About one year ago, we were living in an apartment, something like campus housing, at our missions agency's sending base. We'd spent the summer in our camper and the late fall and early winter in this apartment, actually two apartments attached with the separate one for our older girls. But a new candidate class was beginning, so we needed to find a new place to stay.
All of our housing finds are temporary because we still believe that God will move us out to, um, an unnamed country, soon. We went to NY to visit family for Christmas and became convinced that we would have to utilize a house here where we had stayed before, so we left behind some of our things and wrote a letter asking for permission. We went back to PA thinking we would pack up and come "home," not wanting to be in NY, but thinking we had no other option. Our support isn't high enough or regular enough for us to afford a lease or mortgage, and we didn't want to have to get furniture etc., anyway. After all, we sold our little house and downsized several times in preparation for a BIG move, so why undo any of that by settling in somewhere? The house in NY was a comfortable plan because it was roomy, furnished, and cheap.
Well, God had other plans. The church that owns the house we hoped to use had it for sale, which we knew, and the contract said it had to remain unoccupied. So, that option really was not. Puzzled but not panicked, we took our pastor up on an offer to post the need on the church prayer chain (at our church in PA). Within hours, the same evening I think, we had a phone call from a man I had met but didn't really know. He had a house he wasn't using! He had a renter lined up for June, but would be happy to have us use the place at a low rent until then. He even had furniture in a storage closet that we could use! A former missionary kid himself, he understood our predicament and quickly, generously responded to our need.
As an aside, the best part of this sequence of events was when I spoke to our pastor about it and he said, "I didn't really think that was going to work." Another friend said, "When I saw that prayer request come through, I thought you guys were crazy!" So, maybe we are, but it's working for us.
We moved into that house (basement and bottom floors of a duplex) and lived happily ever after for five months, when it was warm enough to get back into our camper and the permanent renters were ready. We got to know our donor and his wife, kids and family, as their daughters spent some days with us. We got to know the charming little town in Pennsylvania, near Valley Forge Park. Todd worked for the US Census and for a production company in the area. And we were close enough to our sending base to visit a couple of times a week. We were able to homeschool in a big playroom with room for projects, and we even got to go to a co-op for a couple of months. I made some friends there and so did the girls, a real joy for all of us. Although I had to force myself to reach out to people, I did enjoy those other moms so much. In fact, there I met someone who uses Tapestry of Grace, and a number of those moms are doing a TOG co-op this year. It helped me along on my decision to switch, because I got to see the curriculum and talk about different options with my new friends.
This was really a lesson in dependence and community for me. Todd and I have always said that we longed to live in community with other believers. We would love to have open doors with other brothers and sisters, where we share meals, childcare, burdens, joys, cars...maybe even actual space. Yet when Ivan called and offered us his house, I felt strange about it and part of me wanted to say no. I realized that I always picture myself on the giving side of this imaginary community. One year, we happily loaned our car to a young family with a need for several weeks, in spite of objections about the risks. As youth leaders, we tried very hard to have an open door policy on our home with the young people we worked with. We practiced hospitality as much as we could. I pictured myself ever willing to share what I had with those less able. So why did I balk at receiving generosity?
You might say pride. Certainly that's part of it. And an independent spirit. I never really liked to work in groups in school. I'll do it myself! I don't like to have to ask for help. Maybe I don't think I deserve it. But now, I look at what a blessing those six months were, and I am so glad to have been on the receiving end of a share.
Not forgetting the rest of the year, I'll tell you that we lived in the camper (oh the camper! Another story altogether, no?) from the end of May until September. It sounds difficult, and sometimes it was. But it was parked at our sending base, so we had some access to community meals, a pool, a shower with space to move, and the whole campus to run around on. That really helped. We were able to take part in community life there, which isn't quite like what I just described wanting, but is something we treasure. In the mid- summer, we took the camper to NY for a few weeks and parked it at my parents' house, so we could visit our supporting churches here and send the kids to their familiar summer camp. Then, we were back down to PA for the remainder of the summer, looking in earnest for more supporting churches and a place to live in the winter.
Finally, we realized that we would have to move to NY and into this house. It's Todd's parents' house, but they aren't here now. In God's incredible timing, He moved them into the parsonage of a small church as Todd's dad became a pastor for the first time. I'll be honest- I didn't want to do it. I thought that PA was the way to go, and that more churches down there had showed interest in our work than we would ever get up here. Todd didn't have a job here, either. It didn't seem right- we hadn't accomplished what we'd gone to PA to do, which was find support for our ministry. *Sigh.* But we came. And just to make sure we stayed put, the camper which was home for so long was obliterated in a major accident (my fault).
Here's a verse for me:
Jer 33:2-3 "I, the LORD, do these things. I, the LORD, form the plan to bring them about. I am known as the LORD. I say to you, 'Call on me in prayer and I will answer you. I will show you great and mysterious things which you still do not know about.'
No comments:
Post a Comment