81: Moving with Peace And Purpose

You can love your home and still be called to leave it. We talk about what it looks like to move every few years as a military family and refuse to let constant change turn you cynical, rushed, or numb. Instead, we choose a simple mission: leave a place better than you found it, not through perfection, but through presence, service, and steady faith when life keeps shifting. 

We share the real emotional mix that comes with relocation and PCS moves: excitement, stress, grief, and the strange feeling of being “uprooted.” Then we reframe it as being replanted, trusting that God is still establishing our steps (Proverbs 16:9) and going before us (Deuteronomy 31:8). Along the way we pull wisdom from Genesis 12, Jeremiah 29:13, Matthew 5, and the comfort of John 14:1–3, because God’s presence is not tied to one house, one state, or one season. 

You’ll get practical moving tips you can use right away: how to prepare your heart before the move, how to keep family rhythms during the chaos, and how to handle the “big feelings” after you arrive. We also talk about helping kids process change with prayer, simple lists for “one last time” moments and “new firsts,” and a powerful life lesson that grief and gratitude can coexist. 

If you’re facing a move, a new chapter, or an uncertain future, press play and take the next step with us. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs courage, and leave a review so more people can find hope for life transitions.

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Transcript

A Motto For Every Season

Leanne Tuggle 0:00

Always leave a place better than you found it. I'm not sure when I first heard this phrase, but I was little and it stuck with me. There was something so simple and inherently kind about it. And as someone who liked all of her things just so, I found myself agreeing that it just made sense. I didn't realize, though, at the time that it would become a sort of motto for my life. When I was four years old, my family moved from Oregon, where I was born, to Washington State. Now I was too small to remember this, but my mom tells me about how she cried when she realized how many military bases there were in the area. She just knew that I was going to grow up and marry a military man and move far, far away. Well, I didn't meet my military man in Washington. In fact, I actually met him during the end of my first year of teaching in Sunnyvale, California, of all places. And I remember being a little bit unsure of this whole military life that he was already eight years into. In fact, part of our story is that I broke up with him

Learning To Embrace Military Life

Leanne Tuggle 1:23

after only three months of dating because I just really couldn't wrap my brain around this moving all of the time situation. But God, he had other plans for us. And while our story is one that we will have to tell another time, the short version is that God softened my heart towards this military life. I used to say that I would never move for a guy. And now that is exactly what I do every two to three years. I think the Lord definitely has a sense of humor. And I am always reminded of this verse from Proverbs 16:9. The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps. I am fairly certain that God had me in mind when he had that verse put into the Bible. Now, here we are, 14 years later, preparing for our seventh move together. So while I know that not everyone listening is planning to move soon, I do know that transition and change is a major part of life. And it is my hope that the things that I share in this episode that are going to be centered more around moving, but I hope that it is an encouragement to you in the midst of your own life, whether you are in the middle of a move like I am, or perhaps you are seeking solace regarding an uncertain future or a major life change. The good news is that God offers us this hope in Jeremiah 29, 13. I cannot think of a better thing to do than to seek the Lord right in the middle of all of the things. The idea of leaving a place better than I found it as a sort of a mission statement for our military life came about towards the end of our time in Rhode Island, which is our second place that we lived together. We only had 10 months there. And I think that knowing that our time was really short was kind of the catalyst for us diving right in and really making the most of our time. We found a church right away around the corner from our house. I got plugged in with a Bible study group and I started volunteering in the children's church right away. I even planned monthly adventures for my husband and I so that we could explore the area and ensure that we didn't miss anything during our time here in the Northeast. It was just before we moved to Germany, which was

Leaving Each Place Better

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our next place, that I remember the pastor of the church that we were attending saying how much he would miss having us around. He said something to the effect that we made everything around us better, even though we were only there for a few months. And that was kind of my light bulb moment. It became my mission for every place that we have lived since then to somehow find a way to leave the place better than we found it. But before I unpack what it means to live on mission in the middle of major changes, let's acknowledge that moving or unexpected transitions are hard. There is a lot of different emotions that are coming together all at once. You have feelings of excitement and anticipation, but then you also have grief and stress. And each of these feelings are valid and part of the process. When I know that another move is imminent, Deuteronomy 31, 8 offers this comfort. Do not fear or be dismayed. And this is exactly what I pray. Lord, please go before

