Wow...time flies, huh?  My husband just got a new job (in the Promised Land analogy, this might be akin to victory in the many battles toward Jerusalem!), but the training is INTENSE, and time for me to write is limited and usually occupied with writing and editing articles for our local homeschool group newsletter.  With Matthew working long and late hours, I find that I'm more focused in the evenings on preparing for the next day.  The house is clean, dishwasher's empty, and I can't put together a full load of laundry until the kids get dressed and hand over last night's jammies.  Our homeschool agenda is already listed on the dry-erase board, and all the lessons are prepped and ready to go, so I have a few short minutes to continue my story.

Okay, so our first practical step (after learning that we'd have to move) was to explore our own area.  We were just minutes outside of Manhattan, and it didn't take long to realize that we were not going to find anything affordable within a 2-hour radius.  The cheapest rental we could find (a three bedroom, one bathroom apartment in a bad neighborhood) was $1600 a month, not including utilities.  Uh...NO!

Good friends of ours had offered Matthew a business partnership.  They lived about an hour north in a beautiful part of the Hudson Valley, New York.  The husband owns a general contracting company and offered Matt the opportunity to buy into his company.  Matt’s equipment and expertise would allow the company to add seamless gutters to the mix, and when there was no exterior work, they would partner on interior jobs to increase their volume.  The wife of this family is one of my closest friends, and it would certainly be fun to be closer to them.

We prayed over the offer, and although we knew we wouldn’t be able to find a rental through a realtor or the newspaper, we trusted that if it was God’s will, he would open a door for us.  A number of kind and generous people in our homeschool group offered us temporary housing solutions, but nothing permanent presented itself, and so we knew that this was not the plan God had for us.

Another couple that we’ve known since before we were married encouraged us to consider Sarasota.  Again, we just lifted it up to God and waited to see what He would do.  Not too long into this process, our Sarasota friend was taking a brisk walk around her neighborhood and saw a rental sign.  She called me with the number, and I contacted the owner and discussed our situation. 

I was open and honest, explaining that we weren’t even sure if we were going to end up in Florida at all.   I explained that we had five children and a host of pets and hadn’t secured a job in Sarasota yet.  Clearly, we were not the best rental candidates!  But he sent me an application anyway, and I filled it out.  Before mailing it back, I felt lead to include a photo introduction of our family.  Using a basic layout program, I printed a family picture, along with a picture of Matthew and I together and one of each child, captioned with their names and ages.  Shortly after receiving our little packet, the landlords called and said they felt a strange connection to our family and were willing to hold the house for us.

With housing out of the way, we figured we’d need a job ready for Matt if we were going to live in Sarasota.  Matthew has some experience in all areas of contracting, and although his expertise is really in aluminum (gutters, fascia, soffit), he felt lead to look up roofing companies.  The very first one caught his attention, and he called them.  In deed they were hiring, so Matthew sent a resume.  Before the end of the day, they called him, and again, he was open with them and explained that we weren’t entirely sure we’d be moving to Sarasota (although it was looking more likely everyday).  They said that something about him seemed right for their company, which was strange because they were a roofing company, and his resume didn’t include much roofing experience.  They told him to keep in touch with them, and let them know what our plans were.

As easy as it was to find housing and work, that’s how easy it was to find a church and plug into a great homeschool group…all from New Jersey.  The youth pastor at the church I spoke to said that although they didn’t have a special needs program in place to help our son, they’d be open to starting one, and after chatting for a while, it came up that Matthew plays guitar.  The youth pastor said one of their best guitar players had just moved, and they needed someone to fill the spot.

Sarasota seemed to be welcoming us with open arms, but there was still a journey ahead, and if God was in it, He was going to have to provide a substantial sum of money to move our family of seven 1,300 miles. 

Because we have quite a few pets, who would have to travel in the car with us (turtles, a snake, a gecko, cats, a bunny, and a dog), we knew we’d have to drive straight through the night without stopping.  That meant we’d have to take turns driving, and we couldn’t split off to have one person drive a moving truck and the other drive the van.  So we had to find the most inexpensive way to get all of our belongings to Florida without renting a truck. 

After adding up the cost of moving, gas for our van, tolls, food for the road, a complete car tune-up and new tires for the trip, deposits for the house and utilities, money to restock the refrigerator and pantry, and enough to live on for about three weeks to allow time for the move and for Matt’s first paycheck, we calculated that we would need far more money than we could put together in our own efforts.  We needed Jehovah Jireh (the God who Provides), and we knew that if He put this amount of money in our hands, we could be sure that this was His plan for us.

Over the next four weeks or so, we watched in complete amazement, as the money began to pour in.  It came in a variety of ways – some from the loving and generous people who just wanted to help, some from large jobs that Matt was offered as we planned and packed, some from the sale of machinery that we would not be taking with us – but it all came, exactly when it was needed.

On September 8, 2008, we packed a large moving container with all of the furniture, clothing, bedding, books, dishes and house wares that we had not sold at the yard sale, and we waved goodbye as the driver came to get it take it ahead of us to our new home.  That night, we all camped out on the empty floor of the bedroom Matthew and I had shared for the previous three years, in the empty house where my precious husband had spent all of his childhood.  It felt adventurous and exciting, but also sad – we knew we’d probably never see the inside of this house again; the house Matthew’s mom had brought him home to as a newborn baby.

