So, anyway....He has me walking in the mornings. Like, early in the
morning. I haven't gotten up this early (on purpose) in years. Its
been a true discipline and battle of the will. I've made it four straight
days now. I pace our driveway. One round trip is 1/5 of a mile. As I pace, I
pray. We cover everything, and I'm actually giving Him the chance to talk
back. :) Bill and I have been praying over this property we rent. God seems
to be whispering to get comfortable here. Its not for sale, though. Never met the owner. He lives in California. Heard he had no interest in selling. Its been in his family for years. We've been here almost a year, and our lease is about up. We've
been praying about what to do. God told me this week, "Knock! and the door
will be opened unto you!" "How, God? How do we knock?" was my cry this
morning. "We don't know where to begin. The property management co. isn't going
to let us talk to him. The family is somewhat non-communicative. How do we
knock?" "God, could we meet the owner? Could you arrange that?...or show
us some other way to knock?"No better birthday present than a prayer God directly answers in the day you ask!
Guess who showed up at our back door this afternoon as we were heading out the door for the beach? You guessed it! The elusive, Californian mystery owner! As nice as can be, he introduced himself and told us he was in town to visit his brother and wanted us to know that we would be hooking up to city water soon. We chatted a little while....and I asked God for courage, then knocked. "Would you ever be
interested in selling the place?" "No, not interested. Its my ace in the hole for retirement." He explained he'd never lived here, just bought it off his parents when they retired. I told him if life changed and he changed his mind, his tenants would be interested. His eyes and ears perked up when I told him I was a fifth generation Idahoan and would love to help preserve a little of our Idaho. I've just been gitty all day! I'm not discouraged he said no. I knocked. That's what God said to do - and I know it wasn't a coincidence he showed up at my door today.?
So that was last year. Today, we met with the owner and his wife. They looked at all the work we had done in the house and were very complimentary. *This* year, they said that they were retiring this year and had no intention of ever living here. They were excited we were renewing the lease. I don't really know what all that means. Last year, they seemed convinced this was their spot for retirement. This year, they say they never plan to live here or develop the land. Hmm...what does God have in store?
Oh, my faith is week! I've been waking up in the morning with panic feelings and a tight chest worrying over how things are going to come together. How do we pay rent? How do we get to Arkansas? How do we pay for the golf lessons Bill needs to be competition ready? How do we pay the fees to market my book if MOPS doesn't bite? When will I hear from MOPS?
This morning, I literally had to start my day by asking God for strength to get up and start the day with purpose. I had to ask Him to help me be obedient to the command to "not let my heart be troubled."
We had good surprises today. The tile came in for Bill to help some friends finish a job. Our insurance company surprised us with a dividend check. The homeowner reimbursed us for supplies we purchased to work on the house. A couple of birthday checks came. I worked on planning our trip....
...which will be an adventure. We've spent one night in our tent before. We are getting ready to spend most of our trip in it. We're planning on tent camping, packing food, and eating out once a day to keep expenses at bare minimum. We are going to see Mt. Rushmore, some Laura Ingall's homesites (since we just finished reading the series), and of course see lots of family!
Today, I'm at peace - which I'm convinced has much more to do with "not letting my heart be troubled" than the fact that everything will be hunky dory.
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