Replanted Not Uprooted

Leanne Tuggle 5:28

us and prepare the way. And you can apply that to a literal move or any new season or chapter of life that you are stepping into. Something I hear people say is that they feel like they're being uprooted when it comes time to move. And that phrasing makes sense because I think we use a lot of words like finding our roots or we're digging our roots deep here. And a move can feel like these roots are getting yanked out. And yet, instead of thinking about being uprooted, I like to think of moving as being replanted. It feels a little bit gentler and maybe a little more intentional. It's like thinking about your beloved sunflower, taking it out of the planter box and in your house, and then moving it to the garden outside so that it can bloom and flourish more freely. One of the most quoted stories from the Bible when it comes to relocating comes from the Old Testament in Genesis 12, when God tells Abraham, or he was Abraham, Abram at the time, to go to a land that he was preparing for him. He didn't tell him where or for how long. Talk about trust and total dependence. This is the same heart that I hope to cultivate with every move that we make. And as a side note, I can really identify with Sarah, Abraham's wife, in this story because God told Abraham to go, and she was just kind of along for the ride. It's much how I feel when the Navy tells my husband where we're going, and then I just get to start packing. I do pray that my faith can grow as a result of leaning on God for the direction and for choosing to embrace the refinement that comes along the way with any sort of move or transition or new season of life. For the purpose of this episode to kind of keep it organized, I want to give you three practical suggestions for what you can do before, during, and after a move or something that you could apply to any sort of major life transition. Before the move, I think the most important thing to focus on is preparing your heart and maybe even your home. The process of moving is infinitely easier when you surrender your expectations right up front. Trust me, this is hard. And yet, inviting God into the details leads to more peace in the middle of all of the unknowns. You can pray over your current home and wherever you will go next. It's kind of this embracing the duality of being here and then not yet there. And you can pray for both. Think about how you can leave this current place better than you found it. It gives you sort of a purpose and a direction for what

Before The Move Prepare Hearts

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to do with the time that you have still in this place or in this season. And that might mean something like literally cleaning or going the extra mile to leave the home in good condition and ready for the next family. Or it might mean figuratively, in the way that you treat people around you, be a good steward of what you have been given even while preparing to move somewhere new. Now, since this is my fourth move with children, I have found it to be very helpful to prepare your children for the transition as well. You're preparing not only your own heart, but also their hearts. From the beginning, my husband and I have framed each place we live in as a temporary home. Start preparing their hearts for the move, even from the very beginning of arriving at a new place. We are always talking about how we get to live here for a few years and we're going to make the most of it. We use that language a lot, like we get to do this and also for a time, a place that we get to live for a couple of years. And we make every effort to make the most of that time. We talk often about how we will move eventually, so that when the move does come up, they are more prepared for it. I think that this is also an opportunity for spiritual growth too. As Christians, this is not our home. We are only here on earth temporary. We get to be here, we get to make the most of our time here. But our real home is in heaven, especially as believers. That is where we will go. That is our forever home. And so being able to kind of bring in that spiritual aspect to it with our children is also very helpful. But I also want to validate their feelings, the sadness, the fear, the excitement. My favorite thing to do is remind my children of God's past faithfulness and how He always provides for us wherever we go. The older my kids get, the easier this gets. And I can remind them that they felt that same way when we first arrived in California. And that will remind them of the faithfulness and how good God is to help us over time enjoy our new place just as much as the place we were last. He always provides for us wherever we go. And I encourage my children to start praying about the things that they know that they will miss and for what they hope to find in our next destination. Not necessarily will they have all of the exact same things, but if there is something that they're really, they really hope or that they will really miss, I ask them to start praying about it. For example, one of my boys is really concerned about missing his friends. And so I encourage him to start praying for the best friends that will be in his next place. As our move draws closer, I ask my children to make a list of the things that they would like to do one last time before our move. And then I invite them to make a list of the things that they would like to do in our next place. And I kind of try to get them to correlate the two just a little bit. So things like they want to go to their favorite park and bring a picnic one last time. And then on our other list, we'll write down finding our new favorite park. Or if we want to go to uh they want to visit our beloved forest one more time. And so then we'll add to our other list how we're going to look for a new forest area in our next place. They want to bring cookies to our favorite librarian before we leave. And so I also write down on our other list that we're going to find the new library and get new library cards. So it's this way of enjoying the last of everything here while also looking forward to all of the firsts that we get to do in our next place. So now let's take a look at during the move. This is probably the hardest part of the process. This is when you have to actively choose peace in the midst of the chaos. And I find that keeping rhythms as close to normal as possible is the most helpful, especially your morning and evening routines. I might have to make the rhythms simpler, like we might be doing takeout pizza instead of homemade pizza. But keeping the rhythms close to the usual routine helps everyone stay calm. And anchoring myself in the word every morning is a non-negotiable, especially during this major, in the midst of the major transition. Even if the movers are showing up at 7 a.m., I am going to spend

