Sixteen years ago today we moved from Massachusetts to Pennsylvania. As I listened to the song” Promises” last night, it reminded me of the struggle and the storms of life we had to go through to get here.
It was approximately 3 years before we moved when we began to feel the Lord prompting us to make a change. Although my husband and I weren’t quite sure what or where the Lord was calling us to, we continued to pray for direction and wisdom. Several doors had opened with new opportunities, but as we began to head in those directions God closed them each time. I remember the excitement I was feeling during that time, but I must confess, I started to grow impatient waiting in the unknown.
After a couple of years went by with still no clear direction from the Lord, only feelings of being unsettled, good friends of ours moved to PA. Our children were very close to theirs, and we had a really hard time letting them go. Who knew at the time God had plans for us 600 miles away from the only state we had ever called home.
In February 2004, two months after our friends moved, my husband, our two younger children and I, drove to visit with them. Those two months consisted of constant nagging from our children to make the trip because in their minds we were going to be moving there. Childlike faith, there is nothing like it. Looking back, I believe it was a lesson the Lord was teaching my husband and me throughout this particular experience.
We enjoyed the 3 days spent with our friends, and it was nice getting to see their new way of living. But for us going from the city into a country setting was quite different and something we thought, we weren’t quite ready for.
However, God had different plans for us. Three months later my husband made a trip back to PA to look at a handful of houses, which he put a deposit down on one of them. Our home in MA was already sold and contingent on us finding suitable housing. As exciting as this all was, we were entering into the complete unknown. It should have been unsettling, especially when we were leaving our family behind which included our oldest son, oldest daughter, and 8 month old grandson. Also my husband was leaving behind his elderly mom and a good job that he excelled in for 12 years. We weren’t quite sure what we were going to do for employment once we arrived in Pennsylvania. This is where childlike faith had to come into play, we knew God was calling us to PA in spite of our initial reluctance, but that was all we were sure of. We were completely relying and trusting God to guide us in everything we needed.
Our household was packed away in boxes, and we were a week away from closing on both houses when things started to unravel. The house we were purchasing had failed the septic test and it was going to cost ten thousand dollars to fix, which we didn’t have. This is when we started to doubt our move to PA was God’s will for us, and decided to back out of the contract to purchase the house.
However, it was not going to be without consequences or an easy task on either end. The owner of the property we were going to purchase would not sign the release form in order for us to get our $3000 deposit back, and when our realtor told the attorney who was purchasing our house in MA, we couldn’t find suitable housing and were cancelling the contract; he made it quite clear he was not going to allow that to happen. We had gone one day over the agreed date on the contract to find suitable housing, and he said he had would do whatever he could in order to own our property.
When the anxiety and helplessness started to overwhelm my husband and I, God continued to ease us with His peace. I remember taking a walk the next day praying to the Lord as I listened to a message from Charles Stanley through my headphones. Even though it was 16 years ago there are something’s which make such an impact, a person will never forget. Charles Stanley’s message pertained to Paul going to Rome. In Acts 23:11, God told Paul he was sending him to Rome to be a witness for Christ. Although it took over 3 months for him to finally reach his destination, God used the time in between to reveal His power to Paul and others.
As I walked, prayed, and cried out to the Lord saying, “We thought we were doing what you called us to do, how could we have been so wrong, and what do we do now?” Through my desperate thoughts, I heard Charles Stanley say, “When God says you’re going to Rome, you’re going to Rome.” He talked about the detours and obstacles Paul faced, but God used them to save people and his plan inevitable prevailed.
From that point on God continued to confirm we were in his will. See, we were looking at everything with the wrong perspective; God was protecting us from the disaster of picking the wrong home not changing His mind in what we already heard Him say. The devil however never stopped trying his hardest to keep us in MA. He even tried to entice us to stay through the generosity of others. We were offered a house to live in on the beach for as long as we wanted, and my husband was offered a raise to stay at his job.
Instead, we made the choice to follow the example of Abraham’s obedience to the Lord. In living by faith, he left his home and all he knew to receive God’s blessing. We obeyed God even when it meant leaving two of our children behind. It was hard but I had confidence because of God’s love for me, I believed if ‘I delight myself in the Lord, He would give me the desires of my heart’. My desire was for our family to be reunited.
Two months later our son came to live with us. Our daughter got married, and her and her husband moved to PA a year later. Also, I never got to see the house we moved into before we purchased it. I trusted my husband and best friend for that, everything else I trusted the Lord for and He proved Himself faithful again.
I will never forget the incredible peace God filled me with throughout our adventure. Up until the last minute the devil tried to cause us to lose our peace and fall apart. Especially when we found out the title company made a $2000.00 mistake on our closing cost, which was most of our money we saved to live on until we found employment. However Jesus is faithfully and the devil is a liar.
I never looked back and God blessed us for it. We learned to have childlike faith and God our Father provided for us every step of the way. His promises are true!
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