Continuing on with our big move from Oregon to Texas 5 years ago, it was now time to start looking for a permanent place to live. I’d completed rescuing my cat (Back To Oregon – Quickly!), and had supervised the movers crating up all our furniture.
One thing Gary and I were a little worried about was that our house in Oregon had not yet sold (not even any serious lookers), so we were faced with the knowledge that we’d probably have to fork out two mortgage payments for awhile. Not good…
We just needed to keep trusting God.
The realtor we had contracted with in Texas was wonderful, but I’m surprised he didn’t unceremoniously dump us after the first week.
“So, what area are you interested in to start looking for your home?”
“Uh, no idea… Can you just maybe show us homes in different areas around DFW?”
He did a very good job at not letting us see his eyeballs pop right out of his head.
You see, Gary and I were still reeling from just how gigantic this whole area was compared to where we had lived in the past (What A Mad-House!). We had absolutely no clue about which direction to go.
I don’t even remember where he began to show us homes, and many times I would just start thinking: “Where are we?”
However one thing we quickly learned: For an area so humongous, all the homes we looked at were on little postage stamp-sized lots. The homes themselves were beautiful with lots of windows, but who wanted lots of windows when the only thing you were looking at were the neighbors inside their house?
Yep, an attitude-check was in order. Our realtor informed us that in our price range you needed to go way out of the city in order to get property. There were just too many people living around DFW.
Bummer. I was already missing our home with the big windows overlooking the mountains in Oregon.
Yet I kept reminding myself that God opened the doors to bring us down here, so He would show us where He wanted us to live.
Day after day that first week we looked at homes in different areas – as Gary’s work schedule provided, of course. And the more we looked, the more confused we became!
Then came Thanksgiving, and we figured we better let our realtor spend time with his family. As for Gary and I? We went to the grocery store and bought lasagna and French bread for our dinner. We had to remind ourselves as we sat in our gloomy dark one-bedroom apartment that being thankful was what the day was all about. God had been keeping us safe in our travels, and we knew He was guiding and directing us each day – even when we didn’t feel like it!
The next morning I got up to do my devotions, and came to Galatians 2:20 (NLT):
My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me.
The devotional book I was reading at that time explained the verse by saying since I’ve been “crucified with Christ” I needed to remember that my life is His and the path I’m on has been ordained by Him.
As I contemplated on that I saw that right now I was basically in a waiting/resting/learning pattern. I had lots of free time to be still and focus on God since I didn’t know anyone, and we did not yet have a new church home. I needed to keep trusting that He loved me and desired the best for us.
Oh yeah, that was really good, and just what I needed. The focus needed to be on Him.
But the devotional continued by saying that to be crucified with Christ also meant I had to let Him have access to everything inside of me. I needed to realize His power and be willing to have Jesus take total control of what was going on.
Oh how the words of our God gave me peace that day as we waited again for our realtor to come by with yet another list of homes to look at…
The God Of All Comfort 