During The Move Choose Peace

Leanne Tuggle 14:05

some time with the Lord because it is so necessary. Especially as the wife and mom, my family is often taking their cues from me. So it is vitally important that I am doing what I can to stay peace-filled and reliant on God. And I remind my children that this is part of the adventure. The maze of boxes is part of the fun. So it is looking for the joy in the midst of the chaos and actively choosing peace. After the move is when I find the big feelings really show up. There tends to be a little bit more excitement and anticipation before and during the move, but the reality hits when you find yourself in a brand new, unfamiliar place, things start to feel like a little bit more than you can handle. Every time we move, and we have done this several times. I always have this moment when I am looking at endless boxes and just the sheer magnitude of all that needs to be done to turn the chaos into some semblance of a home. And I inevitably break down in tears, even though I know it's coming. It still always shocks me a little bit when that overwhelm hits. And that's when I know I need to seek

After The Move Grief And Gratitude

Leanne Tuggle 15:28

out my people and particularly my husband and to just feel his strong embrace. Sometimes I think we just need a moment to acknowledge the hard and to sit in it for a minute. And if the kids are around when they see this moment happening, they will often get in on that group hug because we all need that deep breath and just that collective understanding that this is hard, that this isn't easy. And then I gently kick them all out of the house so that I can get to work and get it all done. Practically, like very practically, I typically prioritize getting the kids' rooms unpacked first, followed closely by the kitchen, if I have to organize anything. I find that if my kids have a place to be that feels a little bit more normal. And if we can have even like a home-cooked meal or a place to warm up a warm meal, I think that the adjustment to moving into a new place just goes a little bit more smoothly. There is massive grace extended in this season, and clear communication is huge. I have to clearly communicate to my husband exactly what I need, or he has to communicate with me what he needs, what the kids need. We all have to be very clearly communicating during this time because the feelings can get so big. And then, as soon as possible, we work towards re-establishing those familiar rhythms. They might need to be adjusted to accommodate for a new place or a new season. But overall, coming back to our familiar rhythms brings peace into our home. And then slowly but surely, we start building a new community. And that will take time. It doesn't happen overnight, but we slowly start taking the steps towards that. Without a doubt, the feelings will resurface in the form or one or more of my children expressing how much they miss this or that from our old home. And this is when I encourage them to lean into that grief. Because it is a form of grieving. And I encourage my children to speak up about what it is that they miss. And then we talk about one thing that we can be grateful for in this new place. So for every moment of missing the old, we replace it with something new to appreciate. This is part of teaching my children that grief and gratitude can coexist. And this is a really beautiful lesson that will serve them for life. And then pretty soon, the comments of what we miss disappear. And that's when I know that we are settling into our new home. And that's when I know it's time to bake the chocolate chip cookies. I have this tradition with my family that once we have settled into our new home and it's starts to kind of feel more like home, that's when we bake cookies because nothing says home like the smell of fresh baked cookies. And God's presence is not tied to a place or a certain circumstance. Your identity is not rooted in your surroundings, it is firmly found in Christ. So we can be joy-filled even when things change. Moving is an incredible opportunity to disciple your children and dedicate a new season to the Lord. Pray over your new home or your next chapter and seek the Lord with courage, trust, and gratitude. As a military family, I see each move as an opportunity to be the salt and the light that Jesus refers to in Matthew 5, to bring light to our homes, our communities, our neighborhoods, our workplaces, our schools, and our relationships. And even if just for a little while, we can aim to shine our light so bright that we leave the place better than we found it. It's not just moving, it's ministry. And you are a woman on mission for God to embrace excellence in all that you say and do for his glory. To close this episode, I want to leave you with a question that you can think about this week and also a scripture to savor. Something to ponder. How might God want you to bring life, peace, and beauty into this new place or this new season of life? Scripture to savor. John 14, 1 through 3. Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.