I know that most of you won't know me, but I needed to share what God is doing in our lives.
16 years ago, we were forced to move into a house with our then 3 young children. It's a long story how it happened, but it involves, winter without warm clothes, returning home after following Gods' call on our lives, the police, a cat, and an odor that we still haven't figured out. But that is all another story, even ended in one person being taken to the psych ward at the hospital for an overnight evaluation.
Back to topic though. So we ended up here, in this house, one of the furthest places we could get from where we wanted to be. But we put our trust in God and accepted it as His provision. For 16 years we lived here, tried to move, tried to have a ministry to the community, always failing. For 16 years we watched our children, especially our eldest being crushed by where we lived. We added 2 children, making our total 5, buried one, tried to adopt (without success) and wondered what God had in mind when nothing seemed to make sense. We watched for 16 years as the neighborhood deteriorated. Watched as an arson set fire (didn't watch the arson) to the house next door. Battled the city over an unreasonable neighbor that let our dog loose, refused to allow us to hang laundry etc. (she drove out every good neighbor we had) We have been here during a suicide of a neighbor, seen drug addicts and dealers move in and out. We were here when the drive by shootings took place, etc. etc. etc. In fact, our neighborhood has denigrated so bad that even the tax office notices the reduced value to the point of not arguing about lower taxes.
For 16 years, we watched the house fall apart around us and had no way of keeping it up. Things got worse and worse, and we didn't have the money to keep them up. Allergens took their toll as well, getting worse and worse every year, serious allergens to molds and such, things we couldn't do anything about, allergens that caused more and more serious health issues. Long story made real short, all we could do was endure and learn to trust.
Well, to make an even longer story as short as possible, God just gave us a wonderful miracle, two weeks ago we closed on a house worth much more than we paid. The money was an early inheritance and so we owe nothing. The house needs a lot of work, but we have many, many people anxious to help us get it done and early inheritance money left over to do the work. So we now have 6+ country acres, a nice home, and the money (early inheritance) to work on it. In addition to the many miracles it took to get us here, we were worried because we are about 500 over budget right now, which might not seem like much, but we are on a super tight budget and living in poverty with 2 kids still at home means no money to draw from in the way of pay check. Well, out of the blue, an old friend, is sending us 500 as "God's requested" and she had no idea where we were on the house. In addition to all of that, the new property is further from work, but closer to a store with a job posting that would net us up to double the pay, which would mean that if the job comes through, we will live at or above the poverty line for the second time in 25 years.
I can't even begin to tell you how good God is, and how odd to not struggle over this anymore, over the years God has been teaching us to trust, not sure we learned it well,
but we are working on it. I don't know all that God has in store for us, but He is moving and opening doors and to make everything even sweeter, the move means a greater opportunity to move forward in the ministry He has called us to. I just wanted to share with you all, how amazed I am at God's love and provision and ask your prayers for wisdom and grace to continue to trust, even when our struggles diminish....
16 years ago, we were forced to move into a house with our then 3 young children. It's a long story how it happened, but it involves, winter without warm clothes, returning home after following Gods' call on our lives, the police, a cat, and an odor that we still haven't figured out. But that is all another story, even ended in one person being taken to the psych ward at the hospital for an overnight evaluation.
Back to topic though. So we ended up here, in this house, one of the furthest places we could get from where we wanted to be. But we put our trust in God and accepted it as His provision. For 16 years we lived here, tried to move, tried to have a ministry to the community, always failing. For 16 years we watched our children, especially our eldest being crushed by where we lived. We added 2 children, making our total 5, buried one, tried to adopt (without success) and wondered what God had in mind when nothing seemed to make sense. We watched for 16 years as the neighborhood deteriorated. Watched as an arson set fire (didn't watch the arson) to the house next door. Battled the city over an unreasonable neighbor that let our dog loose, refused to allow us to hang laundry etc. (she drove out every good neighbor we had) We have been here during a suicide of a neighbor, seen drug addicts and dealers move in and out. We were here when the drive by shootings took place, etc. etc. etc. In fact, our neighborhood has denigrated so bad that even the tax office notices the reduced value to the point of not arguing about lower taxes.
For 16 years, we watched the house fall apart around us and had no way of keeping it up. Things got worse and worse, and we didn't have the money to keep them up. Allergens took their toll as well, getting worse and worse every year, serious allergens to molds and such, things we couldn't do anything about, allergens that caused more and more serious health issues. Long story made real short, all we could do was endure and learn to trust.
Well, to make an even longer story as short as possible, God just gave us a wonderful miracle, two weeks ago we closed on a house worth much more than we paid. The money was an early inheritance and so we owe nothing. The house needs a lot of work, but we have many, many people anxious to help us get it done and early inheritance money left over to do the work. So we now have 6+ country acres, a nice home, and the money (early inheritance) to work on it. In addition to the many miracles it took to get us here, we were worried because we are about 500 over budget right now, which might not seem like much, but we are on a super tight budget and living in poverty with 2 kids still at home means no money to draw from in the way of pay check. Well, out of the blue, an old friend, is sending us 500 as "God's requested" and she had no idea where we were on the house. In addition to all of that, the new property is further from work, but closer to a store with a job posting that would net us up to double the pay, which would mean that if the job comes through, we will live at or above the poverty line for the second time in 25 years.
I can't even begin to tell you how good God is, and how odd to not struggle over this anymore, over the years God has been teaching us to trust, not sure we learned it well,
but we are working on it. I don't know all that God has in store for us, but He is moving and opening doors and to make everything even sweeter, the move means a greater opportunity to move forward in the ministry He has called us to. I just wanted to share with you all, how amazed I am at God's love and provision and ask your prayers for wisdom and grace to continue to trust, even when our struggles diminish....
