And now we wait (and pack!)

Wow!  So much has happened in the beginning of 2013 here.  God continues to amaze us with His provision and timing... even when my faith is small, He shows up big.  Guess He really meant that mustard seed thing. ;-)

We are now just one week from our closing date on our new home.  I am still completely stunned at how God has moved and answered prayer.  Over and over and over again.
The most recent example of this was during the end of last week and then the beginning of this week.  We'd had a roof/leak issue in the home inspection here -  that had been addressed a few weeks ago and yet our buyers were not satisfied.  They requested that we have a siding person come and further evaluate the situation to address this issue.  So... I did what any normal human being would do... I panicked and THEN I prayed.  Stupid ...I know. (head hanging in shame)
After praying, I called the installer who had done the siding work for us.  He was in FL.  But was returning to NH on Sunday and would be in touch with us on Monday to see what he could do.  On Monday morning he called me and came out to take a look.  Well... sort of.  He came out and stood on the deck looking at the siding and said "It's fine."  Not exactly what we had in mind.
I again had a knot in my stomach and Steve reminded me that we know God is in control and then he told me to call a friend of ours.  This friend is a contractor who we know has done some really great work including siding, etc.  So I called him and explained what we needed.  In God's perfect timing - he was available to come after lunch on Monday.  He and his son came out, climbed up and checked things out.  He is a smart guy and after some time on the roof checking things out discovered something that he felt should be addressed and took care of it for us.
There again was God's timing and provision.  Our friend sent me a write up of what he'd done for work and we sent it off to our buyers.

And of course we have this one last snow-storm here in Merrimack.  And now we are packing and waiting.  The stacks of boxes and furniture continue to grow as we move everything from the various parts of the house into the living-room & dining room to facilitate loading the truck next week.  Tomorrow we have a plan to rent a trailer and move all the outdoor stuff (picnic table, deck swing, motorcycle) out to our dear friends' house in Temple to store for the week.  Thankfully God is again providing and the forecast is for sun and warm-ish temperatures.

I was reminded this week - from our contractor friend - that God is good all the time even when we may not understand why things are happening in a certain way.
It is SO easy to offer praise and thanksgiving when things are going well.  The truer test is when things go south... would I still praise God if the roofing issues were BAD?  Would I still praise Him if the deal on the house fell apart?
So desperately I want to say that I would and I pray that it is true.  God knows my heart - He alone knows the depths of my desire to be useful for His kingdom and to always only bring Him glory.  He also knows how often I fall so far short and fail.  I doubt, I complain, I whine and wallow.  Yet when I repent... He is faithful to forgive and set me again on the right path.  That narrow way that leads to His righteousness.  I am so grateful for this truth!  This I will state boldly- that God is faithful and true and willing that we should ALL come to Him and repent and be saved.  Not because we deserve it - just because He loves us. 

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
~1 John 1:9

Blessings on the journey~

When God Sends Email

Friends and I have often joked that we wish that God would send email sometimes.  I've discovered that He does... but it doesn't come from an @heaven.com address. 

It comes from a lot of various addresses and from various persons at just as many various times.  That is a lot of variety - but anyone who knows God knows that He is the Creator of variety!
I received one of these loving emails last night.  It was disguised as a message from a realtor with an attachment about electrical work having been completed at our new home.
How did I know it was an email from God?  Because it was just what I needed at the exact time I needed it.  Plain and simple.
We've hit a lull in our frenzied dash to moving to our new home.  We are now between 2-3 weeks away from our closing date/move day.  Our regular realtor is away on a vacation for 9 days.  We are just packing, stacking and waiting for the next thing.  We have received the mortgage commitment letter from our buyers and our letter from our lender is due on Friday.  Lots of just waiting now for loose ends and final dates and numbers.  I am not one of those people who loves waiting... for anything!
I like to see movement, progress, boxes being checked and list items being crossed off.  Waiting is awful for me.
Thankfully God knows this about me and loves me anyway... enough to send an email so I have the sense of things moving forward and boxes being checked.  Isn't He just awesome?  Not that He has to do this...  He just does it because He loves me.
And I am continually going to praise Him - even if He stops sending email.  Because He won't ever stop loving me.
"I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness." ~Jeremiah 31:3b

Better

Today was the first Sunday since Mother's Day (5/8) that I've gotten to be in worship service.  I didn't realize how badly I'd missed it ... until I started singing.. and my heart wanted to burst with joy at be able to sing praises to my Lord with my church family.

This song really sums it up.