6 months on the move — Madeline K Barry Fine Art

By the end of this year, I will have been traveling 6 out of the 12 months. I realized this the other day, and a few things hit me.

1. I am so incredibly privileged.

At the beginning of this year, I knew I was taking 2 weeks off of work to see my best friend in Europe. I had no idea I would later spend 2 months traveling around purely for fun, or that I would live in Washington D.C., or that I would get a job that would take me to over 23 states in 60 days. If you told me last fall that this fall I would be spending a full two months on a moving tour bus, I would have told you you were crazy. But here I am, 21 days into this crazy adventure across the country with Family Research Council, and it has been more exciting than I ever thought (more details to come in later weeks). Why did the Lord chose me to do this? How did this even happen? I couldn't tell you. But I can tell you that I'm blessed and I'm thankful, and it makes me excited for what's to come.

2. Traveling is hard

Let me be frank- I am exhausted. Moving an average of every 4 days for 6 full months is a lot. In the past two weeks I've been in Missouri, Iowa, Kansa, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, and Washington. Right now, I am sitting in my designated front row captain seat (thankful bc extreme motion sickness prone) aboard the Family Research Council Action Values Tour Bus. We are currently riding alongside the Columbia River in Oregon on the way to our last event before our B-R-E-A-K. I cannot wait to have 4 full days in a stationary place with my sweet family. After that, it's back on the bus to hit Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and every. single. county. in North Carolina. Thinking about it now, I have no idea how I'm going to finish this thing. I am already so past the point of exhaustion- physically and mentally. As hard as it is, I'm grateful to be in a place where I am forced to cling to Jesus just to get through the day without killing someone.

3. I think this may be a lifestyle.

Today as I read in Ezekiel and attempted to put pen to bouncing paper as the bus wound through Idaho backroads, the Lord spoke incredibly clearly to me.

Ezekiel 1:12 "They went in whatever direction the Spirit chose, and they moved straight forward in any direction without turning around."

In this passage, Ezekiel is describing the angel-like beings he encounters in a vision from God. However, when I read this, it hit me that He is asking us all to live the way they were. We must be willing to go WHEREVER the Spirit chooses, and to move forward into those places without hesitation. I asked myself, "Am I doing that? Am I willing for this life I'm living to be a lifestyle? To move in whatever direction the Spirit chooses for me to go? And to move straight forward into that, without turning around and wishing I was in a different season?" Quite honestly, no, I'm not living that way right now. I am ready to quit, and the idea of living with completely open hands scares me to death. But in the moment I read that passage, I heard Jesus whisper, "Just keep being willing to go- wherever I call, whenever I call you. Don't expect anything, other than to see me move. I have your best interest at heart, now follow me on this adventure."

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This is a terrifying thing to write, but I feel that I'm just beginning this season of being on the move. The Lord made it very clear to me at the start of this year that I needed to prepare to "go". I have had that word written on my mind, heart, and skin (sorry Granny) since He told me. As of now, I still feel like this means preparing to go into missions abroad. However, I am also realizing more every single day that when I think Jesus is going to move in one way, He does something way different and way better that at first seems to be nonsense only to later realize it all fits together perfectly. This seems to be a theme in my life and this blog, almost by accident. But hey, I'm living in a beautiful paradox.

Endless Love,

Gentle Reminders | Oklahoma City, Oklahoma |

Summit of my first 14er | Bierstadt, Colorado |