We had a new house to move into. Past tense. Now we’re scrambling to find a house by this Saturday. We’re moving 10 kids and need time to clean this house so the owner can return to a house that’s in move-in condition. I wanted to have several days after this house was empty to clean it so that the kids would be somewhere else instead of messing everything up as soon as I clean it. It looks like that’s not going to happen. And even more upsetting is that we don’t know where we’ll be moving to, and the houses that looked like they would be perfect for us have already been rented.
It has been tense around here lately. The circumstances that brought us to this point are less than pleasant. Gary is having to stand firm for us in a battle against a property management group that does not have our best interests at heart. They tried to convince us that a house had been professionally cleaned when it still smelled like dog and there was dog hair on the carpet that I could scoop up with my fingers. We were able to finally get out of the contract because they absolutely refused to clean the house adequately, saying that it had already been cleaned, and we absolutely refused to move into a dirty house, but we lost $800 in the deal. And now we’re having a hard time finding a house that is big enough with a rent that we can afford. We are expecting God to give us a great deal on the perfect house for us.
I’ve been emailing and calling people about houses like crazy the last couple of days. And I’ve been praying a lot. Gary has been very focused on what has been happening with that property management group, so I’ve been trying to find a new house for us. I didn’t realize how much it was wearing on me until I started talking to a woman I met at the park tonight. I wasn’t planning to go to the park, but Emma hijacked our walk around the block and insisted that we go to the park instead. I took her there even though it was late, and I knew we wouldn’t be able to stay long. A family came to the park right after we got there. They had a little girl that’s almost 2. The mother and I started talking, and she asked where we live. I told her a little about our situation. As I told her that we didn’t know where we would be moving to and the problems we were having, I almost started to cry. That’s when I realized how much this was bothering me. I stopped talking because I didn’t want to cry. She invited me to their church. It’s not a “churchy” church. They are meeting at the Elks Lodge right now. They’re casual and Spirit-filled. It sounds like the kind of place we need to go right now. I’m planning to go tomorrow to ask them to pray for us and to see if God will speak through someone to encourage us and help us during this difficult time.
I’m always amazed at how God shows us that He’s here with us. I know that He impressed Emma to insist on going to the park tonight and impressed me to give in to her insistence. I don’t usually let her boss me around, but tonight I was supposed to. I know that I was supposed to talk to Crystal. The Elks Lodge is really close to our house, so it will be really easy to go there tomorrow. How nice of God to make it easy to go and get some fellowship and encouragement.
Thank you, Lord, for the kisses of Your presence right when we need them the most.
"Oh that God would give every mother a vision of the glory and splendor of the work that is given to her when a babe is placed in her bosom to be nursed and trained! Could she have but one glimpse in to the future of that life as it reaches on into eternity; could she look into its soul to see its possibilities; could she be made to understand her own personal responsibility for the training of this child, for the development of its life, and for its destiny,--she would see that in all God's world there is no other work so noble and so worthy of her best powers, and she would commit to no other's hands the sacred and holy trust given to her." -JR Miller
