A Piece of Property, An Encouraging Word, and Many Blessings

The question becomes: Where do I begin?

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Have you ever been in a situation where so much seemed beyond your ability to comprehend or even respond?

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That is exactly where we found ourselves just three weeks ago. Without going into a lot of detail, our housing situation needed to change. We have been renting/leasing homes for the better part of seven years now and desperately want to buy a home... But, early in our marriage we took on too much in a house and land payment, couple that with increased child support obligations and my need to drop everything including a job to manage Justin's educational, social and emotional crises. It was a recipe for financial disaster - bankruptcy, foreclosure, repossession... AND so on. Just being honest... Financially we were officially and legally a mess. It has been nearly eleven years since we started this journey of couple, communion and to be honest... It's been scary, trying, enlightening and well sobering. But this week, we find ourselves dumbstruck.

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If someone had mentioned that we should buy a house rather than seeking another rental opportunity three weeks ago... I would have laughed my fool head off. Well, maybe not laughed, but I would have said, "We can't do that right now."

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As a matter of fact, my husband brought up the propsect at least once and I said those exact words. Let's just give it another year.

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WHY?

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Because I was scared. AFRAID.

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God has been dealing with every area of fear I have in my life this year. SO. Here. I. Am. Again.

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Facing one of my worst fears again - A. Mortgage. Loan.

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WHY?

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Because... Well, they run your credit when you apply for a mortgage loan. RIGHT?

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We had done this three years ago and suffered the humiliating NO that comes with not just bad, but downright ugly credit. It was torturously defeating. Still we were determined to make our life better. To do more. To Pay. Our. Dues. As my father always said.

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I must admit I had been lamenting the fact that three years ago we had the chance to buy the home we had rented for four years in the sleepy little town of Rhome, TX. It was old, the floors creaked, leaned and the place was downright drafty in the wintertime. But, the turn of the century built "Bear in the Big Blue House" BLUE HOUSE on West Second Street had become home to us. It was where my kids spent the better part of their growing up years. It was blocks from our church and we were members of a community there. When Mr. Huse, our landlord, stopped buy with an Owner Finance Contract in his hand I looked with one fleeting glance at my husband's face and knew the determined answer was ABSOLUTELY. NOT.

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A few days later we would learn we did not get the loan on the new home we wanted to build and we had a month to move. We leased a large, beautiful new home in the same neighborhood we were hoping to build and well... Things began to unravel.

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I had been working an abundance of hours at my job and that seemed like it would continue. By the next year, I was looking for a new job that would help us to pay more than just the bills. We left that sleepy little town, with its comforts of home church and set out for a new adventure just over the horizon.

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Life meandered on and with the new circumstances came new challenges. We sold our second vehicle and moved to a smaller, more affordable house. In three years we have managed to move... Count them... Four- (no make that five times since the first house we moved into three years ago had a number of issues that needed repair - we were moved within two weeks back then) - times... Well, Four and a Half since this move is not officially completed yet. CAN. YOU. SAY. NOMADS?

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Seriously, I could just hear Abraham remarking to Sarah, "Honey, time to pack up the tent we're moving again!"

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I almost got killed when I mentioned that we should open our own moving company now that we were practically pros at the process. The entire group yelled NO!

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Well, now I must rewind a bit. Hold on while I Hit the PAUSE button and take you back to January.

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It was a cool, sunny morning when I landed in Chik-fil-a over off of Lake Worth Boulevard for breakfast and a little "quiet time." I had been reading Jeremiah 33 because God was revealing a word about my marriage through the old prophet in those early days of this new year. I flipped through that well worn path to those familiar pages of Jeremiah and stopped on Chapter 32. I began to read.

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As I read, I grew more excited. My husband and I were discussing a dream of owning a ranch one day where we could enjoy nature and cozy up together in a quaint, clapboard house. He wanted horses... Just a few to start and then a stable full. Restoration Ranch. It was beginning to take shape for us as we talked about it. And here we were when the odds were nearly impossible for us to finance a newspaper subscription (at least in my mind), that we would be able to buy enough acreage and a house to call it a ranch.

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ENTER JEREMIAH.

