Step #1-Big Worries Small Feats

Over the next few weeks I'll be documenting this move to Fort Worth and all of the ways the Lord has provided and met our needs in ways that left us speechless. The purpose is twofold, first its a way for me to remember God's goodness in the midst of a stressful time with so much unknown. Second, I hope it serves as an encouragement to others as they face challenges or concerns in their own lives.

Going into the move, the biggest worry I had was selling our home. It was a wonderful house that we loved and had put multiple hours of labor into improving. Despite those improvements it was going to remain a 2 bedroom house, which is not ideal. It worked for us but as I found, was an immediate turnoff for a number of potential buyers.

We decided to try to sell it ourselves, or at least try for a few weeks and see if we could do it without a realtor. We weren't going to make much on it and knew that going in, but my biggest nightmare was having a mortgage in June, about to leave a perfectly good job, for a time when I'll be going back to being a student with no salary. I remember going to a seminar during this process where a guy talked about selling his house in a day. I sat in the corner and thought to myself, "That's great that the Lord did that for you, but what about the rest of us?" That night Jen and I started nightly praying for this move and the sale of our home primarily. The monday of Spring Break, three weeks after putting our house on the market, we signed with a realtor. It was a friend of ours from church who had helped us buy the house. The next day I left on our youth ski trip and Jen went to Tulsa to stay with her parents. On that day our realtor showed our house. On Thursday, while we were both still gone, that couple made an offer and we accepted. Did I mention they wanted to pay cash and let us pick the closing date?

What I learned from this experience was just how goofy I look when I question or doubt the Lord. It wasn't a day, but selling our house in three weeks in this market is the hand of God at work. The Lord used this experience as a reminder of just how easy he can answer my biggest worries and concerns. I'm reminded of Nahum 1:3, "His way is in the whirlwind and the storms and the clouds are the dust of His feet". That which we view as so great and powerful is dust before the Lord. The God we worship is much more powerful than we can imagine, much wiser than we can comprehend and is working in a way that is good for us. Secondly, I learned just how sweet communal prayer is when its for specific requests. Through this entire experience Jen and I have prayed specifically and been amazed as the Lord has answered swiftly and abundantly.

Next I'll look at Step #2-Hospitality at its Finest