The thing is, we have been looking for a bigger place. For over six years, we have been blessed living where we do, but the due date is coming closer for Jodie's birth and we really needed God to come through with some sort of miracle for a better place that is not more expensive than what we're staying in now. I mean, we were quite willing to cram the family into the small space we're renting currently, until a friend blessed me with a whole stack of beautiful pink baby clothes and I realised that there was not even one single cupboard that I could spare for Jodie's things! Even if we had the camping cot at the foot of our bed for the next year - where would I put her things? We have had beautiful pink baby clothes on a side table in our lounge for the past three months, for lack of space to put it!
We needed a miracle. I had told my friends laughingly that I trust God for something big... "I don't know what, I don't know how, but whatever He does for us in the housing department is going to take a miracle!". Our current rent is at the very stretchy end of our budget, but it is less than everyone else's in the complex because we'd been living there for so long, and we had an agreement right at the start that Natie would create a garden in exchange for a lesser rent. Which meant that even if we moved to the exact same place next door, our rent would go up. There is nothing in Paarl even at the size that we have now (never mind bigger or better), for the same price that we're paying now. We were so completely powerless in this situation - there was nothing to do but trust God. I didn't even have the energy to try and come up with ideas to inspire Him (don't deny it, you do it too!)... just knew that whether we find something bigger for the same price (or less), or He miraculously adds to our income, He would have to sort something out. After all, didn't He say that we can expect big things in our lives with this unexpected pregnancy?
So a few weeks ago, Natie says we should go and have a look at the office he uses in Franschhoek. The estate is considering giving the farming contract to us (the business) and throw in the 'house' to sweeten the deal, plus some money to change it into a proper house. We took the drive out in the rain late one Friday afternoon and I was blown away. This was NOT the farm office I had imagined. This was a beautiful house on a huge estate. It had breathtaking views and no neighbours near! It was magnificent! Wow, it did not even look like an office. I have no idea how they can say it was built for office purposes! Actually, looking at the kitchen and the bathroom, I can very much see how it was built for office purposes, but the rest of the place was perfect!! I was very excited, the kids were very excited, Natie was very excited. He would love to get his hands dirty on the farming side of things, never mind getting the house!
We drove the twenty-odd kilometres back to Paarl, building castles in the air about how we could change the inside to fit our family. We made plans, we talked, we dreamed, it was great. But as the weekend wore on, I started to get an uneasy feeling. I would have to drive to Paarl twice a day. It would kill my freelance business - when would I find time to do freelance? And we would uproot our family to go and live in a completely different town, this wasn't the outskirts of Paarl - it's Franschhoek. In fact, it's the far end of Franschhoek! Our lives are in Paarl. Our church, our friends, the kids' schools, Natie's cycling buddies. Sigh. The doubts crept up and by the Monday morning I was convinced that this was wrong for us. God had something supernatural in store. Natie and I briefly spoke the Monday morning before rushing off to drop the kids off at school. Actually, I spoke and Natie listened. I told him that I didn't think this was the right thing for us. It was a distraction. God had something better in mind. He didn't say anything. I took that as agreement. Yes, I know. I'm like that. Silly me.
A few days later, Natie was still talking about this house as an option, so we sat down and I asked him how he felt about it. He said that he kept thinking about the story of the guy sitting on the roof of his house in the middle of a great flood, asking God to save him. A boat comes along and he is invited to jump on, but he stays put, saying he's waiting for God to save him. Natie said that he didn't want to miss any opportunities that God sends our way just because we're waiting for something supernatural to happen. It made sense. I was confused. This could be God. But would God send something that blesses us and at the same time pulls us out of our comfort zone?
Would He? Ha. Do I even know God???
Anyway, I was in this state of confusion for a week or two. Not knowing whether to be excited or scared. Some days I was quite anxious, others had me excited all over again. What to do? Where I normally blabber away all my life's details to anyone who will listen, I only told my sister and my best friend of this option. It was too undecided. I wanted to know before I would tell everyone. In the mean time, Natie was negotiating and getting quotes (the budget to change the house was going to be a challenge in itself) and figuring out the details. If this was going to happen, Natie was going to have to manage the building and renovating part very tightly. There was not going to be the luxury of having it all done for us. There was simply not the budget for it.
