Ever since I was a wee lass of 5 years-old I’ve lived on the west coast. So has my husband Gary. But once we got our son Jeffrey back in college to start his sophomore year in Arizona (Another Miracle For Jeffrey), we were starting to feel like change was coming – but what would it be?
We absolutely loved our home, friends and church in Central Oregon. But we had also dreamed of living somewhere warmer, and always thought that it would be Arizona – especially since Jeffrey now lived there! But God kept closing the doors on that move. Since Gary worked for a company which covered all the United States, he had been watching the inner-office emails for possible job transfers further south. Maybe Florida? He had even tried to get a few jobs with other companies which might move us down there. But nothing ever opened up.
Then one day a couple months after Jeffrey got back to school Gary’s employer put out a call for anyone who might be willing to move to Texas. We started staring at each other – it was certainly a warmer state, but we’d never really thought of moving there. Still, it might be fun!
However the corporate manager who had put out the call to the employees didn’t exactly hold Gary close to her heart. Why? He didn’t play the “corporate game” very well. When something was wrong or went against his beliefs he stood up to them – whoever they may be! So we really thought there was no way that she would even think of agreeing to Gary’s transfer.
Plus Gary’s territory on the west coast was booming. He had worked very hard to build up the business, and God had blessed his efforts. This would mean starting over in a brand new area where he was totally unknown.
But still…
We prayed and the more we prayed the more we felt like, “why not?” So Gary called the corporate manager and said he’d like the opportunity.
So his surprise she seemed somewhat agreeable, but said she’d have to run it by Gary’s regional manager to get his thoughts.
When Gary’s regional manager heard about it he was upset – he didn’t want to lose him. He knew how hard Gary had worked to build up his customer base, and quite frankly he wasn’t real thrilled to even think about having to find someone new to keep those customers happy and continuing to thrive as they had been. Gary and I both felt he might try and nix any prospects Gary might have in getting the position.
Yet surprise of all surprises, Gary got in his inbox a few days later a transfer proposal, stating they would be very excited if Gary accepted the transfer. The proposal even stated that they were contracted with a relocation company who would help us sell our house, move us (wow!), and help us find a place somewhere around Dallas. They even would help us get pre-qualified for a loan!
Further they would pay for up to 2 flights to Dallas for both Gary and I to check out the area, plus hotel stays for up to 6 nights. And, reimburse us for mileage and food during our travels!
The kicker? The Dallas market was so huge and had been struggling so much that they wanted him settled there firmly in place no later than mid-November, and it was now the second week in October – not much time!
There was, however, no doubt in our minds at that point that this was all from the Lord, so our lives got kicked into high gear – really fast.
One of the first things we did was contact our pastor and his wife as they were such sweet friends. They were shocked, yet what could they say? If God was opening the doors, they certainly didn’t want to stand in our way.
A couple days later was Sunday, and attending church that day was really hard. The worship was powerful, and I found myself just crying and crying thinking of how we were going to be leaving this precious church home so soon. And, of course, since it wasn’t a large church, the news was traveling fast, so we were constantly surrounded by so many wonderful dear friends showering love upon us.
Gary and I were now getting ready to leave our third church home since we’d gotten married, and were heading to the gigantic state of Texas where we knew absolutely no one – far, far away from our families and friends.
But how in the world we going to get everything ready to go in just a couple weeks?
The God Of All Comfort 