Serving an Awesome God

A man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps. Proverbs 16:9

I've been a follower of Jesus Christ since I was a little girl. He has always been faithful to me, He has never once failed me. There have been times I've prayed so hard for something I thought I just had to have and He didn't give it to me, only to find out years later that had He given it to me, my life would have taken a completely different and miserable course.

This past year, Matt and I have worked every angle of our small (for us) house problem. We've gotten rid of a lot of stuff and rearranged furniture, sometimes in some very unconventional ways. We've talked about remodeling and even called an architect. We've looked at countless houses on the internet and in person. We've prayed. We've had our friends, family and Bible study groups pray. On the one hand, we felt terribly guilty even looking at houses knowing that most of the world would consider our current house to be a mansion. On the other hand we were feeling the squeeze, especially with another little one on the way.

I kept telling Matt I didn't want to move when I was pregnant because I know how low my energy levels are in that condition. Yet, we kept looking at houses. Maybe if we found a house early enough in the pregnancy, we could still manage it. House after house, none of them were "the one." All the while, God was showing us our wrong and sinful attitudes. These sinful ways of thinking were taken to the Cross, one by one.

A couple on months ago, I read an article in a financial magazine. It explained how to calculate how much house you could really afford. I calculated and found that we could afford something $200,000 less than most of the houses we'd been viewing. We have loved living on this acre of land because the kids have plenty of room to romp and play. However, any house around here on an acre with five to six bedrooms is just out of our price range. After I read that article, I cried. We'd never find a house, I concluded. I had forgotten that I serve an awesome God.

With my tummy expanding, with Joel in a cast and our summer schedule rapidly filling up, we concluded a house was on the back burner until a year from now. God had different plans. This past weekend, Matt looked at the real estate section in the newspaper (I had quit reading the ads--too discouraging). He found a house he wanted us to see. We called the realtor and we saw it on Tuesday. We put an offer on it on Wednesday. Yesterday, our offer was accepted ($12,500 less than the affordable asking price). We're still in a state of shock.

Let me tell you how perfect this house is for us. It meets our very long list of must haves and even nice-to-haves. Close to Matt's work, close to the grocery store, not on a busy road, but some sort of road so that we can take our walks, on and acre of land, a fireplace, a huge kitchen, a separate dining room big enough to accommodate guests, six bedrooms, a family room, master bath with double sinks, a shower and a tub (I love my hot baths), an attic loft for school books and toys, a basement with a huge pantry area and lots of storage, lots of mature trees, a back patio, a fire pit (we like to read books and roast marshmellows by a fire on summer nights) and even a hot tub!

Throughout this process, I've told Matt that I didn't want granite counter tops, I didn't want a media room, I just wanted a big old farmhouse that someone else had renovated and God did it. We are absolutely bowled over and completely humbled that the Lord would choose to give us this awesome gift. We pray that it will be used for His glory.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:20