God's Faithfulness

So much has happened today that I can't even remember what else I was going to report on for last week!! Before sharing what God has done for us, I do want to mention that Mason's team won their football game again, 32-6. He was a team captain this week.....here he is walking out to meet the opposing team captains for the coin toss...

He was also the kick-off kicker this week and did really good...along with making 8 tackles...

GO BAYFIELD!!! They are an awesome little team!

OK, today I am overwhelmed with the sovereignty of our GOD. He has proven Himself faithful to fulfill His promises to us and we are amazed at His mighty works! We have been so discouraged about the sale of our house; how every offer we have received has been a lot lower than what we needed. We just thought that thru our obedience in moving out here, God will sell it fast for us and bless us in it. I have clung on to Prov. 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all thy heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him and He will make your path straight".....I kept reminding myself that His ways were not my ways, that I could not try to understand this in my own thinking but just had to trust Him...and isn't that so hard to do when you can't see the end result???!!

Anyway, before we left for Alabama, a man in our church told Mike that he wanted to give him a certain amount of money to go towards the house. It was such a large amount that Mike told him that he couldn't take it but was humbled at the offer. I want you to understand that we have asked the church to pray for the sell of our house but they had no idea what our direct needs were and we didn't talk about it that often either. So we go to Alabama and while we are working at the house on that Wednesday, our realtor comes over with an offer that is the highest we've received thus far. It is still pretty short so we counter back and wait. On that Friday night, another man from our church called to tell us that someone had anonymously donated money to go toward our house. This amount and the amount that the first man had offered was the exact same amount so I assumed it was from the same man. However, when I revealed who had tried to give us money the weekend before, Bill said that it was not the same person; so therefore within 7 days, the same large amount of money had been offered to us. It soon hit us that the total of the two amounts was what we would have needed had we accepted the offer presented to us on Wednesday!! WOW!! I felt that God was showing us that He was in control and He would "supply all our need".

So the story goes that she didn't accept our counter offer and after God had shown us all that, we went back and said that we'll take the first offer, returned to Colorado, and waited. After 3 weeks passed, we figured that the lady had changed her mind and I had resolved that God will be faithful to provide an offer thru someone else. However, last Thursday we got an email from the realtor saying that she is presenting the same offer and he will email us the contract when he gets it. On Friday we get the contract and after talking to our realtor, he gives us a figure of what we'll actually get minus all the closing costs. I then call the mortgage company to get a pay off quote and we realize that what we'll have to pay to get out of this is 50% more than what we had thought orginally and this is money that we did not have. Both of us before signing the contract had a lot of doubt on whether we should do this....but I kept vocalizing that God had shown us 3 weeks ago in Alabama that He was going to take care of us as long as we were doing the "right" thing (as opposed to letting it go into forclosure since we knew we were just losing money on it). Now let me say that we were not going to go back to the first man who offered us money and ask for it back....but we did know that the 2nd offer of money that was donated was available if we needed it. So we knew we had access to 1/3 of what we needed....but that 2/3 was still needed and to us, it was a huge amount and a huge step of faith to sign that contract and send it in. Once signed on Friday, I came straight back to my room and opened the bible to read out of Colossians. As I was reading, I thought "I don't remember this being what I read yesterday" but it was good! It was actually Phillipians Ch. 4 instead of Colossians that says "Rejoice in the Lord.....Don't be anxious about anything but with prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God, and the peace that passes all understanding will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus".....WOW! He led me straight to that passage so I started quoting it over and over and even printed it out and posted it around the house. I started feeling that peace and Mike would come in with that expression of worry on whether we are doing the right thing and then it would make me worry...so I would repeat the passage again....and again.....and again.....Thank you God for your WORDS and PROMISES!!

So Sunday comes along and Mike tells the church that he had fully intended on preaching out of Colossians again but that God had shown him in a dream that night to preach out of Acts, the story of Peter's hopeless situation in jail and how God provided an angel to get him out. It was titled "What To Do When You Don't Know What To Do" and the essence of the message was that you trust God and just let Him be in control. This applies to all situations when there is just nothing else you can do......in sickness, in relationships, in finances, etc. I felt great about our decision and confident that God would provide but the blessing that God showed me came during the altar call.....precious 83 year old Dan Throckmorton came to the alter with his wife Millie who has Alzheimer's Disease and is slowly deterierating day by day. God showed me thru this precious couple that my problems and my needs are nothing compared to what Dan faces everyday. I was so broken as God revealed to me how small my problem was and how much time I have wasted on worrying over such an insignificant thing as money. It was a revelation from God....and I received it as a blessing. I also think that Mike preaching about it helped him to have peace about whatever the outcome might be.

Well, we didn't have to wait long at all. God used Dan and Millie to teach me a spiritual revelation and meet my need for peace and trust in God on Sunday, and then he used Dan and Millie today to meet my physical need for that 2/3 still needed to pay off the house.....that's right, he came over today and wrote us a check for the remaining amount we needed...and again I was so broken at the amount of the gift! I was so broken at the way God was faithful to that promise that He would "supply all our need according the riches that are in Christ Jesus" and that there was a willing servant of His that had such a giving heart!! I have been overwhelmed by the love of God, by His faithfulness, by His people, by His promises!! ALL PRAISE AND GLORY BE TO OUR GOD!!

It is very humbling to be the receiver of such a huge gift but Dan told us that we would rob him of the blessing of giving if we didn't accept it. This experience has increased my faith and made me want to be more of a giver. I hope this testimony can encourage you in your daily walk with Christ and I want to say "THANK YOU" from the bottom of my heart to all who have prayed for our house to sell over the past 10 months. When Peter left the jail, he went straight to the people who had been "earnestly" praying for him to show them what God had done and increase their faith; I, in the same way, am coming to the people who have earnestly been praying for this situation to tell you what God has done.

May your faith be strengthen as well....To GOD Be the GLORY!