Nooooo!!!!!!

 

Things don't always go as we think they should.  I am reminded of one of my favorite holiday movies, "A Christmas Story". You know..."You'll shoot your eye out, kid!"  Yeah, that one. There is a line in the movie that keeps playing over in my head when I think of this newly revised picture. The Parker family has torn through all of the Christmas presents. Ralphie has opened his new Red Ryder Carbine Action 200 Shot Range Model Air Rifle (aka, the beloved BB gun), "shot his eye out" and lived to tell about it. The dad is sitting in his recliner reading the newspaper. Randy, the little brother, is asleep amongst all the yet-to-be-thrown away wrapping paper. Mom is somewhere upstairs, probably recomposing herself after her fear of her 8 year old boy shooting his eye out just practically came true. And the narrator, Ralphie as an adult, says, 

"Oh, life is like that. Sometimes, at the height of our revelries, when our joy is at its zenith, when all is most right with the world, the most unthinkable disasters descend upon us."

I wouldn't consider this the most unthinkable disaster that has descended upon us, but it is a pretty big bummer. (Oh, by the way, for those of you on the edge of the cliff regarding what happens next in the movie, the neighbor's dogs break into their house and destroy the beautiful turkey that is about to be served for Christmas dinner. The family has to go out to the only restaurant open on Christmas night, which is a Chinese restaurant. They get serenaded with some amazing Christmas carols, and then watch a duck get its head chopped off and declared to be Chinese Turkey. Great movie.) But, in terms of us thinking things were going so swell and then feeling like the rug was pulled out from under us, yes...we kind of relate to this quotable quote. 

In this post  I shared about how wonderful it felt to have our house under contract, to come home to notice our agent put the "Sold" sign up, to be able to make real plans to move forward and relocate to Charlotte, to get to a place where we could settle in and not have to keep so super spotless (a daunting task for a preggo with a 2 and a 3 year old to say the least). 

We found a house that would work with our needs and our budget close by the area where we are going to be planting the church. We got ready to sign a contract to rent that house for 1 year. We got word that the contract on our home in Greenville had come up against some bumps in the road. We talked to our leaders, expressing our concerns about moving before things were sealed up. We were encouraged to go ahead and get on the ground. Things started smoothing out for the sale of our G'ville home. We packed. We moved. We began unpacking. We realized the A/C was broken on the hottest day of the year in our new place. 

And then we got the call.

Our agent said somethings I didn't really understand, but then after asking her to talk to me plain, she spelled it out for me. A week before closing, the buyers lost their financing. We were NOT sold. We were now responsible for a rent payment AND a mortgage. Phew. That's heavy stuff. 

But that's not the end of the story. I don't actually have an ending for you, beloved reader, but I do have a couple thoughts that God has placed on our hearts as we have walked through this:

1. We cannot look at this situation with our natural eyes. We must ask the Holy Spirit to give us eyes to see what He is doing, how He is working on our behalf to bring about something even better. 2 Kings 6:17
2. We cannot fear. This battle is the Lord's, not ours to fight! We have done everything we can in the natural to get out of that house, and we just have to leave the rest up to the Lord. We can't fear the future, our financial outlook or anything else! We have to just trust, trust, trust. (But, it's not always easy to do that!) 2 Chronicles 20:17

 The good thing is, these truths are not just for our situation!  Whether you're facing an army of thousands circling the city like Elisha's attendant did, or you just found out your home's sale fell through at the last minute, or you're facing any other issue that, on the surface, doesn't seem to possibly be able to work out for good, you can apply these truths and watch how God takes care of everything. It may not be the way you would have scripted it, but God is glorified through our testimonies! We are excited to have a testimony one day of how God worked all things together for us who love him and are called (to Charlotte, in this situation) according to his Name!