If there is an opportunity to travel, I am the first to jump on it. I hear the name of a country I haven’t visited and start plotting how to find the cheapest plane ticket. I always feel ready to pack my bag and drop everything. Nothing is more thrilling than the feeling of the plane lifting off the runway, rising through the air and taking me to a new adventure. In the past, my wanderlust has paid off—I’ve gone on safari in East Africa, prayed in Jerusalem, eaten crepes on the French Rivera.

But in more recent years, I am finding the subtler, slower joy in staying where I am.

I am witnessing the changes in each season: leaves in their cycles, daylight shortening and lengthening. I am watching babies grow into toddlers and friends grow into parents. I am engaging in the life of my church, investing in my friendships and cultivating my work.

Perhaps adventure doesn’t always lie “out there.” While much of the biblical story is about people stepping out to follow God’s call, often God asks people to be rooted where they are, and most importantly, to first be rooted in God.

Are you longing to escape, to travel somewhere new? Before you purchase that plane ticket, spend time meditating on these verses. Ask God how you can sink deeper into the adventure God has for you—right where you are.

Philippians 4:12-14 (GNTD)

I know what it is to be in need and what it is to have more than enough. I have learned this secret, so that anywhere, at any time, I am content, whether I am full or hungry, whether I have too much or too little. I have the strength to face all conditions by the power that Christ gives me.

Jeremiah 29:5-7 (GNTD)

Build houses and settle down. Plant gardens and eat what you grow in them. Marry and have children. Then let your children get married, so that they also may have children. You must increase in numbers and not decrease. Work for the good of the cities where I have made you go as prisoners. Pray to me on their behalf, because if they are prosperous, you will be prosperous too.

Psalm 1:1-3 (GNTD)

Happy are those
who reject the advice of evil people,
who do not follow the example of sinners
or join those who have no use for God.
Instead, they find joy in obeying the Law of the Lord,
and they study it day and night.
They are like trees that grow beside a stream,
that bear fruit at the right time,
and whose leaves do not dry up.
They succeed in everything they do.