We felt it was time to move from our two-bedroom house when we had our 3rd child. Randy had just graduated college but hadn’t secured a teaching position because he finished in the middle of the school year, so he had to wait while passing out many resumes. In the meantime, he held a full-time factory work position during his college years to provide for his family. I also pitched in with part time jobs I could accomplish at home while raising our kids.
We prayed. We looked. We filled out paperwork on nine or so “good deals” on homes that would require sweat equity to make them livable. We assumed with our budget we would have to make it happen this way. We thought God would never answer our prayer to make this move!
Have you ever waited, truly waited for months? I can’t think of anyone on earth who is gifted at waiting.
We couldn’t see why God would allow all these good “deals” we were trying to make fall through at the last minute. We just didn’t get it. We saved for the down payment. Our credit was good. We looked in our price range. We prayed for just the right house. But it just wasn’t happening! We couldn’t complete the deal UNTIL months later.
Discouraged, I looked at the paper (a daily news and ads sort of thing typed then printed in mass quantities on actual paper that was distributed to your home daily by a boy on a bike) one more time for house ads. My eyes were guided to an ad for a home just beyond city limits with a loan that seemed unbelievable. I called immediately. We met the builder that evening after Randy got off work. We qualified!
We came away from that meeting with paperwork signed for a NEW home to be built in a school system that we favored with payments we could afford easily while getting out of the crowded city limits but close enough to live our lives as we had only dreamed.
Ah, now I see what God had waiting for us…His best, not our “make do” mediocre plan. Since that experience, we have trusted God for every decision. We lay before Him everything from the small details of daily life to the gigantic, earth shattering, life changing circumstances of living this life.
Worship and Wisdom, Psalms and Proverbs
Part Ten, Psalm 119, The Message
73-80 With your very own hands you formed me;
now breathe your wisdom over me so I can understand you.
When they see me waiting, expecting your Word,
those who fear you will take heart and be glad.
I can see now, God, that your decisions are right;
your testing has taught me what’s true and right.
Oh, love me—and right now!—hold me tight!
just the way you promised.
Now comfort me so I can live, really live;
your revelation is the tune I dance to.
Let the fast-talking tricksters be exposed as frauds;
they tried to sell me a bill of goods,
but I kept my mind fixed on your counsel.
Let those who fear you turn to me
for evidence of your wise guidance.
And let me live whole and holy, soul and body,
so I can always walk with my head held high.
TRUTH: “I can see now, God, that your decisions are right; your testing has taught me what’s true and right.”
EPILOGUE: Randy became a teacher. I went back to college and finished my degree in education and became a teacher. As time passed and our kids grew, God led first Randy then me a few years later to leave our comfortable teaching positions, that we loved and worked hard to attain, to work full time in the ministry of helping people see God for who He really is…One to be trusted…God, who sent His One and Only Son to save us because of His love for us. Ah, now I see, now I get it, Lord. YOU knew all along what You created us to be and do. Our response is to follow.
“When they see me waiting, expecting your Word, those who fear you will take heart and be glad. I can see now, God, that your decisions are right; your testing has taught me what’s true and right.” Psalm 119
Proverb 1:7, The Message
WISDOM: “Start with God—the first step in learning is bowing down to God; only fools thumb their noses at such wisdom and learning.”
Abba Father,
What a mess we can be in waiting! Thank you for your perfect patience with us when we are imperfectly impatient! We are frustrated easily when we don’t get our own way and are blind to what You are working on that is better for us. Thank you for opening our eyes to see your glory at work with ears to hear your voice above all others throughout our lives. We don’t deserve your favor of grace, but You still provide. Thank you for your guidance and understanding. Thank you for saving us from ourselves, our poor, ungrateful attitudes and stubborn dispositions when being tested. Thank you for teaching in the trials and giving us your message in our messes. Thank you for your loving faithfulness. Truly, GREAT is your faithfulness! To YOU be all glory, honor and praise!
In Jesus Name, Amen
Daily Manna (Coffee with Jesus) 