My wife and I had a wonderful dinner last night. I cooked pork steaks on the grill, while she made some delicious jalapeno bread and stir fried a medley of vegetables. It was so very nice being together again after her two-week, annual Army Reserve training in Wisconsin. Charla felt so at home in her kitchen. And what a blessing that is! She loves to cook and I love to eat! In addition to enjoying a mix of savory flavors, we got caught up on everything that's happened while we've been apart. Later, we talked about God's timing in our recent move here from Colorado.
We put our house on the market back in June of 2009 and trusted God with the sale. Later that summer, Charla put out her resume for positions in Human Resources. By October, our house hadn't sold, but she was hired by a company in Phoenix. My parents who live in the area graciously offered to let her stay with them while I remained in Colorado for what I hoped would not be much longer. Hope and reality can differ a bit especially when homes sales tend to drop of precipitously as fall and winter roll in.
I drove down to visit for Thanksgiving and Christmas. A few couples looked at the house in January but no offers came in. I drove down again for Valentine's Day weekend. By May, we decided to put our house up for lease. After only a few weeks, a nice family signed papers to rent for a year while we found a house to lease ourselves in Gilbert, Arizona. The house had been on the market for almost a whole year with no offers! And nine months is a long time to be away from your sweetheart. It was almost as long and lonely as her 15-month train up and deployment to Iraq two years earlier.
With each passing wintry month I thanked God for his timing knowing that his ways are perfect even when I didn't understand. Of course I did my share of grumbling and wondering what the hold up was. Our other home sales were nothing like this. I spoke in faith then; I can speak with some knowledge now.
While we each cooked our respective parts of our meal last night, we talked about some family situations and the expense of moving. If you haven't relocated recently, moving isn't cheap! Renting a truck, first and last months rent, getting or replacing things we needed, utility deposits, etc. added up to thousands (thats thousands with a "TH" and two $$!). Looking back over the previous months, we didn't have that kind of money available till after we got our federal and state tax money refunded back to us around April. Yikes! I don't know how all that would've worked out before then. But God knew the needs of our family and the finances required to move. He didn't just snap his fingers and pay our expenses. He helped us to wait.
Perhaps you find yourself in a time of waiting right now. It's frustrating for sure isn't it? But there may be important elements that need to come together first so that when it's the right time, everything will fit together properly. Perhaps others have had to wait for me, and now it's my turn to wait for them.
Psalms 27:14 says to, “Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.”
Trust isn't really trust until it's put to the test and I reminded myself that God has never let us down before. His track record is without flaw and his ways are perfect...even if I don't like them at the moment. I did grumble a bit during all this, but I stopped myself and spoke life and faith. Murmuring didn't the get Israelites closer to their promised land now did it? Quite the opposite! I thanked God for his timing even though it didn't make sense then. I understand more clearly now. A friend of mine rightly put it this way: The Lord is never late. Rarely early, but never late. How very true!
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I drove down to visit for Thanksgiving and Christmas. A few couples looked at the house in January but no offers came in. I drove down again for Valentine's Day weekend. By May, we decided to put our house up for lease. After only a few weeks, a nice family signed papers to rent for a year while we found a house to lease ourselves in Gilbert, Arizona. The house had been on the market for almost a whole year with no offers! And nine months is a long time to be away from your sweetheart. It was almost as long and lonely as her 15-month train up and deployment to Iraq two years earlier.
With each passing wintry month I thanked God for his timing knowing that his ways are perfect even when I didn't understand. Of course I did my share of grumbling and wondering what the hold up was. Our other home sales were nothing like this. I spoke in faith then; I can speak with some knowledge now.
While we each cooked our respective parts of our meal last night, we talked about some family situations and the expense of moving. If you haven't relocated recently, moving isn't cheap! Renting a truck, first and last months rent, getting or replacing things we needed, utility deposits, etc. added up to thousands (thats thousands with a "TH" and two $$!). Looking back over the previous months, we didn't have that kind of money available till after we got our federal and state tax money refunded back to us around April. Yikes! I don't know how all that would've worked out before then. But God knew the needs of our family and the finances required to move. He didn't just snap his fingers and pay our expenses. He helped us to wait.
Perhaps you find yourself in a time of waiting right now. It's frustrating for sure isn't it? But there may be important elements that need to come together first so that when it's the right time, everything will fit together properly. Perhaps others have had to wait for me, and now it's my turn to wait for them.
Psalms 27:14 says to, “Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.”
Trust isn't really trust until it's put to the test and I reminded myself that God has never let us down before. His track record is without flaw and his ways are perfect...even if I don't like them at the moment. I did grumble a bit during all this, but I stopped myself and spoke life and faith. Murmuring didn't the get Israelites closer to their promised land now did it? Quite the opposite! I thanked God for his timing even though it didn't make sense then. I understand more clearly now. A friend of mine rightly put it this way: The Lord is never late. Rarely early, but never late. How very true!
Was this helpful? If you liked this, someone else you know might too. Please leave a commnet then pass it along!
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