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Do you know that this chapter is all about how God told Jeremiah to go and buy a piece of land in the middle of the seige of Jerusalem by Babylon. I believe Jeremiah's exact argument was, "But, Lord... In so little time all of this land will belong to the King of Babylon, so what's the point?"

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But, God insisted that Jeremiah buy the land. So Jeremiah did. He bought the land and had it's deed stored by the public "accountant" as a public record of God's sealed promise to deliver Jerusalem and its inhabitants from the exile.

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Now... Even before we knew we were in a spiritual battle back in the early days of our marriage. We had so much stolen from us by the enemy. We gave him a legal right to come in and scavenge our home, plunder our finances and destroy our family. And HE DID HIS WORST. We cooperated.

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Until, we found a little church that took us in, prayed us through and brought us up.

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Jeremiah 32.... FAST FORWARD. A week ago we met with a man who sells homes in the metro area. He works with buyers to get reasonable FHA financing on remodeled and updated homes when they might not otherwise be able to do so. Jeremiah 32 is becoming a now and a future word for us. We have our choice of three homes and though we thought it an impossiblility a few weeks ago - today we are so encouraged. I'm still coveting and asking for many prayers over this entire deal. God is making things that seemed impossible to us more and more possible with each passing day.

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That is the Piece of Property I eluded to in my title. It is actually not the little two story colonial I set my heart on last week, but instead a more traditional, brick home on a street named Sunnybrook.

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Now for the encouraging word:

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A few months back, as I was outlining the spiritual battle my husband and I were fighting for our marriage and family - I had a friend say, "Have you two been through leadership presbytery yet?"

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I shook my head. "No. I don't even know how to go about getting into leadership presbytery."

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She nodded as she flashed a knowing smile. "I would be very interested to hear what they have to say over Scott."

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ME. TOO!

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If you are not familiar with presbytery ministry (and I'm not talking about the denomination Presbyterian... but something our church does with regard to prophetic utterances.)

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Presbytery as it is practiced by my church's leadership is a special time when recognized prophetic leaders in our congregation come and speak words of Edification, Exhortation/Encouragement and Comfort over you. I attended a time of prophetic ministry at my life group last year and had words spoken over me by women that I didn't even know. They spoke of things that resonated so true in my life both past and future. They specifically confirmed that I was in a maturing and preparation stage for ministry.

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It is not mystical or weird. It is based on 1 Corinthians 14, and often is accompanied by Scripture and other sources of confirmation.

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A few weeks after I had the conversation about leadership presbytery with my friend, I got an email from the pastor I serve under as a lay leader for my grief recovery group. She wanted to know if there were any leaders under her care who desired to go through leadership presbytery. YES.

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We are going next Wednesday, June 18th. I am excited but also not anticipating so much as I am expecting God to speak something new. I believe this is all a part of the journey we are on. God revealing Himself huge and us learning to follow in spite of our circumstances not because of them.

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As for the Many Blessings...

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We are blessed with wonderful family. Our family rallied around us after they learned of our circumstances and have helped us by putting us up in the interim between houses. Thank you, Lord for the graciousness of Sherry and Kevin. They have so blessed us beyond anything we could hope for or imagine. It is to your glory that we receive one blessing after another. We are so humbled by Your generous Provision. To helping us pack our miles of furniture, clothing and what nots into a 10x20 storage units or hauling a number of items to my parents house for storage until we find a new home. Thank you Lord for all You've done to move their hearts in compassion and kindness toward us. We are truly blessed. And then... We experienced the graduation from high school of Scott's oldest child. Travis.

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Travis graduated on Saturday and my husband humbly admitted that when his son crossed the stage to receive his diploma that he tried to give out a "WHOOP" but got all choked up instead. We have now graduated two children from high school and are watching as they make their way as adults in this world. My Taylor will follow with her cousin, Lauren, next year and then our baby, Megan - Scott's youngest - will make the journey of commencement the year after that. Hard to believe that we have been at it long enough to see our children nearly all grown and off to make their way in the world. Humbling. Beautiful. Blessed. We are so very. And, Finally. To all of you who have stood with us in prayer. We so appreciate you and know that God moves your hearts to stand in agreement and pray His best for us even as we do not know what to pray. You are reading about the results and we are truly blessed by your offerings. Love to you all....

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I better go. I need a shower and to rouse some sleeping teenagers from bed.