Hi friends,
For those of you who don't know, hubby and I have been experiencing an unsettling situation over the past few months. You see, we live on one of 2 of my parents' farms. My oldest sister and brother also live on this farm. That is, my sister used to live on this farm. She and her husband sold their house to move closer to their children and grandchildren. Their house is just over the hill from our...in our back yard..sort of.
So when their house finally sold in May, the fervent prayers began to ascend; we began praying for our new neighbors, mostly that they would be child-friendly (since our children would definitely be coming into contact with them since they are outside-loving children), and that they would be home school friendly (to squelch my fears of being turned in to social services every few days).
The prayers kept going up..and so did my blood pressure...as I allowed my fears to displace my faith. Others were praying, too, and that should have given me comfort. But I chose fear over faith.
My hubby was praying as I was, but he seemed to have complete peace about everything. I was fretting..he was resting. It unnerved me sometimes.
The new neighbors arrived yesterday. Hubby decided that we should introduce ourselves. We walked up the driveway and rang the doorbell.
Mrs. New Neighbor greeted us at the door with her 2 dogs and huge smile. She invited us in and introduced us to Mr. New Neighbor. He was the same: all smiles and cordiality.
During the course of the conversation, they told us that she is a retired school teacher. Uh-oh. I didn't think there was a chance of a retired ps teacher being pro home school, so I didn't mention it. The very next minute, she looked at me and asked, "You home school, don't you?" Yikes! Busted!
I told her yes, and she exclaimed, "I am a retired teacher, but I am very pro-home school. In fact, I have relatives that home school their children, and I think it's wonderful!" Home school friendly. Check.
The next minute, she was asking about all of our children (and grandchildren)...their ages, names, etc. (The children were outside playing and didn't go in with us.) After filling her in about everyone, she said, "Well, I just can't wait to meet all of them!!" Child friendly. Check.
Relieved doesn't even come close to describing how I felt to hear those words! And shocked. Why was I shocked that He answered our prayers when we had been praying about this for months? If the God of the Universe can save my soul from the pit of Hell, isn't He more than able to work out this situation for good in our lives? Where was my faith?
I was immediately convicted when I remembered that I had wasted all that energy worrying - and not trusting the Lord for the very thing I was praying about.
So many times I have quoted Ephesians 3:20 "...He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think.." to friends and family when they are concerned or worried about something. How many times had I quoted the verse to them, and yet, with my situation, I had somehow missed it?? Ouch.
We are really looking forward to spending time with our new neighbors. And from now, I'm going to trust more, fret less. May He help me to do just that.
"Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the Lord. " ~ Psalm 4:5
Praying for a faith-filled week for you, my friends. :)
sharing this week with Deep Roots at Home
