Pro 3:6 In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.
Before I start the next installment of our beginnings of starting to farm, I do want to share that these beginning Life Notes are actually a relook/edited chapters from a book I wrote my children years ago. A friend once told me that if I ever wrote a blog that was about little antidotes of my life that I should start off with the chapters from the book I wrote for my children. So, if the ‘blogs’ read more like chapters instead of like a normal blog, you now know why. I do hope you enjoy the little tidbits of our beginnings of moving to Avinger, TX.
My family and I were only a couple of days into the Feast of Tabernacles when we received a call from the realtor’s office. We had not only one offer, but two offers on the house. And to top it off, both were okay with our asking price. The only difference between the two is one would forgo an inspection and the other wanted one. So, needless to say, we went with the one that required less prep.
Everything was going so fast. Our house was only on the market for four days when it sold. We also found out that the new owners really wanted to close on the house a month after we returned from the Feast. We were both excited and a little apprehensive, how in the world were we going to move in three weeks? But we pushed the apprehensions away and went for it. This was miracle number one for us, our house selling so quickly. With many friends’ help, my husband and I packed the house, moved out, and Josh went ahead and finished the remodeling even though the new owners said he didn’t have to.
So, here we were with a three-month-old baby and a two-year-old toddler, ready to start our next adventure. I call this miracle number two. I mean let’s face it, no one likes to move, and not only did we move everything out of a 1400-square-foot house, but we accomplished it in 3 weeks. Thanks to God and friends that helped us. Plus, he also worked it out for us to find an awesome camper that was 40 feet long, so I guess this would be miracle number three. We were able to move out onto Josh’s parent’s land, so we didn’t have to rush to find our own land.
Now, sometimes God lets things work out miraculously so that you cannot take credit. We had the three miracles: house selling quickly, moving out in just three weeks, and a camper to live in temporarily. But in the midst of these miracles, we had trials that tried to steal our joy. I call these things joy stealers. They are life trials that try to overshadow all the God moments that are going on. Those moments of things breaking down, things not working out as planned, or whatever obstacle that falls in your path can become joy stealers. They can stop us from seeing the many joyful things that surround us every day.
During this whirlwind, things then drastically slowed down. I wouldn’t be surprised if God was trying to give me a lesson in patience and faith. The house had an offer very quickly but closed extremely slowly. This is a very normal thing in real estate. Sometimes financing falls through and one must seek other financing companies to purchase the house with, which is exactly what happened to us.
Our first date was November 21st, 2005, but closing dates can always change and ours changed for a whole month and a day to be exact. We closed on December 22nd, 2005. The reason was the purchasers changed finance companies right in the middle, and the new company couldn’t get their right hand to tell the left hand what it was doing.
We, on the other hand, moved into our 40′ camper at my in-law’s place, plus purchased a 40′ container to store all our stuff from our house. At the same time, we still paid on a house that we didn’t live in anymore. Then, as we were waiting on closing, we found out that we were going to need at least 15% of the purchase price of land to put down. The pressures of financial strain starting before even buying land tried to overwhelm us and steal our joy also.
We felt doomed before we even started because we didn’t know how we could afford 15% down plus thousands of dollars for utilities. We believed that finding a property with the utilities was out of our price range. But sometimes when things are at their darkest, that is when you realize the only one to find the light is the Light Himself and our Father that knows all things.
Honestly, we should always look to the Light, but sometimes we get sidetracked, and we need the little life hiccups to show our littleness. I have learned that you don’t know that you are meditating on the wrong things until trials remind you to meditate on Him. It is sad that our carnal minds get distracted so easily and sometimes the Father has to give us life hiccups to get our minds back on track. We can’t do anything without His blessing.
Well, when it seemed our hopes were lost, Josh and I realized that the only way we could pursue our dream was to have complete faith in the Father to allow it to happen. So, we prayed, and miracle number four for me was true peace. True peace is when you have no idea how you are going to get through something, but you are not worried about it or fearful. Your soul is flooded with peace from Him.
Finally, after much patience, we sold our house a month after the closing date. Josh and I had already started looking for land. The prospects were not great. We realized early that we were going to have to live out away from town. We just couldn’t afford land close to town. I remember specifically praying that the Father would bless us with around 20 acres. I don’t know why I wanted that amount, but that was the specific amount that I prayed for.
Jokingly one day I told Josh, “Hey, you watch, God is going to bless us not only with 20 acres but with the mineral rights to the land also.”
He just laughed, and replied, “Right now, I just would like Him to provide us with the ability to get land in the first place.”
Miracle number five, God did provide a way for us to get land. We received an unexpected check. With this blessing plus the funds from selling our house, we now had a decent down payment for land.
We found a place at the beginning of looking that was way out in the country in a little town called Avinger. This place had utilities, a small mobile home, and goat fencing, and it was 23 acres. Plus, the owner said that he would give us the mineral rights that he owned on seven of the acres. The only dilemma, it was 40 miles from Josh’s job. We kept the possibility of the property in our minds, but we continued to look.
We looked at properties for three months. Every week we went out checking one property after another. All the while, we kept going back to the one in Avinger. Every property we looked at in the same price range would need an additional $20,000 just to move onto the property. Not one had utilities or a cut road onto the property. During this time, though, the property in Avinger was pulled off the market. A year had already passed since it was placed on the market, so the listing expired.
This is miracle number six, we asked our realtor to contact the other realtor to find out if the man was still interested in selling. The realtor found out that not only did he still want to sell, but we were told that he had lowered the price by $10,000. So we made an offer slightly below the price we were told that the man wanted to sell it at, but come to find out, he hadn’t lowered the price. Yet he decided to sell it, not at the price we offered, but for $10,000 below his first price. We were ecstatic! We had the exact amount needed to put the required 15% down on the property and pay the closing costs. Can we say the Father’s hand was involved the whole time?
As you can see, many miracles happened for us. We were stepping out of our “comfort zone” venturing beyond our little box we had lived in, and the Father allowed us to make it. We had the hiccups to overcome, but they helped us to remember to trust in the Father to let everything happen. Now, I only listed six known miracles in finding the property, but I am sure there are many more that went unnoticed. Always remember, sometimes we may not see what the Father is doing for us, but if you are still alive and breathing, trust me He has been working a lot in your everyday life.
Pay attention to small lights
I listed quite a few miracles, and to be honest, not all of them came to mind until I started writing this. As I was going along remembering the events, I realized all the small lights that twinkled on our path. I am amazed at how many I know for a fact where the Father’s hand was working for us, but I am also saddened that I didn’t notice them during the time and for all the others that I don’t even still realize.
He is always there and always working with us. Each day is a miracle from the Father. Life sometimes ends abruptly. So each morning when the light wakes you, just say a little thank you to our Creator for letting you have another day to see all His small lights in your life. Psalm 112: 4 states that “Light dawns in the darkness for the upright, gracious, merciful, and righteous.”