2019 Word of the year and the Story of our New House

2019 Word of the Year

I have been praying for several months about what the Lord would have my word of 2019 be. For the last few years the Lord has given the word around October or November. For several years I had my word as JOY. I had a wise friend tell me that I should make JOY my life word and pick a new word for last year. Very wise advice indeed. JOY is still a word that is very special to me since it was the loss of our dear Asa that sent me on a journey to seek true JOY in Christ alone. That journey will never end.

The Lord revealed my word for 2018 right away. UNRIVALED. I have spent the past year truly focusing on making Christ the true priority and focus. It has been a year of searching out the things that steal my time away from Christ. The Lord has revealed to me that there are many things in my life that I need to do away with so that I can spend more time and focus on Him. It has been a year where I learned about seeking out those whom I have offended and hurt and work on restoring those relationships. It has also been a year of focusing on being grateful. Seeking out the things that God has done for me every day. Even on those days when I do not feel like being thankful.

There is so much I have learned this year. We have walked a rough road with several of our children. I never thought that attempted suicide and depression would be something that I would be discussing with one of my children.

 I never thought that we would lose a dear friend suddenly.

I truly never thought at the beginning of 2018 that my family and I would be given the wonderful blessing of living in new home. God has truly blessed us.

When Carl and I got married we always wanted our home to be one where God’s name was proclaimed. A house that we could use for his glory. When we bought our first house, we had lots of little children. It just never seemed like I could get ahead of the housework and laundry. It seemed like the house was always in a state of chaos. It became a problem as every time Carl suggested people coming over, I would freak out and panic. He eventually stopped asking to invite people over. I could tell that it bothered him, but I just felt uncomfortable letting people know I struggled with keeping my house nice. It felt like I was failing. I could homeschool or keep the house clean. It just seemed like I could not do both. I felt defeated.

Then we lost Asa and our world was rocked.

We decided to sell that house and go on the road for 6 months.

When we returned to the Garner area, we ended up renting a house. Carl and I had the discussion again about using our home as a tool to bless others and proclaim the name of Christ. We fell into the same rut as the first house, unfortunately. The kids put some holes in the walls and spilt some things on the floor. The walls were all painted white, so you can imagine what 8 kids can do in that environment. Again, I felt like a failure and did not want anyone to come over. 

After examining my heart and dwelling on my word for 2018, UNRIVALED, I decided to start inviting people over. It was okay if my house was not as nice or clean as I would have liked. Every time we did invite people over, we ended up having a great time. The kids and Carl would all want to do it again.

There was something holding me back. The rental home was not ours. We did not make an effort to put our stamp on it. We did not paint the walls or put curtains up. We did not even put up pictures on the walls for the first year. God made it very evident to Carl and I that this was not where we were to be. We both would look at houses online and we started praying for God’s guidance about when He wanted us to move. Our prayer that whenever he did move us that we would make a concerted effort to make this home truly ours and use it for His glory. We never dreamed of how he would open the doors to what has taken place in the last month and half.

It all started with a house that was for sale next door to good friends of ours. We envisioned our kids playing across both yards and just having fellowship on a daily basis. We contacted a good friend of ours who is an excellent realtor, Wendy Lyman. We looked at that house in early fall and God made it very clear that it was not the house for us. We had no peace about it.

I was right in the middle of the TTA/Staff show at Spiritual Twist Productions. She emailed us during production week to let us know that a house had come back on the market that she thought would be perfect for us. I remember seeing that house online, but it went under contract, so I forgot about it. The buyer backed out of the contract several days before closing so it went back on the market.

We set up a time to view that house and 3 others. I remember that it was the Sunday after the last performance of Prodigals. I stayed home from church to rest and Carl came after church to pick me up. The house she wanted us to see was the first house we were scheduled to look at.

We knew it was only 3 miles from our rental house and driving down the road Carl and I commented on how nice the drive was. We pulled into the neighborhood and Carl and I both smiled. It immediately felt like home. Like we were supposed to be there. This was just the entrance to the neighborhood. It felt peaceful. As we drove down to the house, which was at the end of cul-de-sac, we both were commenting on all the trees and beautiful houses.

As we approached the house, I was almost speechless. I felt an instant calm and I remember taking a deep breath. I knew that I was home. We had told Wendy that we really wanted a ranch or story and a half. We are not getting any younger and were thinking about our future as the kids leave home. Imagine my surprise when we pulled up to the most majestic, regal looking two story home. It had a red door and front porch.

We walked in and again, I felt at home. It was like God was whispering to me that this is what He had for us. This was the home that we were to use to bless others and proclaim His name. I almost cried. It had almost everything that we wanted, including several writing areas for me. The layout made sense to have lots of people over. It had space for 5 bedrooms which would allow Tirzah and Esther to have their own rooms. That was a must as we discovered that having the girls, at 7 and 15, share a room just did not work anymore. There was space for everyone and space to homeschool. It even had a walk-in crawl space for Carl and the boys. As an added bonus, it was on a 1-acre lot that was wooded with a huge area cleared for football. It even had a large driveway that would accommodate all our cars and more as we get more drivers.

We looked at the other house on our list that day, but we knew we had found our new home. We took the kids to see it on Halloween and they were so excited. We had to keep telling them that it was not our home yet and may not be at all. We knew though that this was our home. We put an offer in the next day.

I tried not to get too excited as we had heard that there might be several offers. Ours was accepted. I was overjoyed but did not want to get too excited as I knew that God could either shut the door or keep it open.

