Waiting On God During Our Move

Before I can even begin to tell you about our new home, I want to tell you a little about how we got to where we are. After you read this you will be shaking your head in amazement. ~ Like we're still doing.

Waiting On God During Our Move

In July, we faced a difficult situation with the house we had been in for a little over a year. In the end, we had to leave. At first I was very upset, but as the two weeks we had to move marched on, I was beginning to wonder what was going to happen. We looked at houses closer to our church, since we thought that was what the Lord wanted. Every time I called about a house, it was either out of our price range or it was a tumbling down, flea infested shack. Yep, really!

For some reason, the Lord did not see fit to give us a house. We had to move in with my parents and while we were there, I continued to look with no avail. While all of this was going on, my husband’s job began having some problems. He was cut down to three days a week with no explanation and no hope of regaining those two days.

The last week in August, my husband asked me to start looking for any openings for jobs he was qualified for, no matter where it was located. I started with counties inside the state of Georgia, and moved on to states close by and didn’t find anything.  I took a stab in the dark and thought I would try looking in Montana. We both have an account through the work force for the state, so I signed in and began looking. I came across one job with several others to research.

After talking with my husband I began rewriting his resume and wrote a cover letter. Neither one are my specialty so it took me a couple of days. While working on both, I kept my eyes open for other jobs and was shocked to sign in one day and find about ten openings for the state of Montana D.O.T.

On Labor Day, I took the time to verify the resume and cover letter again and began sending them for the state jobs. Before I clicked the mouse to send the information, I prayed and asked the Lord if he did not want us there, for us to not receive a call back. I did this for all the state job openings. Once those were sent, I felt at peace. Over the next few days, I prayed if God wanted us there, for them to call.

Since we were dealing with the state, I figured we would not hear from them for several weeks, boy was I wrong. Four days after sending the resumes, we received a phone call for an interview for the following Thursday. Yep, four days and the interview would be the next week. ~ A little mind blowing, for sure!

We began praying for the money to drive out for the interview. We really thought the Lord would provide the money so we could leave on Monday morning and not have to drive at break-neck speed.

Funny, how his timing is not our timing... I began praying the money would come through by lunch time. When lunchtime came and went, we felt hopeless. We went to the grocery store and while we were in the store, the Lord provided the money for us to go. I think it’s funny... it was not quite lunch time in Montana.

My trip to the grocery store was the fastest I had ever run. You really should have seen us; we were running through the store putting items back on the shelves while picking up a few things for the trip. We flew back home and packed as fast as we could and were able to leave by 6:00 that evening.

During all the running around in the grocery store, my husband called his boss and told him that he needed off the next three days.  Little did we know that those three days were going to be a problem with his current job.

All the way to Montana, I prayed that if God really wanted us there, he would give us the job. The entire trip went smoothly. The interview went good; my husband had hope. We left for home after the interview.

On Monday afternoon, my husband received a phone call from his boss; he had been fired with no explanation. We had talked about the possibility of him being fired and until it actually happened, we were alright with the idea. Boy, when he received that phone call, I was floored.

Two days later the Lord answered our prayers. The state called and wanted my husband to go in for a drug screening. Since we were 1,700 miles from their doctors, a lab in our area was used. My husband had to go three times. Two times they couldn't get their act together and the last time, the lady finally came right out and said that they could not do it due to some paper work. While what seemed like a huge mess, the Lord was working everything out for us to have a place to live.

We finally decided we would move on out and take the drug test at the state’s approved doctor’s offices. We knew there was no possibility of failing a drug test but we did not want anything to hinder the test and the start to work date. So, we felt this would be best. Yes, that was a huge step in faith, but the Lord knew.

 From the day of the interview, we knew housing was a major problem in this area. With North Dakota oil drilling right across the state line, and the beginning of drilling in the area bringing in oil men all hotel rooms, apartments, etc. are full all the time. Inside the city, where my husband’s job is located, there are man-camps set up on empty lots. There are many campers with families living in them and some have been there for at least two years. With oil comes greed and inflated prices. Housing prices are doubled and even tripled in the area. Within the month of September, my husband had made several phone calls to people in the area trying to keep an eye out on a place to live.

We were shocked to receive a phone call while we were in Missouri from a lady who had just heard about a house coming open that was the exact price we had been praying about. After making a couple of phone calls we had people praying that this would be the one. ~ And it was!

We drove almost all night so we could be in the area around lunchtime on Wednesday. We met with the couple who had the house and we fell in love with it and with them. They are an older couple who had just bought the house the week before we got there. Funny how God’s timing is always perfect.

When my husband called his bosses to let them know he was in town, he was asked where he was staying. When he told them we had a house and we were in the process of moving what few things we brought with us. They were extremely shocked! Every time they have the opportunity to tell about our situation, they do it. Anyone who hears it, is amazed.

I’m amazed!

• When I think about the crazy mess with the Lab and how I honestly felt they couldn’t do their job, God was working to keep the drug test held up so a house would come open up just when we needed it.

• When I think about how my husband went without a job for four weeks, God provided our every need.

• When I think about the prayers I prayed before each click of the mouse, God already had a job for my husband.

• When I think about all the mess with our house and how we had two weeks to move, God was opening doors for our family.

• I think about the prayers our family has prayed since 2008 about returning to Montana to serve the Lord (these prayers are a whole different story, hopefully I can share at a later time), he was working even when we thought he had put a stop to us serving him here.

I’ve always heard you can’t put a time limit on God. Talk about a learning experience our family has learned and experienced.  This is definitely a story that we’ll be sharing for years.