How God Started Our Move to Florida

In mid-August of 2017, my husband Ron and I lived near Pittsburgh, PA. We scheduled a three-week vacation. Nothing out of the ordinary–or so we thought!

We planned a staycation during the first week, then a week in Washington, D.C., then another week of staycation.

But at the beginning of the staycation, Ron asked me a simple but life-changing question: “Have you ever thought about retirement?”

My first response was “Absolutely not!” because I still want to work at my divine calling ministry, which is to coach, write, and teach in order to help people find and fulfill their divine calling.

But that’s not what Ron meant. He wanted to know if I wanted to stay where we were, in the Pittsburgh area, in the house we owned at the time, for the rest of our lives. His question was, “Where do we want to live, where we can both enjoy things we love to do together, and where each of us will be happy after one of us goes home to be with the Lord?” I also began to wonder where we could most fully live out God’s purposes for our lives.

We both love being outdoors, but summers in Pittsburgh are very short. And neither of us would want to care for our current house alone if something happened to either of us.

So both of us started to get excited! We both felt a strong prompting from God to think about where we wanted to live. The “what-ifs” were intriguing!

I must say that Ron surprised me that he was even considering moving. I’m originally from Tennessee, but he grew up in the Pittsburgh area, and he loves keeping up with Pittsburgh news and friends. I’m usually the one making him drink from the firehose of change and adventure, not the other way around! So it was another sign of God’s activity.

So with all of that buzzing in our heads, we left for our D.C. vacation. We were inspired by the new National Museum of African American History and Culture.

But we discovered that while our bodies were in D.C. that first couple of days, our hearts were not.

In the evenings, after the museums closed, we surfed the web for info about where to retire in the eastern U.S.

I’ve always enjoyed the innovative, multi-cultural vibe of college towns. Therefore, Durham, N.C., intrigued me as a highly rated retirement community.

So Ron, my always cautious and predictable husband, said, “Why don’t we just cut short our D.C. vacation and drive down to Durham?!”

My temptation was to scream, “Who are you, and what have you done with my husband?!”

But I felt God’s prompting, and we knew we always would have had that what-if feeling if we hadn’t checked it out.

So after just two days in D.C., we were able to cancel our hotel booking there and drive to a hotel of the same chain in Durham!

But two days later, we realized this town was not for us long-term. It was just a bit warmer than Pittsburgh, with sunnier days. Beautiful. Nice. But somehow off. Definitely not “IT.” Not what we were looking for. We didn’t know what we were looking for, exactly, but we hoped we’d know it when we saw it. And we had a strong sense that God was leading us to “IT.”

So then, Ron, again my always cautious and predictable husband, said, “What do you think about The Villages, Florida?”

Again my first reaction was negative. I didn’t know much about The Villages, but I thought it was a mega-party-place for rich white old people. And Ron and I have both said, individually and together, “We’ll never live in Florida!”

But our daughter-in-law’s mom lives there, and surprisingly enough, Ron had already done some looking online! So I surfed The Villages website too, and I was intrigued. We felt a strong prompting to check it out, although we really had no idea why. And again we knew we would always wonder “what if” if we didn’t.

So the night before we left Durham, late on a Friday night, I left a voicemail at The Villages sales office, asking for an appointment. We didn’t think we’d get one immediately, and Ron needed medical supplies anyway before going to Florida, so we started driving home.

When we had driven half of the 500-mile trip north, The Villages called. They had an appointment available! We’d have time to get home that day, repack the following day, and drive 1,000 miles to Florida on Monday and Tuesday to meet the sales rep Tuesday night. We’d be doing The Villages’ Lifestyle Preview Program for 6 nights!

We were excited and cautiously hopeful!

We stayed in a house in The Villages. We accidentally discovered that our sales rep was a great-grandson of the founder of The Villages, which was the result of a last-minute rep change. He did not pressure us at all, but told us he would help us decide (1) if The Villages was for us, and if so, (2) which Village we liked best, and (3) which floor plan and lot we wanted.

That night and the next morning, we participated in the active lifestyle, danced to the nightly music in one of the Village Squares, walked the squares, enjoyed the food and the beautiful surroundings, checked out the list of 150+ free clubs and seemingly endless activities, talked with a lot of residents including our daughter-in-law’s mom, and learned about the amenities.

