Miracles in Moving

Faith minus vulnerability and mystery equals extremism. If you’ve got all the answers, then don’t call what you do faith.” — Dr. Brené Brown

I’m so thankful that I have a God I can trust.  I look back on my life and see His faithfulness over and over.

However, entering new territory, heading toward the unknown, is still hard. Every time.

Why? Why do I fear? Why don’t I rest in the fact that the same God who provided for me throughout my life, will continue to be by my side?

He is faithful, so why do I worry?

There’s a story in the Bible about the Israelites traveling to an unknown place.  I can’t imagine being a mama back then – with no restaurants or grocery stores – no guarantee of food for my children. However, day after day, God miraculously provided food for them. Each morning, there was fresh “manna” on the ground. They ate all they wanted.

However, they weren’t sure the food would always be there. God provided yesterday, He provided today, but would He provide again tomorrow? And every.single.day. after that?

Would He always be this good?  

Since they weren’t sure, they began to gather as much as they could and store it in their tent for the days to come. However, the food they stored would be rotten by morning. They’d go outside to discover that God had, once again, provided fresh “manna” for them to eat. They slowly learned to trust Him, one day at a time. You can read the story in Exodus 16.

This season has a made me realize – I’m just Iike those Israelites!

I can look back and see how God provided for me (over and over) but I STILL say: “God, will you do it again? Will you be as good tomorrow as you were today?” In my heart, I know He will. But the trusting day-by-day is so hard.

 I reflected back on how God miraculously provided for us in Colorado, but wondered if He would do the same in Minnesota?!

For instance, we had to sell our house in Colorado before we could make an offer on a house in Minnesota.

The waiting, day after day.

Will we get an offer…WHEN will we get an offer…PLEASE someone…give us an offer!

The waiting, the trusting…was HARD.

We DID get an offer –  A FULL PRICE OFFER!

However, the family who wanted our home, wanted it in less than 30 days.

We had not yet decided on a house OR a mortgage company.

Ted and I talked, prayed, and chose our home Minnesota home, while I interviewed mortgage companies to find the best rate.

Once those big items were decided, we had only 2 and a half weeks before we had to be out of our Colorado house. The mortgage company needed almost 30 days to close on our loan. We’d be in limbo for about 10 days.

Ten days where we’d be ‘homeless’ – 10 days between the time we needed to be out of our Colorado home and close on our Minnesota home.

We asked the Minnesota homeowner if we could get a ‘pre-occupancy’ agreement – letting us move in early. We’d essentially “rent” the home from him until we close. This would save us from having to stay in a hotel for those 10 days, and even more important, we wouldn’t have to move our things TWO TIMES (from our Colorado home to storage, then from storage to our Minnesota home). That would be a lot of extra effort and EXPENSE!

The homeowner said NO. He’d had a bad experience with this before and he would not let us in early, even though he was no longer in the house – the house was EMPTY!

We asked the family purchasing our Colorado home if we could stay for 10 extra days. They said, “no, we have everything on a specific timeline.”

This was so discouraging.

So I prayed. I asked a few others to pray. Ted talked to our realtor to see if he could get the Minnesota homeowner to change his mind.

We waited.

I tried not to get anxious as our moving day approached.

Well, moving day came. Our movers asked us where they’d be taking our stuff. I gave them our new Minnesota home address…in faith, praying we’d have favor and could move our stuff in.

As our movers were finishing and Friday was coming to a close…we heard back from the Minnesota homeowner.

He would let us into his home early!!!

The movers left our home Friday and we met them at our new home on Monday morning at 7:30 AM!

Thank you God for answered prayer.

Thank you to our realtor who negotiated on our behalf.

Thank you to those who encouraged and prayed for us!

I’m thankful that I follow a God who provides, day after day, year after year, generation after generation.

If you are going through a tough situation, and wondering if God is with you, read this verse:

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9 NIV

PS – The homeowner really DID have a BAD experience and it’s a MIRACLE he let us in early! Someone had moved into this home a year earlier, requesting a “lease-to-own” deal. After moving in, he didn’t pay rent and did damage to the home and he couldn’t get the renter out. The floors had to be refinished, carpet replaced and walls painted.  What a mess! Somehow, in spite of this, we were allowed in early! Amazing!

Feel free to leave a comment about how you’ve seen God provide for you!