Less than a year ago we were really struggling financially. We were not
bringing in enough money to pay for our basic needs. We prayed and
begged God to open new doors for us. We constantly had to make decisions
like, would we pay for some food, or would we tithe? Would we pay our
mortgage, or would we tithe? We never questioned what to do, we just did
it. We always tithed, even when it meant that we didn't know how we
would feed our children. I'll never forget the time that I literally put
our last $2 in the offering bucket. I felt like the widow with two mites. I cried as I let go of it. It was a
mix of emotions. On one hand I knew it was the right thing to do and
that God would honor our obedience, but on the other hand, I still had
children that needed to eat.
Through these hard times,
we stood on God's word and His promises to us. We continued to tithe
faithfully and we remained obedient every single time we heard
His voice. It seemed like any time we had a little extra money, God
would tell us to give it away...so we did. We would give offerings that
meant we would be late on another bill. And even though times were very tough
for us, we took in my brother and his daughter who didn't have anywhere
else to go.
Our turnaround began with a word that was spoken over us in January of
2012. Prophet Ed Traut told us that my husband was standing at the door
of a mega promotion. He had previously told us that we would move, but
not move away. This word from the Lord encouraged us to keep pressing
forward and believing in God's blessings to come. About a month later,
my husband had the opportunity to get a promotion, but it would be an
hour drive each way from where we currently live, so we would have to
put our home on the market. After consulting with our pastor, we decided to go for it.
We put our home on the market and prayed and believed for God to sell it. This was in March. When April came around, the Lord tested our faith yet again. He put it on our hearts to give another significant seed during our Easter offering. My husband really felt that if we weren't obedient to do this, then our home wouldn't sell. About a week and a half after this offering, we got a final offer on our home...but the offer was so low, that we would walk away without a profit. We prayed about it and this is what the Lord gave me. I turned to my Bible and my eyes were drawn to Luke 6:38 which says, "GIVE (the word give really stood out to me) and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you." I closed my Bible and opened a book that I had been reading. I decided to just flip about half-way through and start reading. About 2 pages in, the author gave this same Bible verse and broke it down in detail for me. I knew right then that God wanted us to give our house away. I called my husband and we agreed to go for it, knowing that God had our back. About 20 minutes after we sold our home, my husband totaled his car. I thought, "What is going on God"? I know you told us to do this and now we are out of a home and a car. We only had liability on the car because I had lowered the coverage during our hard times to save every penny that I could.
You never have to question God because He's already been in your future and He knows your needs ahead of time. God provided my husband's grandpa's car for us to use until we can get another one. Also the buyers of our house gave us until the end of June to be out and it was absolute perfect timing. We have found a wonderful home that has more space than I could have imagined owning. Since we had no money saved for a down payment, we started believing for $20,000 to be gifted to us. I know that's a huge amount, but we know God's hand is in everything we do and there's nothing too great for Him. Well, a gift of $10,000 is already sitting in our bank account, with another $3,000 coming from this person to put down on the car that we'll need. Also, someone else dear to us has asked us how much of a difference it would make on our monthly payment if we had an extra $10,000 to put down on our home. We don't have this money yet, but we know that if we say that we really needed it, we would have it.
The Lord has given us a brand new home in a neighborhood that is almost exactly half way between our church and my husband's job. Even though we are paying over $35,000 more for the new home than what we bought our current home for, our house payment each month will be about $150 LESS than what we currently pay. God has been so wonderful to us and I'm so humbled by this experience.
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| Our New Home |
I only share this testimony to encourage others. God moves suddenly! He did it for me and He will do the same for you. You just have to stand and keep believing and keep doing what you know is right in your heart. He will honor your obedience. He's your Father and He wants to bless you! Even when you can't see it in the natural, just know that He is at work in the background. He loves you! God bless!
After I gave my testimony at church this morning, the Lord gave me a vision. He had all these puzzle pieces in His hand. One was my husband's promotion. One was our new home. Another was the car we don't have yet. There were other pieces that I can't yet share. But He took all of those pieces and just threw them down in front of me and they were all instantly connected together.
We put our home on the market and prayed and believed for God to sell it. This was in March. When April came around, the Lord tested our faith yet again. He put it on our hearts to give another significant seed during our Easter offering. My husband really felt that if we weren't obedient to do this, then our home wouldn't sell. About a week and a half after this offering, we got a final offer on our home...but the offer was so low, that we would walk away without a profit. We prayed about it and this is what the Lord gave me. I turned to my Bible and my eyes were drawn to Luke 6:38 which says, "GIVE (the word give really stood out to me) and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you." I closed my Bible and opened a book that I had been reading. I decided to just flip about half-way through and start reading. About 2 pages in, the author gave this same Bible verse and broke it down in detail for me. I knew right then that God wanted us to give our house away. I called my husband and we agreed to go for it, knowing that God had our back. About 20 minutes after we sold our home, my husband totaled his car. I thought, "What is going on God"? I know you told us to do this and now we are out of a home and a car. We only had liability on the car because I had lowered the coverage during our hard times to save every penny that I could.
