DiFelice - Almost there: searching for home in a life on the move

Almost There reads like a long-awaited letter from a long-lost friend. Its immersive, as the best kind of storytelling should be. Its honest and warm, as the best kinds of friends are. DiFelice writes about home as its lived and lost and loved. Her book is a rewarding read!

JEN POLLOCK MICHEL

Author of Teach Us to Want: Longing, Ambition, and the Life of Faith and Keeping Place: Reflections on the Meaning of Home

If youve ever left something behind, youll find a friend in Bekah DiFelice as she invites you on a quest to find home. Bekah shares her adventures (and misadventures), helping us all discover that even transplanted roots can go deep.

CATHERINE MCNIEL

Author of Long Days of Small Things: Motherhood as a Spiritual Discipline

Among the stories and thoughts that Bekah DiFelice shares in her debut book are her joyful passion and earnest quest to live life fully. Almost There is packed with so many relatable themes, including fear, longing, doubt, and identity. Bekahs story will not only help you discover big and small pieces of your own story but will also encourage and inspire you to pursue your own new adventures, wherever you are. A beautiful storyteller whose heart for God and family shines, Bekah gives us all a gift of light and love in Almost There.

JESSICA N. TURNER

Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Fringe Hours: Making Time for You

Are we there yet? No, not until you pick up this book and start reading. I expected to skim through these pages, on the way to somewhere else. I had to stop. And laugh. And savor. And wonder. This is a trip I hope many take, because Bekah DiFelice brilliantly shows us where to finally hang our hatsand our hearts.

LESLIE LEYLAND FIELDS

Author of Crossing the Waters: Following Jesus through the Storms, the Fish, the Doubt, and the Seas

Bekah DiFelice writes beautifully and profoundly about our longing for and journey toward a true sense of home. This book is for all who are yearning for a belonging deeper than this world can offer. When I read the middle sections of Almost There, I was at that time overwhelmed by a family crisis and was feeling desperate, orphaned, and lost. Bekahs chapters on fear and on faith and doubt reached out to my brokenness... and I began to stumble back to my true home where my Abba was waiting with his secure love. Wherever you are in your pilgrimage, Almost There will meet you and embrace you, and it will provide intimate, heartfelt companionship for the rest of your journey.

J. KEVIN BUTCHER

Author of Choose and Choose Again: The Brave Act of Returning to Gods Love

Our path to maturity in Christ is often accelerated when we find ourselves dealing with change that is thrust upon us rather than chosen. Through the lens of military life, and with animated style, young wife Bekah chronicles life on the move for herself and her husband, Mike. With her captivating take on the unexpected elements she found embedded in marriage, moving, injury, deployment, and pregnancy, Bekah enlists us to share in her inmost responses of faith. Her story is an enjoyable read that touches the deep places of faith many young women experience.

DANA YEAKLEY

Author of The Gentle Art of Discipling Women: Nurturing Authentic Faith in Ourselves and Others

NavPress is the publishing ministry of The Navigators, an international Christian organization and leader in personal spiritual development. NavPress is committed to helping people grow spiritually and enjoy lives of meaning and hope through personal and group resources that are biblically rooted, culturally relevant, and highly practical.

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Almost There: Searching for Home in a Life on the Move

Copyright 2017 by Bekah DiFelice. All rights reserved.

A NavPress resource published in alliance with Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

NAVPRESS and the NAVPRESS logo are registered trademarks of NavPress, The Navigators, Colorado Springs, CO. TYNDALE is a registered trademark of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. Absence of in connection with marks of NavPress or other parties does not indicate an absence of registration of those marks.

The Team:

Don Pape, Publisher

Caitlyn Carlson, Acquisitions Editor

David Zimmerman, Copyeditor

Nicole Grimes, Designer

Cover photograph of car copyright by Cristian Lupu/Getty Images. All rights reserved.

Cover photograph of field copyright by Johner Images/Getty Images. All rights reserved.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from THE MESSAGE, copyright 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible, copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Some of the anecdotal illustrations in this book are true to life and are included with the permission of the persons involved. All other illustrations are composites of real situations, and any resemblance to people living or dead is purely coincidental.

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Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN 978-1-63146-471-3

Build: 2017-05-18 12:20:15

For my neighborhood and the transient military community within, especially the fellow moms who congregated at the park with me every afternoon.

By the time you read this, we will have moved away, which seems appropriate, somehow. May you discover the richness of home in every place you are and find friends that become family as you were to us for the brief time our addresses aligned.

For most of my life I have wondered if I belonged somewhere else. I imagined that alternative versions of myself existed in places I hadnt yet been, that unknown lands were the key to self-improvement, enhanced social skills, and better skin. From the vantage point of my hometown, I thought that if I could just linger in a foreign countryyou know, develop an accent or climb the right mountain or stumble into the right place at the right timeI might encounter the best-case scenario of my life. I thought that if I could get to the right location, I would finally arrive where I belong.

This sensation of belonging is what Ive come to think of as homea feeling of being inwardly settled, as if your soul gets to sink into a couch with deep cushions after a long day of being on its feet. Each of us has a deeply personal concept of home. Its an intimate place by nature, and often one difficult to describe.