God is in Control

This weekend, I began to feel discouraged and overwhelmed. I asked God to confirm that Matt and I are heading in the right direction with this move and He has been faithful to do so. I kept repeating to myself, "Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, 'This is the way; walk in it.' " (Isaiah 30:21).

This morning at church, Pastor made an announcement to ask for more volunteers to help us get packed and moved. As of this afternoon, we've had multiple offers to help, including the offer of another trailer, help moving the chicken house on a flatbed truck and help cleaning this house after we move out. The offer of cleaning was like God saying to me "I AM STILL IN CONTROL, MELISSA." I've been pretty concerned about how I was going to manage getting this house cleaned and ready to sell. I know I won't be able to rest until this house is on the market. Everybody in real estate knows that a house is more likely to sell in the spring and summer months. Our goal is to have this house up for sale by the beginning of July. I estimated it would take me about three full days to clean this house, especially in my condition.

This afternoon I received a phone call from a woman in our church. She said she was willing to help me pack, but her area of expertise is really cleaning houses after people have moved out of them. This is what she does for a living. She wanted to donate her time to get this house clean for us. I was floored. I hadn't even prayed specifically for this item yet, I was just worrying about it. As has been the case all along, God went before us and provided for the need even before we asked (as in the case of the loaning of the horse trailer).

The Lord provided help by way of my friend Peggy on Friday morning. She and Grace finished packing the school room. Our Bible study group had a potluck that night. Lisa and Sarah refused to let me bring anything. They did all the clean up, too. All we did was show up, eat, fellowship, do some Bible study and play a quick game of baseball.

My friend Julie called me on Saturday and realized how completely overwhelmed I was and then showed up with dinner. I had a ham thawed in the fridge, but the thought of putting it in the oven was too much. We were so glad to have hot food ready to go on plates. She's also going to provide more meals the week after we move in, knowing that we'll be busy enough just trying to get the necessities unpacked.

My biggest problem now is trying to prioritize and assign tasks to the people who have volunteered to help this week. God provides so abundantly. Why am I so surprised? Every good and perfect gift truly does come from above.