Nothing Short of a Miracle

I witnessed a morden day miracle.

First hand. Meaning it happened to me. AND a few others around me as well. I am still caught in amazement over it all. So here is the story. I know this post is long but I promise it will give you goose bumps if you read the entire thing!

My faith was being tested. And I have to be honest, I was failing the test.  Majorly failing. We got PCS orders to Japan. Nothing about this gigantic move worried me except for the issue of our home. We needed it to sell. The thought of living across the world and having to pay a mortgage payment on a house in Abilene, Texas just made me sick. Literally.  And this is not like me. I am not a worrier, but for some reason my thoughts were consumed with the house and whether it would sell or not. My nerves were shot and it was all I could think about.  Everyday, all day I would check sites like Realtor.com and Zillow to see if any of the homes around us or in our price range were selling. And if they were I would actually feel envious. There were five homes in our neighborhood on the market too. I watched them like a hawk since they were our competition.  It was almost an obsession.Why was our home not selling? We needed an offer. Just one offer. Yet nothing.

In the midst of all this anxiety I felt like the Lord was instructing Andy and I to come together and pray on this issue. I know we were both praying separately, but I had a strong sense that God wanted us to unite and seek His willing together. I felt this nudging for months before I mentioned it to Andy. I can’t really tell you why I waited.  Mostly fear I think. Even though we pray together often for some reason it was just hard for me to say to my husband what I felt the Lord was asking us to do.  So I kept silent. Carrying this burden alone. But still praying.

However, God kept nudging me. One June day in prayer I heard the Lord say August 5th. I thought perhaps that was the day our house would sell. In July, God kept bringing 2 Chronicles 7:14 to my mind. “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
This verse constantly kept popping up in my mind for weeks.

Still in the midst of all of this I was frustrated and even mad that there was no movement on our home even after we dropped the price $8000.

On our last Sunday in Abilene Andy and I went to the alter at church and had a lady on the prayer team pray over us. We requested prayer for our move to Japan. During that prayer time I silently confessed my lack of faith and my disobedience to God. I don’t know why I was too affraid to do such a simple thing as pray with the person I trust the most. Looking back now it seems so silly that I waited so long to follow God’s leading. Believe me, lesson learned.

After the prayer was over the women praying over us suggested we take time out as a couple to pray over our home and God’s will for it. Confirmation.  On the car ride home I told Andy all that I was struggling with and what I felt like the Lord was asking us to do. He was super gracious and encouraging. We put the kids down for nap and sitting on the floor in our living room said a simple prayer together. We prayed that God will show us HIS will for our home and then give us the courage to follow it. Then we waited to hear from the Lord. Something I learned from my time in Abilene, ask God and then take time to listen. He is faithful to speak to His children. The BIble says that his sheep know his voice. And I can testify more to that in another blog post if you’d like to hear. Pretty amazing stuff too.

Back to the point. After sitting in silence for a few minutes we both shared what we felt like God as saying to us. And the answer was the same. RENT the house. We were opposed to renting for lots of reasons, which is why we had the home on the market to sell. But we both knew what we heard during this time of prayer and decided to be obedient to it.

This was on Sunday, August 5th.!!!!

On Tuesday we met with a broker and put the home up for rent. It was still up for sale too.  We moved out and left Abilene on Saturday.

On Sunday we receive an application for rent and three hours later we also receive a FULL PRICE OFFER TO BUY. Seriously that still amazes me.

We prayed together again. We were on the road traveling to Indiana. But I learned my lesson. So I pulled the car over in the middle of nowhere and we sought God’s guidance again. The easy thing to do was accept the buying offer. The home would be sold and this crazy chapter would be closed. But we knew what we heard on that Sunday afternoon.  So we turned down the buying offer. We prefer God’s plan to our own. Even id the world may think it’s crazy.

On Friday our renter moved in.

Crazy awesome, right?!?

It gets even better!!!!!! Really!!!

Remember those five other homes in our neighborhood for sale? Well a week after our house rented I got back on Zillow just to see if there had been any movement on them. A few of those homes had been on the market for over 200 days. To my amazement NOT ONE of the homes showed up on this app  for sale. WHAT??? COULD IT BE? There must be a problem with the website. So I asked a friend of mine to drive around the neighborhood and confirm what I was thinking. And it was as I suspected, all five of those homes were no longer on the market. They were either rented, sale pending or under contract!  All in the matter of a week God not only healed my land like He promised in 2 Chronicles 4:17 but He also healed the land around me!!! This may not seem like a miracle to you. But I bet if you asked those home owners on my block they might agree with me.

I once heard Graham Cooke speak on blessings like this. He said that Children of God walk in blessing. And sometimes that blessing pours out on others around them. I’m so humbled and grateful that God chose to work this way. It never ceases to amaze me how God wants to show himself to us. And the fact that He also wants to use us just blows my mind
If you don’t know, we serve a very cool God. And if you want to know more just ask. I’d love to share with you all that I can about my Savior. He is so faithful.

My faith was tested. And now it has been increased. How about yours?

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