God speaks things into being
Greetings!
After some crazy transition times in our lives we have finally arrived in Quebec!
Where are we going to live?
As a family we have always sought the Lord about direction and guidance regarding our lives. We have also cultivated an ear to listen beyond those things to hear what the Spirit of God might be saying to us. Sometimes what we hear aligns perfectly with our current situation and other times we hear something that we don’t fully comprehend and we do what Mary did: “But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.” (Luke 2:19)
In 2015 Cy heard one of those words from God: “I will give you a home.” Now in 2015 we were living in Thailand and we already had a home. We were firmly established in that place without any thought of moving. However, because we believed that this word was from God, we treasured it, pondering it in our hearts.
In 2017 God moved us from Thailand to Hawaii. We went from a long-term residence to living in temporary housing. In this time we were pondering the promise of God to give us a home and we thought that God would do it in Hawaii. However, this didn’t happen in any interpretation of the word.
This year God transitioned us to Canada through a drastic series of events (see our last update for those details). As we listened to our Leader, Jesus, during all these changes Rob heard his still, small voice, saying, “I have an inheritance for you there.” We didn’t know what inheritance meant, but we treasured it and pondered it in our hearts.
One day we were reading through Deuteronomy with friends. A specific passage stood out to Rob and he felt like the Holy Spirit was speaking things to him: “And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities that you did not build, and houses full of all good things that you did not fill…” (Deuteronomy 6:10-11) Rob sensed that God was saying that this is what he had for us. Would God really give us a house? How could that even happen?
After we decided that we were moving to Quebec, we sat down as a family and we made a list of things that we desired in a home by faith. Now, we made a rule for our list: “You can’t add anything for yourself. You can only add something for someone else.” So Rob could add something for Cy or Elias or others that could be blessed through our home, but he couldn’t add something that he wanted for himself. We ended up calling this the “Love-Others List”. We had fun dreaming about what a home could be like and who could be blessed through it. The list wasn’t very long, maybe 8-10 things. So Rob asked for a dining room with space to host a large group of people. Cy asked for a ping pong table for Elias. Elias asked for a nice view for Cy. We had fun dreaming of what our home could be like and how it could be a blessing for others. We didn’t have any money for this, but we had a God who seemed to be telling us that He was going to do this for us.
As we were processing this transition to Quebec someone approached us and said, “You know, when you start looking for housing I can help with that.” What does “help” mean? We discovered that it was an offer to help us buy a home in Canada.
With our destination set, a promise of God, a “Love-Others List” of what we’d look for in a house, and “help” to buy a house, we started looking with faith-filled excitement.
“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory” (Ephesians 3:20-21) in and through our lives. We are currently in the process of purchasing a home in Quebec.
As is God’s pattern in our lives, God speaks things into being. He spoke our marriage into being. He spoke our son into being. And now he has spoken our home into being. What a privilege it is to follow a God who loves us and communicates with us!
May this testimony of God’s faithfulness to his promises produce the “Amen!” of praise in your own heart and encourage you to trust in the God who fulfills his word.
Prayer Requests:
- Joy and peace during the transition to Quebec (we’re changing countries, language, currency, community, etc.)
- Healthy integration into the YWAM and church community in Quebec.
- Shipped things would arrive safely and in a timely manner.