Tonight we got a FaceTime call from our daughter-in-love in Tennessee. They are about to embark on a new chapter in their family–they’re moving in March from a townhouse to a house with two more bedrooms and a fenced in backyard. It is a welcome change for our son and his wife. But to our six-year-old granddaughter there is much sadness.

I am well aware of that feeling–when God is requiring you to let go of a place you have enjoyed to embrace something that is new and unknown. She had tears in her eyes knowing that tomorrow they would go to see this new place, and she wasn’t happy. She wasn’t ready to let go of the place she has called home for two years.

I understood the fear that was so evident in her eyes. They made my own heart ache for her. I wanted to tell her it would be okay, that there would be new memories made in her new home; yet to her all she could see was the place of which she was being forced to let go. Instead of saying “cheer up little one,” I took another approach…

“Willow, will you promise me something?” I asked.

“What?” her timid voice whispered.

“Tomorrow when you go to see your new home, will you take a picture of your bedroom and send it to me? I want to see the part that is yours!”

I was happy to see her smile and accept my request. Tomorrow will be a big day. She will begin the process of change I have experienced over and over in my 56 years. But for her this in one of the first changes she is old enough to dread. I get that. And I wanted her to know I did.

I realize that this is also one of the blessings of marriage–having someone who gets you; someone who knows when you’re facing a struggle that may seem insignificant to others, but to you it seems unbearable. Having someone to care enough to ask you to capture the change with a fresh snapshot might be all you need to push through from the past to the future.

What changes have you and your spouse been forced to embrace? How have you helped each other through the threshold of those doorways to change? Take some time to thank them for being there for you. It is a gift not to be ignored.