So far, we liked it, but something was still missing.

But then we took a bus tour to the newest Village that was in the early stages of being built. It borders a nature preserve, and the Spanish moss on the majestic oak trees was so beautiful. Both of our hearts sang the second we saw it.

I still get choked up when I think about it. I clearly heard God say on that tour bus, “Welcome home!” This was “IT”!

So then our sales rep helped us to choose a floor plan and a location for our new home. The back lanai would face north, toward a small pond with palm trees! Nearby would be a new putt-and-play and a kayaking stream. Dream-come-true stuff for us! Furthermore, because this new Village doesn’t yet have all of the amenities that the other Villages have–but will have in two years–our house will cost only 70% of what we would pay for the same house in another village. (Even without the discount, we were surprised how affordable The Villages are.) So the timing was perfect! Especially since I’m just barely old enough to live in this age-55+ community!

Okay, and here are the clinchers.

I discovered that The Villages just recently started a lifelong learning program called the Enrichment Academy. Already more than 200 courses are offered, many of which are intriguing to me. But the best thing is that I’m a Christian life coach who specializes in helping older adults find and fulfill the sweet spot of their divine calling, and there I’d have the opportunity to live in community with 140,000+ people age 55 and older! And furthermore, I discovered I could do Purpose Summit and other workshops to help people do just that, by going through the application process to become an instructor in the Enrichment Academy! I might even write a book about how people age 55+ find and fulfill the sweet spot of their uniquely created divine calling!

I would still continue to coach people about divine calling over the phone, because that is central to my own calling! And how cool that I can do that from anywhere!

And there’s more! Recently, before I became a Certified Professional Christian Life Coach, I was one of the pastors of a large, multi-campus United Methodist church near Pittsburgh. Just 15 miles from where our new home will be in The Villages is New Covenant United Methodist Church, one of the top 20 fastest-growing United Methodist churches in the US. Ron and I attended worship there the only Sunday we were in town. On that day, we learned[divider style=’left’] they plan to open a second campus in the spring, just 5 miles from our new home! Of course, we didn’t know if that’s where we’d end up, but it was another confirmation for us!

So God led us to an active 55+ learning community that perfectly fits what we love to do year-round, with open doors for me to fulfill my calling to help older adults fulfill their calling! That was one week after Hurricane Irma hit Florida! And no, we are not crazy!

What God Has Done Since We Moved to Florida

We’ve been in Florida 7 months, and we absolutely love it!

Frequently, during a beautiful sunset, an evening with new friends, or another of God’s blessings here, I stop in my tracks, throw a big eye-twinkle at Ron, dance a jig, and yell, “And guess what?! Guess what?! We get to live here! We get to live here!”

The Villages really is a college town for older adults! And college towns TOTALLY fit who I have always been!

After we moved here, I discovered that the Enrichment Academy, where I had hoped to teach my workshops about divine calling, eliminated Religion courses. That was disappointing, nevertheless I KNOW God has great things in mind here for my divine calling ministry.

We ended up building a house on a different lot than planned, and we love this one even more, because we have a beautiful pond in our back yard, which we enjoy at almost every morning when we eat breakfast on our lanai.

Our lifestyle is very active and social, because of the year-round, warm, sunny weather, and because everyone in our new area of The Villages is new.

I love pickleball, cardio-drumming, and line dancing. Ron enjoys car shows. We both enjoy walking and our new friends.

In June, we joined New Covenant United Methodist Church.

In fact, the church’s tag-line is “A Place to Call Home.” That reminds me so much of the time I first saw our neighborhood here and I heard God say, “Welcome Home!”

The second campus of our church opened after we moved here, but we remained at the first campus. Plans are in the works for a third campus close to us. We enjoyed helping to start the fifth campus of our church in Pittsburgh, and we love that kind of pioneering, so who knows?! …

Recently, I was honored to be asked to serve on the Small Group Leadership Team, and Ron serves as a greeter. Shortly thereafter, I enrolled in a Spiritual Gifts and Networking class. I already know my spiritual gifts, but I’m excited to discover more about the adventure of why God has called us specifically to this place!

