Transplants

How did I get here? It's a question we ask many times whether it's about our home, job, marriage, financial status or even some sort of mess. How did I get here, God? I've asked it of myself again and again.

During the long(er) winters of North Dakota, I ask myself this question even more. And sometimes I chuckle. If I, through some sort of time-travel device, go back and tell my younger self that I would one day be a stay-at-home mom who sells Avon and lives in rural Bismarck, I would have certainly questioned my own sanity. Surely I always planned on getting married, having kids and doing something I loved. But Avon was for old ladies and North Dakota was farmland in the middle of the country where my grandparents' funny-talking relatives lived.

The road between that Kristy and this Kristy has been a long one. But to answer the question, "How did I get here?" I will say this: God transplanted me.

Sometimes God transplants us in order to accomplish the work He has set forth for us to do. By doing this, He draws us closer to Him and, through us, brings glory to Himself. And, if we were not transplanted, or somehow resist the transplanting, perhaps we'd miss out on bringing Him glory the way He intended? Maybe we would never accomplish the work He set forth?

The Bible is full of transplants. A few notable transplants to think about:

• Jesus: He left heaven, came to earth as a man to sacrifice Himself so we could all be saved.
• Disciples: They left their homes, jobs and families to follow Jesus.
• Moses: Set into the Nile in a basket, he ended up in Pharoah's household and then fled Egypt only to return to set the Hebrews free.
• Hebrews/Israelites: If you read the Pentateuch (the first 5 books of the Bible), you will see that this group of people were transplanted time after time, most obviously into Egypt, then out of Egypt then into the desert and finally into the Promised Land.

Transplants and transplanting has been rolling around in my head for five years, ever since we left the only home we ever knew and came to Bismarck. I know that God transplants all of us, to varying degrees. Do you want to know more? Can you think of other transplants in the Bible? What's your transplant story?