When things get tough and you start to wonder how it’s going to work out or whether the Lord is really going to get you through this one, it’s a good idea to look back on how He was faithful in the past. This is one of my wife an my favorite “standing stone” stories from our life together.
Listen to what God has been doing! When we heard God’s call to move to Cru headquarters in Florida, we began to pray that God would use our NJ house to bless whomever bought it and that it could continue to be used for ministry. In spite of its great condition, however, it sat on the market for months with only 2 couples even coming to look at it. One put in an offer, but it was contingent on the sale of their own house.
Frustrated and confused, we took a trip to the house (Karen’s mother has been graciously hosting us this summer) in order to pack it up. At dinner, Karen’s heart was gripped by the Holy Spirit when she saw another family across the restaurant. She felt like God wanted us to do something for them. She tried to get me to buy them dinner and we ended up offering them some of our kids’ outgrown toys.
It turns out the man, Justin, is the pastor of a local church plant who has heard of Cru and loves the idea of connecting with me in my new role as the Church Partner Specialist. We hit it off and exchanged contact info. A few days later, as I was putting his business card into the computer, I saw that they were the ones who put the offer on our house! They’ve wanted this house for years, but weren’t in a position to buy it when we did. We became friends and have continued to pray fo
r one another, and they were able to rent their house to a friend. God asked us to take a major step of faith by selling the house at a significant loss, but He has shown again and again that it isn’t our money or our house to begin with—everything is HIS. The house we moved into in Orlando only became available the exact day we said “yes” to their offer! Our new home is exactly what we need, and we’re excited to see what God will do with our new home 🙂
Grant Ministry 