This year is off to a great start! :) God keeps showing up in such wonderful and unexpected ways.
When I looked back at my journal from the beginning of last year, we were about to lose our home and were hanging on to God with all our might—waiting for Him to do something to save it. This year, we are overflowing with gratitude for His awesome provision and for all the homes He has given us since then.
We’ve stayed in some very nice places—beautiful homes that seemed random and strange at first, yet were always such blessings. I’ve often smiled at how God’s provision doesn’t always look the way we expect it to! We may have lost a house in Fuquay, but we’ve gained many homes and far more than we could have ever imagined in Christ.
“In My Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.” — John 14:2
He is so faithful in His provision—it just doesn’t always come wrapped in the form we anticipate.
On Saturday morning, we cleaned KK’s house for her return on Sunday and then went to E’s house for M’s first birthday celebration. Our niece flew in from California, R’s mom drove in from Colorado, and even A came over to celebrate. R surprised us too—he was supposed to be gone for Iraq training but the Lord worked it out so he could be there. It was such a sweet blessing to have everyone together, and my heart was full. It was especially healing to have A there—thank You, Lord, for these small steps of restoration.
On Sunday, we cleaned M and A’s house for their return later that evening and spent most of the day moving both TB and ourselves into the townhouse. A friend of ours had passed away from cancer on New Year’s Eve, and we attended the memorial service that evening. The service was filled with people we hadn’t seen in a long time, many who had moved on to different places and churches. It was so good to reconnect and catch up with familiar faces.
During the meal afterward, Pastor J came up to us and said he had been thinking about something that made him think of us. He explained that some friends of his in Texas worked with realty companies and stayed in homes for extended periods while the owners were away—nine months to a year at a time. He thought that might be something we could do since we’re still “transient.”
We told him we’d actually thought about that and looked into it a little, but the Lord hadn’t opened that door yet. (I mentioned it to AR on our way home from the airport, and she said that if that ever does happen, we now have some great references! :))
I don’t know whether God will take us in that direction, but I trust there’s always a reason He plants certain ideas or brings people across our path. We’ll see what unfolds in His timing.
After the service, we finished up some moving tasks and then picked M and A up from the airport. To our surprise, M handed us a check for $100! What an unexpected blessing—thank You, Lord!
As we drove away, we said goodbye to our “Preston homes” and hello to a new chapter in this adventure. (All three of the houses we’d stayed in since September were within a block or two of each other!)
Thank You, Lord, for making Sunday such a good day and for how smoothly everything went. Only You could have helped us accomplish so much in such a short time and have it all unfold so perfectly.
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