My Testimony, part 2

After watching a movie on TBN tonight I found myself watching Joel Osteen, I’ll admit I don’t normally watch Joel Osteen, but was very much enjoying his message about God’s blessings. It brought to mind something my husband and I were just talking about the other day –

Back in June when our son went to church camp, moving to Gainesville was the furthest thing from my mind; but, one evening, for the fun of it, I decided to check out the housing market there (if you know me very well you know I LOVE looking at houses). I found one house that caught my eye, I showed my husband the pictures of it and read him the description of it, and even told him I wouldn’t mind having a house like that someday. There was one photo in particular that stood out to me, in it was the elderly gentleman that lived there, in his recliner, in a room of windows; I thought that was so neat. Ok, no biggie, on with life we go. Our son came home from camp, he told my husband and I all about camp and about the church and how much he loved it and the people he had met there, and he started expressing some interest in moving up there; so I told him we needed to pray about it and that if that was where God wanted us, He would make a way, and we’d be there. Our son ended up going back to Gainesville for another visit in late July. Our niece had expressed to us how much they enjoyed him being there. So, after talking to our son, and praying about it a LOT, my husband and I made the decision to let our son go on back up there and start school, with the promise we’d be there soon, we felt really strong in our hearts THIS was where God wanted us. Fast forward through a very long September – God was moving in big ways, preparing our blessings and making the way, so we started looking seriously at houses up there. I had forgotten all about the cute house I saw back in June; I was looking at each house in our price range and came across one that was perfect for us – it had everything I love in a house – again, I showed it to my husband and read the description to him, and called the realtor. Told her which house we wanted to see, she said, Ok, I’ll line up some others for you too, and I remember telling her no – we only want to see this one (we were already calling it our house). A couple of days later, she called and let me know she had several houses for us to look at, except the original one I wanted to see, it was under contract – big disappointment to us both. So, we went, we looked, we even put an offer on a house, although we didn’t really think they would accept it, and they didn’t. Again, no big deal, we kept praying God’s will be done, and we trust He would show us the right place, in His right time.

One day we were at the store and I got a text from my realtor, the original house I wanted to see, the one under contract – the contract fell through, it was available again!!!! I was so excited I could hardly contain myself there in the check-out line. We were in Gainesville the next day! Two days later we submitted an offer on the house, and three weeks, yes, three weeks, later they accepted it! Joel’s message tonight reminded me of my husband and I talking about the events that have taken place so quickly lately, and how some things HAD to happen to prepare the hearts and minds of other people for the blessings God had for us. Yes, God can do anything – and it was ALL Him in this – had we had submitted our offer on the house the first time we went up there they probably would not have accepted it – you see, it was crunch time for the sellers the second time, they were having to move and only had a short time left, God knew what He was doing in preparing their hearts and minds and His timing is always perfect, He knew the perfect timing for our offer to go in on the house. I know I have learned a lot from this thus far, see, it’s not over yet, we have the house in contract but we haven’t closed or moved in yet, but I still see God working all this out in our favor, preparing people and hearts; He has sent buyers for our current house and everything is going according to His plan; I am so thankful for His love, grace and mercy, and I am so thankful for the trials and errors I have gone through in my life, because if I hadn’t, I would not have been able to be still and let God do what He was going to do, I would have tried to ‘take control’ of the situation because I want to be with my son, but God’s way is better and we are going to end up with what we wanted instead of settling by doing things our own way. I am so excited about our new journey we are about to embark upon, a new home, a new city, new faces and friends to meet; I’ll admit I am a little scared, but I know God’s got this and all I have to do is continue to trust Him and have faith, and know that He is working it all out for our good, and His glory.
When God has a blessing ready for you, He will give you favor with the right people and ‘make’ things and situations move for you. There have been many times I couldn’t ‘feel’ or ‘see’ God around me and He just seemed so quiet, but just because He is quiet that doesn’t mean He is being still, God works quietly, a lot of times in the background, working things out for us, making the way clear, all we have to do is trust him
Be still, and know that I am God – Psalm 46:10
Jenn