything – even Googly’s death. Loss from a good and loving God is not a logical equation. But her faith in her loss comforted me as I continue to process and grieve the losses with our recent move to Texas. 

I just had a friend apologize for not empathizing more about my move. She is in a similar stage of life and was able to sympathize with our move and was always willing and able to help meet my practical needs in the process. But it wasn’t until this week when her husband accepted a new job 2 hours down the road that she was able to truly relate.

Moving is a loss

Loss of comfort, order, identity, and relationships. Even if you have hope and are looking forward to the new additions a move can bring, you still have to deal with the losses and subtraction.

I think God subtracts things from our lives so all that is left is Him. But then he uses our losses to add comfort to others lives and point them to the saving equation that Christ lost it all that we might gain. We may have lost a fish, but I gained a glimpse of the trust that is being added to my daughter’s faith in a good and purposeful God.