Winning the Lottery

God asked us to move.  I was afraid to move and begin again.  You see, my husband was the pastor of a small town church and the people there had become our family.  I was quite happy and quite comfortable with my life.  We had two young girls who would have to move out of the only home they had ever known.


We felt like we were supposed to start a new church plant and we even found the right town about 90 miles from our home. We knew we were on a journey of a lifetime! After the initial shock, we began to become excited about what God could do. We had no church, no building, no people and no money.  It felt as if I was standing on a high dive, looking down into an empty pool and then I heard God say..."Jump!"  It is so much easier to have faith when the pool is filled to the top with sparkling blue water, but when all you can see is an empty pool, it is much harder to trust.  That is exactly what God was saying: "Trust Me". 


If God asks you to do something, He will provide what is needed.  He said, "trust me", so we began to look for a house in our new town.  As we drove from "house" to "house" in the realtor's car looking for a home in our "price range" - did I mention we had no money?  I had tears streaming down my face as the realtor drove us to the last rundown shack for us to tour before lunch.  I could not move my two young daughters into a home that should be condemned by the health department!  God wouldn't move us out of our nice home only to bring us to this..would He?  I was so confused.  How would this ever work?


We took a break for lunch at a local restaurant.  As my husband went up to peruse the buffet, I sat alone and dejected at the table.  I began to question God about this idea to move.  It was  not possible to buy a decent home with no money in the bank.  We had already toured all of the broken down, dilapidated homes that was for sale in the area.  I thought about the last place we had toured before lunch that had floors slanting at such an angle that my girls would fall out of bed at night...they would roll right out! I was questioning why God had asked us to move if we could not even find a decent place to live.  I was looking at our bank account in my head and the doubts began to overwhelm me.   Unable to hold back the tears burning my throat, I said, "God, if we are going to get a house, we are going to have to win the lottery!"


God spoke clearly to me as I sat at the small wooden table wiping the tears that were running down my face.  I heard the words in my mind so clearly, I almost looked around to see if anyone else had heard it too. 


God said, "I AM your lottery".


Again, I had been looking at the wrong things.  I assumed we had to do all of this on our own, with our own bank account.  I am not saying that you should go buy a house and expect God to pay for it.  God had asked us to move.  When God speaks to you, and you know what you are asked to do, He will provide you the means to do it.  He will provide a way to accomplish the task He wants you to do. We were willing to obey, follow Him and begin a new journey.  God was once again trying to teach me to trust Him.


As we left the restaurant, I had renewed hope.  A friend was with us since we had decided to not return with the realtor.  We began to drive down random streets looking for the homes on our list.  We pulled over to get our directions straight as we did not know the area.  Dennis, my husband, and his friend Ron were looking down at the street names and city map.  Sitting in the back seat, I was getting a look around the neighborhood.  I looked across the street and what do you think was sitting in the yard of a beautiful home?  A "For Sale" sign!  This house was not on our list, so it must be out of our price range, but we decided to walk around anyway.  It happened to be empty inside.  We called the number off the realtor sign.  God had another surprise - the office was at the end of the block.  They came right over to show us around.  I fell in love with this house at first sight! It just so "happened" that the house had been on the market for over a year.  The owners were building another home and needed to sell - the price had just dropped...into our price range!  I did not have to settle for a decent home, I was able to buy a home I loved.


The day we signed the papers for our beautiful home, I realized that sometimes we need to look past what we can see.  We need to close our eyes and start to walk out to the end of the diving board.  Sometimes, all God is asking of us is to hold our breath and jump.  He knows the future and He can provide the water!  Go ahead - don't be afraid of what God is asking.  Take a deep breath and dive into life!  He is waiting to show you what He can do.