Still Learning to Trust

I sound like the Israelites. I know I do. God answers one prayer request of mine and provides something so minor and then I question whether or not he'll take care of the big things. If God can help me find my lens cap on five acres covered with leaves, then surely He can find us a house in our price range within ten minutes from our church (that has the things we're looking for). This is what I'm telling myself because I know it's true. God can do anything. And even though we've seen all the houses in the area Ben is confident that God has just the right house for us and it is wise to continue to wait on Him. I say Ben is confident because I have to be honest, I go through periods of doubt. My theme this year is Grace to Trust Him More. God has certainly given me many things this year to help me learn to trust Him. Finding a house is one of those things. Please pray that we would find a house soon. My desire is to be in our own home by Christmas. As the weeks continue to pass us by I'm accepting the fact that it is unlikely this will happen but still trying to keep in mind that God can do anything. We don't want to buy just any house. We want to buy the right house. In the mean time, we really miss Ben on the days he's gone over night to be near our church. We manage fine without him and our life is by no means hard. We just love Ben - A LOT.

Waiting on the Lord

In recent weeks we have had to make some decisions in blind faith. It's always hard to make a decision when you don't know all the details or are unsure about the future.
We live in a 600 square foot apartment and our rent is ridiculously affordable. It's a tight squeeze but we make it work and we are thankful to have a place to call "home." We would like more room for more children (some day) and hosting guests. We haven't looked to move, however, because our rent is ridiculously affordable and we are waiting for the Lord to show us where He wants us next. Ben graduated from seminary in May and we are trusting God to provide a ministry position for him.
Last week a woman from my church approached me with an offer too good to pass up. She owns a three bedroom brick house with a fenced in yard and a garage. The entire house has a nice fresh coat of paint and refinished hardwood floors. And she wanted to rent it to us for the same price that we renting our apartment. Let me remind you once again - our rent is ridiculously affordable (read "cheap!").
I came home and told Ben about it. We looked up the house and discovered that it's on a nice quiet street in a good neighborhood. But should we move? If we knew God wasn't going to open up a ministry position for another, say, 18 months - then sure! Let's move! But what if he opens something up in, say, 4 months? Well, then let's not move. We found ourselves in a position we have been in many, many times: we had to make a decision without knowing the future, without having all of the information. We prayed about it. We talked about it. We got kind of excited about it.
The next day I went to the seminary to hear author, Mary Kassian speak. A woman I met briefly over a year and a half ago approached me and randomly said, "Hi, Kelly! Would you happen to know of any good deals for a place to rent? My husband and I are trying to cut our expenses and our rent is just too high." This woman and her husband have no children and plan to be in school for the next four years. Their goal is to graduate debt free. Ben and I had that goal too and were able to do so and having a ridiculously affordable apartment was a big help! I told the woman, Katy, about the offer we had received the night before and how we were praying about the possibility. She asked me to please give her the homeowners name and number if we decided not to take the offer.
I came home and told Ben about my conversation with Katy. We decided to let Katy and her husband pursue the opportunity to rent the house. That same day Katy walked through the house with the owner and called me and said, "I hate to tell you about this house because I'm afraid you're going to regret not doing it!" What she described sounded like a perfect situation. The owner is even letting her decided how much she wants to pay in rent! They move in after the holidays.
The homeowner came up to me at church on Sunday and expressed her gratitude and thankfulness that I found someone to rent her house. She really likes Katy and is excited about the arrangement.
So were we foolish to decline an opportunity that was "too good to pass up?" I don't think so. We have a real peace about it. Had the homeowner not approached me, and had Katy not randomly approached me, then these two would have never met. I really think God used me to connect these two women. Katy can reduce her monthly expenses and Carol, the homeowner, will receive more in rent each month than what we would have paid. We love Louisville, but we are not confident that the Lord intends to keep us here.
So here we are . . . waiting . . . and believing that God has something planned for us! Please pray that God would be pleased to show us where He wants us next.

Kim

My sister, who is 33 weeks pregnant, just learned that she has a 2 vessel umbilical cord. According to our on-line research, this can be a very dangerous situation. Apparently the baby could be born perfectly normal, or, have some severe abnormalities in all major organ systems. Often, the baby has a low birth weight due to the fact that the he does not get as many nutrients as those with a normal 3 vessel cord. We do not know anybody who has dealt with this before, because it is extremely rare, so we are appealing to our blogger friends for help. Do you know anyone who has ever had a 2 vessel umbilical cord? If so, was their baby healthy at birth? Please comment if you have any insight or knowledge on the matter. Above all, please pray for my sister and baby boy Lange. Thank you!