The next morning we awoke, showered and got dressed.  We spent the day with some friends, letting the kids run around and expend as much energy as possible before the monster drive ahead of us.  My mom and Matt’s mom joined us for dinner, and helped us get the kids ready and pack the car.  We said goodbye to all the neighbors and hugged our moms tightly, and then got right on I-95, the road that would take us all the way to Florida.  Twenty-three and half hours later, which seemed to go much faster than we’d expected, we arrived in Sarasota.  We’d never been in Sarasota before arriving that Wednesday night, but instantly we knew we were home, and we God was with us.

The last leg of our trip was I-75, which we’d picked up in Tampa.  As we neared our exit, we saw something in the distance.  It was some of kind of tall tower, and it was changing colors.  The kids pointed it out, and we all wondered what it was.  As we got closer, we saw a cross and figured it was a church.  Just as we passed by, I saw the name of the church lit up in colorful stained glass.  It was the church I’d spoken to from NJ, our new church home!  God had led us here, and a new life in Him had begun. 

It was as if we’d just crossed the Jordan and entered Gilgal.  Many battles awaited us as we journey toward our Jerusalem, and many victories were still in store.

Thanks for joining me so far…I’ll be back soon to tell the amazing story of how God filled our home with beautiful furniture for just $7.00!

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On July 21, 2008, our life changed forever.  In hindsight, I think it was the day that God told us to consecrate ourselves to Him because he was about to do wonders on our behalf (Joshua 3:5).  Six weeks later, on September 9^th, we left the desert of our life and crossed our own Jordan into a new life – a life of promise.

Five months later, to the day, God is continuing to work mightily, clearing the land on our behalf, and leading us slowly toward the “Jerusalem” of our Promised Land.  We’ve faced uphill battles and seen God crumble walls.  But the message has remained constant…seek Him first, heed His voice, and He will bring the victory.

I’ve written a little in this blog about the challenges we faced and the changes we were facing, but today, nearly a half-year later, I thought our experience might bless and encourage someone who feels like they’ve been wandering the desert for far too long.

Earlier blog entries detail the events that led our move.  Urgent Prayer Requests Needed, dated July 25, 2008 tells of the crisis that triggered it all.  The following day, I added Moving Crisis Update, which first mentions the possibility of Sarasota, FL.  By August 6^th, the course was pretty well set (see Sarasota), and on 8/11/08, I wrote a quick update about the house.   There’s a neat pictureof our local beach, here in Sarasota, in the 11/09/08 entry.

The move was exciting, exhilarating and life-changing, and I believe some of our experiences could be helpful to others who may be seeking God, and wondering if they’re destined for a life of promise or a life of struggle. 

As is the case with most homeschool moms, I don’t have much time to write.  We have five little ones, and I publish the monthly newsletter for our local support group, plus I’m helping my husband build a business.  I’ve set aside about an hour of writing time in the morning, so it may take a few installments to tell our story, but I do have one golden nugget to share for today…

Perhaps the greatest lesson we’ve learned so far is something we’ve found ourselves applying again and again since 7/21/08.  On that day, when the great blow was delivered and crisis was upon us, God led us to do a few practical things that made all the difference.

First and foremost, we took that paper from the Sheriff’s Department and spread it before God.  If you get a chance today, read Isaiah 37:14-38.  It’s a great picture of how to handle bad news.  King Hezekiah receives a disturbing letter from his enemy, and he takes it into the house of God and spreads it before the Lord, asking God to save him.  God responds mightily on Hezekiah’s behalf, slaying 185,000 in one night. I encourage you to read the account for yourself – it’s a powerful example of God’s willingness to work on behalf of those who seek Him.

After praying and trusting with all our hearts that God was in control and that He would lead us and provide for us, we sought out scriptures to stand on through the journey.  We knew we needed a few key things from God: wisdom, guidance and provision.  So I went to google and typed, “scriptures about wisdom,” “scriptures about God’s guidance,” and “scriptures about God’s provision.”  We printed them, and poured over the lists, highlighting those that quickened our spirits.  I wrote some of them on index cards and carried them with me in a small, vinyl photo album, reading them, praying them over and over, and in doing so, I was most definitely hammering in my faith.

Within those first couple of days we also raised a prayer army.  I wrote out exactly what had happened and what we were facing, and emailed it to every Bible-believing Christian I knew.  Then I went to every Christian-based website that I could think of and submitted a prayer request.

An interesting thing happened.  I began receiving all sorts of prayer requests in return.  So I got a notebook and wrote them all down, interceding daily for the needs of others, as I continued to meditate on the scriptures and listen for God’s voice.

There were a few possibilities that presented early on.  We followed up with each one, praying over them, and asking God’s direction.  Then we took small steps toward each possibility and waited to see what God would do. 

And that’s where I’ll end today.

To be continued…

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We asked if she was planning a quick sale and transferring the deed into someone else’s name.  She said she didn’t know; it’s in her nephew’s hands. 

This was just confirmation that we need to go.  If after losing more than a quarter of a million dollars to this man, she still fully trusts him with all the details, we can’t just be involved in this.

It seems like God may be opening doors in Sarasota, Florida.  We have dear friends there, and I have family just a few hours away, on the east coast.  We have found a nice house that would meet our needs at a very affordable price.  But ultimately, if this is what

God has planned for us, He is going to have to provide all means to get there (it’s 1,200 miles from here!).

We need God to come through on every detail of this process.   And although it’s a real challenge to submit so completely to a total unknown, having to trust Him for every detail will give us a certainty that we are in His will.

The words from the Sanctus Real song, “Whatever You're Doing” have some meaning for me now…

There's a wave that's crashing over me, and all I can do is surrender
Whatever You're doing inside of me
It feels like chaos, but somehow there's peace
And it's hard to surrender to what I can't see, but I'm giving in to
something heavenly

Time for a milestone, time to begin again…

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