“You start to think there is something wrong with you. The way you raise your kids, how you choose to make a living, what car you drive, and the place you call home.
It hit me hard these past few months. My husband and I lived for two years in Colorado, a state we quickly fell in love with. We honeymooned there, vacationed there, and then had our second child there. But the not so forgiving part of Colorado was the cost of living. As a young family, we knew something had to change if we wanted to hit our goal of being debt-free. The Lord confirmed that change by closing a few doors there. Back to Missouri, we went. There was a cheaper cost of living, it was minutes away from family, and life would go back to what it was before…or so we thought.
Before we moved to Colorado, we only had Canyon. He was 9 months old and I was a stay-at-home mom hustling my wedding coordinating business on the side. Dan had a solid job of 2 years and we lived in a beautiful rental home on 230 acres. Life seemed easy and ‘normal.’
When we decided to move back to Missouri, the questions started to roll in and the eyebrows started to raise. ‘You live in what?’ ‘Surely you’ll find a place.’ We had to explain, ‘No, we chose RV life, RV life didn’t choose us!’
We decided to live full time in our RV, for multiple reasons. Our move to Missouri was quick, like 2 weeks quick and we already had our RV. It was the cheapest living we had, which was in line with our goal to get out of debt, and it as just something we were excited about. We wanted to try it out. We sold it all and consolidated our belongings to consist of what fit in the camper, plus 6 tubs of stuff (ie camping, hunting, some decor, and keepsakes). The only word we could use to describe the downsizing would be ‘freeing.’ You don’t realize how much things weigh on you. Clothes that no longer fit, yet you’re waiting for the day that they will. A dress that held meaning for a day, yet your memories and pictures will last a lifetime. Or even decor items that carry over year to year that you don’t even like, yet for whatever reason, you just choose to keep them. Going through our items one by one took a lot of weight off of us, the pressure of unfinished projects was gone, and we felt like we could breathe again.
Dan asked me one day, ‘Do you think our friends feel bad for us or are jealous of us?’ I smiled and laughed, ‘Probably a mixture of both.’ RV life was fun and adventurous, something we live by. We always want to take the adventurous route.
But the adventurous route doesn’t always come easy. It requires faith. There are times we don’t know what adventure will arise next or what job we will hold, but guess what? This is our favorite journey yet. Daily, we have to rely on God for our needs, for direction along our journey, and for peace for what lies ahead.
Recently we were presented with an opportunity to live in a friend’s guest house. We didn’t go searching for this opportunity. It fell into our laps. We prayed about it, felt a peace about it, and decided to move forward with it. We could easily question, ‘Wait why did we only live in our RV for 4 months, or ‘How long should we stay here? What happens after this?’ The beauty is, we don’t have to know all the answers! All we have to do is be obedient to what we feel like we are being led to do.
If you’re at a fork in the road of life and you are stuck having to make a decision to stay put in your comfort zone or to be bold and try something new, pause for a minute. What do you feel most at peace with? Does it scare you, does it require faith, but do you still feel you should do it?
Don’t get us wrong, each stage is a new one. We don’t know all the answers. There are times when doors open and everything seems right, yet we don’t feel a peace about it. It can be hard to process, but we have to trust God knows what he is doing. You never know what is in the works for you or if there is something even better in your future.
So here we are living in a friend’s guest house, driving a ’91 Toyota Camry, working parents, madly in love, our kids driving us crazy as most kids do. But we wouldn’t want it any other way. We don’t know if what we are doing is right or wrong, but guess what? It’s right for us. Do what you feel a peace about. Take that adventurous path. Don’t be afraid to step out.
Daily we are adventuring and experiencing more with less. And guess what, we absolutely love it.”
This story was submitted to Love What Matters by Samantha Mathews of Springfield, MO. You can follow her journey on Instagram. Be sure to subscribe to our free email newsletter for our best stories.
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