One Saturday morning very early, a friend sent me a text message, saying that she had a dream about us, and that we were busy building a house. Wow. It got me thinking. That afternoon I was at a stork party, and a friend from our connect group asked whether we got a house yet (we had just joined the connect group a few weeks earlier, and that was one thing we specifically prayed for the first time we went). I hesitantly said yes. I wasn't sure, but I didn't want to discount the possibility. She was happy to hear that, obviously, and asked a little bit more about it... and as I started spilling out details, it was as if God was saying "You ninny, can't you see how supernatural this thing is? This is straight from My hand - I am blessing you!". I went home afterwards and said to Natie how amazing it is that God can be doing something awesome right in front of you, but you're too blind to see it! I was convinced. This is from God. Thank you God! Sorry Israelites - I understand now why it took you so long in the desert. Brings new meaning to the term "blindingly obvious".
The next morning in church, Mark started his sermon with a story from Hurricane Katrina. He said that he had watched an interview on TV with some people who never evacuated their houses when the emergency situation was declared. They were Southern Baptists, waiting on a signal from God, believing that God would do some miracle and they would be saved from their natural disaster, many of them not surviving the hurricane. One man had said that the signal for him, was when the weather man had said that it was time to evacuate their houses. My mouth was gaping. I couldn't believe it! It was Natie's flood-story! It was exactly like Natie's flood story. I blushed in church. Ha-ha. I was the idiot on the roof for too long. Sorry God. Giggle.
The next day, a domestic worker in our complex came up to me and asked if I didn't need anyone to help me in my house. My goodness, if only she knew! I did need someone desperately, my house is always a mess. One of my biggest longings is for full time help! But instead of the standard answer "no thanks, we do not have the budget right now", I said that it wouldn't help to get someone now, because we'll be moving to Franschhoek in a few months' time. To which she responded that she actually lives IN Franschhoek! I was blown away! Again. We talked a little, and it came out that she not only knows the estate that we'll be living in, but she also knows the house that we'll be living in, as well as the people Natie will be working with! She is happily working for the people here in Boschenmeer, but she is looking for work for her daughter. How's that for God being in the details! And the best is, seeing as we'll be staying at the new place rent free, rent is paid up front, and a salary is paid afterwards, we can get her to start working for us the last month at the old place already, which is a huge burden off of my shoulders for the last month of my pregnancy!
Isn't God good? Isn't He faithful?
"If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny who he is." ~ 2 Tim 2:13
The other day, Natie's (architect) cycling buddy phones him to say that they are busy renovating a kitchen and they are pulling out a whole bunch of Oregon Pine kitchen cupboards if we are interested in them. He's just not sure how much of it we can use, because it comes from one long straight wall. Our mouths were gaping (again)... The plan for our new kitchen is to have it along one long wall in the open plan kitchen / lounge area and incorporate our own furniture as part of the design (our own furniture being an Oregon Pine dining room table, cupboard and butcher's block!).
God is good. He does big things, planned to the last meticulous detail. He does not do anything sloppy. My goodness, I'm glad I'm His child!!
Logistically, there's still a lot that has to happen. Walls have to be broken out, new walls have to be built, a new bathroom, changing of the existing bathroom, a whole new kitchen and scullery area, cupboards and carpets in every bedroom... a lot needs to be done inside a limited budget. It all needs to happen rather quickly as well. There's still all of that to trust God for. But He is awesome. And even if things don't work out in exactly the manner or timeline that we have in our heads, that's OK too. He knows best. I've learned that. So the plan is to start building as soon as the paperwork at the municipality has been sorted, leaving some time to fit carpets and cupboards after the place has been painted out, and we'll hopefully be able to move much of our stuff in August while they are still busy, being officially moved in by the first of September when Jodie is around two weeks old.
I am excited. God is unspeakably awesome, who's with me?
View of the house; View from the stoep.
View towards Paarl; The stoep.
No comments:
Post a Comment