We have met many people in The Villages who are age 55+ but are living the best years of their lives, and are living the sweet spot of their divine calling.

• Our small group is co-led by a man who is 92 years old!
• An internationally known speaker and writer in our church is past retirement age and impacting thousands.
• Our church’s director of biblical studies is living his dream in his sixties!

My coaching ministry, which I do over the phone, continues to grow. I love helping people find and fulfill their divine calling! 

I have more coaching clients now that ever before, from all quadrants of the US. I’m amazed that people find me on the internet, sign up for my weekly blog, and download my free ebook. I’m even blessed to coach one woman via Zoom who lives half-way around the world in Malaysia!

I can’t wait to see what else God has in store!

How Lessons from Our Move to Florida Can Help You Fulfill Your Divine Calling (Especially if You’re Age 55+)

During the past few years, I’ve been coaching people of different ages about divine calling, but most have been people age 55+. I love this age group. Throughout my entire life, in high school, college, graduate school, and during my working life and personal life, my closest friends have always been older than me. Even my husband is 14.5 years older than me. Society–and even churches–often assume that an older people’s best years are behind them.

But God’s Word shows that, just like in football, the most impactful years of a person’s life can definitely be in the last quarter.

Abraham and Moses are great biblical examples of that. So are modern-day examples such as C.S. Lewis. Research by 30-year Christian coaching veteran Tony Stoltzfus proves it too. And how excited I am when my older clients begin to realize that their most significant, uniquely created calling is yet to be, and I get to see them almost reborn in God’s new creation for their lives!

I’ve learned a few things about divine calling through our move to Florida.

So here are some exciting questions that I believe will help you find and fulfill your divine calling, especially if you are age 55+:

• What if your best years of divine calling are still ahead? Don’t believe Satan’s lie that your best years are behind you! (Research and personal experience confirms it’s a lie!) Click here for a blog about life purpose after the age of 55.
• How do you feel about taking a step in your life that seems selfish, but also could lead to fulfilling your life calling? (I wondered if moving to Florida, which is my idea of paradise this side of Heaven, would be selfish. But becoming fully me here has so rejuvenated me that I have even more joy and enlightenment about my calling. What about you?)
• What life changes would enable you to be more fully YOU–to be and do more of the things that you’ve always enjoyed, or that you’ve always wanted to enjoy more? Click here for a blog that will help you become more fully YOU as you discover more about your divine calling.
• Who recently asked you a question or made a statement to you about your future, that seemed like it might be from God? And what do you need to do about it? (My own example is when Ron asked me, “Have you thought about retirement?”)
• What are you putting off exploring, that you’ll always wonder “what if,” if you don’t explore? (My example is that Ron and I would always have wondered “what if” if we had not checked out Durham and The Villages.)
• Do you need to take a vacation from the busyness of life, so you can slow down enough to think through these things? (Ron and I would not have explored The Villages unless we had been on vacation.) Click here for a blog about the importance of Sabbath.
• Are you struggling for an answer about an important decision for your divine calling? Or what if God seems silent? Click here for 10 tips on making the right decision.
• What if you’re trying to find your divine calling in the midst of pain instead of joy? Rick Warren said, “Your greatest ministry just might come out of your greatest hurt.” So if there’s something in the world that you just can’t stand, that might be your calling!
• What tremendous blessings are you missing because you have a hard time believing the best years of your life are ahead of you and not behind you? (Ron and I would have missed God’s timing of buying into the discounted Villages home, the lifestyle that we love here, and our church here. We would have missed seeing how God tailored this personal and ministry experience especially FOR US!)
• “[God is] able to do far beyond what we ask or are able to imagine, according to His power that is at work within us!” (Ephesians 3:20)
• What is YOUR next step of faith for exploring God’s glorious and fruitful future for your life?

I would welcome the opportunity to talk with you, one-on-one, for free, to see if you might benefit from coaching with me over the phone about your own life calling. Divine calling is for every Christian, not just pastor-types!

• The first phone call is free, there is no obligation, and if you do coach with me you can stop whenever you want. So there’s no risk!
• Just click here to schedule a free phone-in Discovery Call with me. Or email me by clicking here if you have comments or questions.
• You can find out more about my coaching here.

How is God speaking to you through this blog? Feel free to comment or ask questions below.