Hello!

Long time, no see!!

Happy to be back here, you all have been laying heavy on my heart to reach out and say hi! Hope you are all doing well, and know that I have been praying for you.

I have been doing well. Previously, I believe I was talking a bit about rest, spending time alone with God, and just seeing where I was at in my life.

I kept getting this urge to rest. And, if any of my previous stories have shown, I have learned to listen to the Holy Spirit – especially when he’s telling me to do something. Lately, it was that I needed to rest. I was supposed to be taking every opportunity to rest. I wasn’t sure why, but I was heeding that word, and resting every chance I got. I had already accepted this concept of rest, when suddenly, my Bible App suggested that I should start a Bible Study on Rest. Sometimes, God’s cues are so subtle 😉 So, I did. Started to rest – started the bible study on rest, resting every chance I get. Also, was urged to wake up early, and take time to rest in God’s presence. Started doing that as well. Here we are, resting, resting, resting.

Then, suddenly, my life exploded. I was pulled in every direction. Kid had stuff going on, work exploded with daily activities and seriously demanding, time-consuming tasks, social life – people are getting back to pre-COVID things, the garden that we’ve been planning all winter was finally ready to be planted, and then…. the opportunity to buy a house. WHOA! If you’re bored with your life, and you want some crazy, intense emotions and demanding deadlines, and overwhelming tasks to perform – then, try to buy a house. And, as I previously stated, I wasn’t doing anything with my life anyway, so – sure – let’s try to buy a house.

Suddenly, I’m like, Thanks God. Thank you for encouraging my rest. Thank you for encouraging me to understand self-care. For helping cultivate and grow this time with me, to understand, it’s not all me. I’m not the one who can accomplish all these things, but God can. Somehow, God guided me through this intense schedule shift. From the lackadaisical days of winter, with low-key needs, to Full Swing, banging on all cylinders, INTENSE scheduling. Trying to figure out how to manage all of this sometime between the hours of 7a-9p, seemingly 7 days a week, it felt.

Somedays, I was absolutely go, go, go, from 7am – 9p, 9:30p, 10p…. just to get up and do it all over again the next day. With seemingly no end in sight. But, suddenly here we are again, back into a slow downshift. And, during this whole time, I have woken up and spent those minutes with God, that between 5:45am and 7am was God and my time. To read my daily devotional, to pray, and to purposefully rest in the stillness & quietness of God. Because He knew, I was going to need it.

I will say that our opportunity to purchase a house came quite by surprise. We had put a bug in the ear of our landlord over a year ago, stating that this would be our last rental until we decided to buy a house. Then, just a few months ago, at 6:30 on a Sunday evening, she gave us a call to let us know that she was interested in selling one of her rentals. Now, this lady has houses that we love. They are historical homes that she takes emaculate care of. So, we tell her, yeah – if the price is right, we’re interested.

Next day, she calls and gives us her number. Which is just a little off, of the crazy, imaginary number I made up a few years ago when we first decided to go after this American dream. Ok… well, I guess we’ll see if I’m in a position to buy a house (we still weren’t planning on even starting this process for at least 1 more year.) So, I get quotes and reach out to financial institutions, “Yep, we’d love to give you a loan.” OK… well, what’s next. We opt out of a realtor, and I start figuring out how this whole thing works on my own. We start taking steps to make this all happen. (Please remember, I’m still doing all my other crazy life stuff that has suddenly decided to happen during this time period as well.)

Then, as Gideon, I’m asking God for a sign. Is this what we’re supposed to be doing? THE NEXT DAY – my bank asks me to send them something – that is at home – after I’ve already returned to work for the afternoon (and because work is InSaNe, I cannot leave to perform this task.) So, I text my husband, and ask him to find & scan in this critical paperwork (because it’s Friday too, so we would like to finish before the weekend.) My husband finds and scans in the paperwork (my husband has not used a scanner in 7+ years, we figured out) and on our brand new scanner (that I have not even finished setting up yet, because I haven’t had time….) In the same breath that he e-mails me the first request, the bank e-mails again, and says, “Can you please have your husband, print, sign, & scan this paperwork too”

SURE, WHY NOT?

So, I ask my husband again – can you please also perform this task? ASAP?!

He miracles that business as well. I send everything off to the bank.

When I get home that day, my husbands proceeds to inform me – how MONUMENTAL my requests were, as the software is not even properly set up, and he’s not even sure he did it right, or how you’re supposed to. I start trying to scan items, exactly how he shows me he did, and we never got it to work again. EVER. To this day, I cannot scan anything to that computer. I even spent an entire Sunday trying to finish installing the software, it never worked. The initial evening of this miracle, I spent 2 hours trying to scan again, and the whole time, I’m totally focused, and locked in on my task, trying to figure out how he did it. And, he finally says, as he’s walking out the door for a smoke, “It’s a miracle, I believe in Jesus.” and shuts the door. I stopped. Put my hands up. Backed away from the computer desk. There it was. Gideon has the wet wool on the dry ground. Got it, God.

So – I feel like that was my sign that this is the direction we’re supposed to be going in. But here we are, 2 days before my original closing date, and my closing date has been cancelled. And we’re in some kind of weird limbo. The type of loan I’m approved for says, “No peeling or flaking exterior paint.” We had no idea. I’m sure a realtor probably would’ve known, but we didn’t. So – 9 days before closing, when the house FINALLY got appraised, the Appraiser gives us the news. It will have to get a new paint job before we can close. Which, initially, to my husband and I was just a deal-breaker. The landlord is never going to go for that. Pouring more money into that house, that she has been losing money on for over a year (which is a whole other story – nothing bad.) But, she’s over here, looking into her options, trying to figure out what she wants to do…

So – I guess to be continued. But, I really did just want to reach out, touch base, let you know, I’m still over here, walking the walk, talking the talk, best I can. Missing all of you. Trying to get back to all of this. But knowing that God’s got you, and me, and her, and him, and all of us. That I’m so grateful for this weird season I’m in. That I’m so happy that God and I spent all this time learning how to rest, as I don’t know how I would’ve made it through this season without him. And, that I’m so grateful that I’ve grown so much in my faith, to know that if this is what I’m supposed to be doing, God will make a way. That I’m at peace with whatever comes next. And, I don’t know that I would’ve had that peace without Him.

Let’s Pray

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank You! Thank you for rest. Thank you for knowing what we need before we do. Thank you for your ever-present blessings. For watching over us, and guiding us. For the opportunities and blessings that you provide. Thank you for lighting our path and showing us the way to go. I thank you Father, for everything you do. I thank you for your Holy Spirit that nudges us and leads us. That lays things on our heart. Thank you Father for your incredible love. That you are the perfect parent that knows what’s best for us. I just appreciate You so much. Thank you for watching over each and every reader. That you bless them, and guide them, that you make yourself known to them. That they feel your presence and your love wash over them. That you guide them every step of the way. That you are the good, good Father, who provides all our needs. That you are always there, in the chaos, and in the silence. Thank you Father for everything. IN JESUS’ NAME!! AMEN!!