He decided to fling the door wide open for us to walk through. There was so much that went on behind the scenes to allow us to close on our original date of Thursday, December 6^th. There were several issues with repairs that did not get done when they were supposed to. It was quite unnerving when Wendy told us that we might have to push closing to Monday the 9^th. We were in a panic as we had already set up utilities to come and get switched and to have the refrigerator to be delivered on Saturday.

We watched as God allowed every little detail fall into place to allow us to close on the 6^th. At one point I remember Wendy saying that she would go over and stretch the carpet herself. Our mortgage lender also went above and beyond to get us to closing. We have a VA loan which is a little more difficult than regular loans. There are a few more steps to do and inspections must be done before it can be approved. Due to the fact that we had repairs written into the original contract we had to have the repairs done and re-inspected before closing.

The carpet stretching, which was the hold out repair, was done late Wednesday night. The VA inspector went out of his way to drive to our house early Thursday morning and say that everything was okay. What a miracle. All of us were in awe at how God provided when we thought there was no way we were going to close on time.

God has provided and blessed us through this entire process. We found an amazing refrigerator on Black Friday. We went in looking for a basic French door model. We ended up buying a new Smart refrigerator that plays music in my kitchen and where I can look up recipes. I can also see inside the refrigerator from my phone. We ended up paying the same amount as a basic model without the smart feature.

We found a floor sample living room set for a deeply discounted price. We had gone in to look for a couch and love seat. We walked out with a couch, love seat, two side tables, a coffee table, a sofa table, two lamps, a recliner, and a rug for cheaper than we would have paid for one new couch and love seat. It was the same color of the paint on the wall we had picked to accent the gray walls in the family room. It matched perfectly. Carl and I just looked at each other and laughed. We were amazed. It was like God was whispering to us that this was ours to use to bless others.

I have been amazed to find that pictures that I have had for 21 years match the paint we chose perfectly.

The curtains we bought on Black Friday for an amazing price went with all the colors we picked for paint before we even picked the paint.

Carl had told me that before we even moved in that he wanted to make this home truly ours. He wanted me to decorate it the way that I wanted. The previous post came out of that desire. He wanted to make the house a true home. One where we could take pride in it and use it for God’s glory. I am still amazed at how he has provided.

I wanted to fill our home with scripture and God provided in every little way.

On the day of the closing we met with Wendy to do the final walk through. She had bought us a Christmas present. Tears came to eyes as I unwrapped a large frame. She had gotten Deuteronomy 6:4-9 printed on a canvas for us. I was in awe. As I unwrapped the gift, I felt a wave of peace come over me. God was revealing my word for 2019 at that very moment and it almost overwhelmed me. I was overcome with joy.

The card she had written said, “God bless you abundantly in the name of Jesus Christ.”

She had underlined the word “abundantly”

I started to laugh and cry at the same time as the word ABUNDANCE was given to me. The new road we live on is Abundant Avenue. No joke. The house number adds up to the number of our living children. God truly had provided for us. All along the way he was opening doors for us to walk through. He was giving us a tool to bless others and proclaim His name.

What an amazing opportunity for our family.

I immediately started looking for a verse to go with the word ABUNDANCE. He again flung the door open and gave me a verse.

2 Corinthians 9:6-8

⁶ Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. ⁷ Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. ⁸ And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

Um, wow!!!!

It is like God has paved the way for our family to finally be able to do what we have been desiring for so many years.

The journey to sitting here at my kitchen table in my new house listening to Christmas music on Christmas Eve has not looked anything like the journey I envisioned.

When Carl and I were married 21 years ago I never thought I would be the mother to 8 children living here on this earth.

I certainly never thought that one of my dear children would never breath earthly air but will be waiting for me in heaven.

I truly never thought that we would sell our house and go across the country for 6 months.

I never thought that the Lord would give me the blessing to be part of a drama ministry using the talents he has given me to bring glory to his name.

I never thought that I would be writing for his glory letting people into my pain and failures and chaos and victories and insights.

Where I am right now looks nothing like the dreams of my childhood.

And I am so glad.

 Each part of the journey has worked to draw me closer to Christ and to my family and friends that he has blessed me with along this journey.

He saw the bigger picture and is continuing to work all things out to accomplish the vision that He has for my life.

With my word for the year I want to focus on doing more for Him and doing it well. I want to “abound in every good work” that He has for me to do this year. He has already equipped me with all I need to accomplish everything that He has for me this year. He gives me the strength that I need every day to accomplish His work. I want to purpose in my heart this year to do all the things that He has for this year cheerfully. If there are things that are difficult this year, I want to have already made the decision to do those things with a cheerful heart. He has already equipped me to do this.

I want to live a year of abundance. 

A year where I bring more glory to God.

A year where I focus on seeking out and accomplishing all that He leads me to do.

I want to have an abundant life living in victory for Christ.

This year I want to study what the Christian needs to have an abundance of in their life. Namely the fruits of the spirit.

Galatians 5:22-24

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. ²⁴ And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

My desire for the new year is to study and meditate on the things that God calls us to have more of in our lives. An abundance.

To get rid of the distractions of my life. The things that are taking the time away from my time with Christ.

To empty myself of all that does not help me live abundantly in Christ.

To fill myself with all the things that are going to draw me closer to Him.

An abundant life.

The journey here to this house on Abundant Avenue has been amazing so far. The highs and lows. All of it has brought me here and I am truly thankful and amazed and in awe at it all.

I want to spend my days praising the Lord for all that He has done in my life and all that He will continue to do.

All glory, honor, power, and praise belong to Him and Him alone.

Merry Christmas from my family to yours. May He bring his blessings upon you all as we all endeavor to know Him more each day, especially on Christmas.

Our New House on Abundant Avenue