“I love the Lord for he has heard my voice and my supplications. Because He has inclined His ear to me, therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live.” Psalm 116:1-2
My father was a man committed to, as he often said, feeding yourself on God’s Word every day before you feed your physical body. Also, prayer was an important part of his daily quiet time with the Lord. His favorite book on this topic was the 622-page book by E. M. Bounds called EM Bounds on Prayer. I have it now and it’s completely marked up and dated by him…love it!!
When we recently moved back to Virginia after selling our beautiful house here years ago to move to Missouri to be near my dad (now alone after mom left us for Heaven), I began what I have done most of my life…an ongoing conversation with the Lord about this situation.
My prayers sounded like this: Lord, I really really love this rental house and want to buy it. The Lord’s answer was always, “I know.” Honestly that was the end of it most times so the answer became, please wait. I spent days telling the Lord, I love the skylights, the big windows, the deck, the view of the forest, the bridge upstairs from the guest room to the office, and the trail out my back door. You see what we have here, don’t You? Lord, can’t You change the owner’s mind so he agrees to sell this amazing house to us?
Meanwhile, we searched and bid on and lost three other houses. I kept this before the Lord. Just three weeks ago, my husband called and said he saw a house for sale in our beautiful old neighborhood and did I want to see it? Yes, I was all in. There was an open house that very night so we went. As we entered the house, an amazing thing happened! We looked around and we were standing in a house identical to our rental. Literally the same house but in reverse. I was in disbelief, saying to the Lord of course, “Really, the same house in my old ‘hood?’” There were other people walking through the house, too. All I could think, silly me, was there would be so many offers and we would be outbid again. Lord, why would You bring me here not to give us this perfect house?
That night as I went to sleep, I literally prayed again and said, “Lord, please, I know it’s impossible, but don’t let anyone else make an offer on this house and I will know it’s from YOU ALONE!
Early the next morning, Joan, our realtor called and said, “So, do you want to hear all the counteroffers, we received?” We had submitted our offer the night before. I said, “Yes, go ahead.” Joan in amazement said, “I cannot believe this because it doesn’t happen in this market but YOU are the only offer on this house, so if you want it, it’s yours!”
Then I realized the greatest gift of all; just down the street to the end was the lake and our very own bench we placed in memory of our dear daughter, Lacey, and our son, Matt. GOD is so good and never ceases to amaze me.