God does certain things in our lives for many reasons. One is to build our own faith.
But another is so that we can share these things He’s done to give Him glory, so others may hear and know more about the nature of our God.
So as much as my adventures in California have made for a great story, I know it’s mainly just an amazing testimony of the faithfulness of God.
So I don’t know if you realize this, but it’s impossible to get an apartment without a job or a co-signer, even if you have the money to move in. So it was quite foolish of Nina and I to think that we could move on out and have a place within a week. And having a place before we moved was just entirely out of the question.
But here’s God’s provision #1 - A co-worker of my dad’s has a sister in Malibu with a room she rents out to people. And she graciously allowed us to stay in that room free of charge until we found a place.
And obviously are apartment hunt took much longer than anticipated, which led to free housing for a month! We paid for utilities, but it was still such a blessing. Had we’d gone out there and paid for a hotel only anticipating we’d need it for a week, that would’ve bankrupted us, but we were so blessed to have had this room given to us.
Then we found an apartment! And the timing was impeccable because the day we found out about it was the day the woman let us know that we had to be out of the house in Malibu by that Saturday. Unfortunately, we couldn’t move into our new apartment until the following Wednesday - that was four days without any place to stay.
I wasn’t worried about it, though. Because I knew God wasn’t going to leave us stranded. It wasn’t the first time I had to find solace in hope and faith, but it definitely was the time where I had to rely on it the most. And that just got rid of all potential stress and worry for me - just knowing and believing in the true power of my God who loves me more than anything.
At first, no one could help us out. In fact, we had one lead that would’ve covered us for one night at least fell through. And letting my frustrations get the best of me for one moment, I took to twitter (of course) to rant about Christians not following Hebrews 13:2. And literally a minute after I let that out, I get a facebook message from a guy who I had only seen (not even talked to) from a community group we’d been going to through our church that had a place for us to say.
So essentially it was God saying to me, “So hey, if you’re done complaining over there, I have something for you…”
And he had the absolute best arrangement for us. The guy was house-sitting for his family, and essentially, we’d just take over his house-sitting duties, which left us with a whole house to ourselves. A nice house with a record player and tons of vinyls, in a nice location, which was infinitely better than crashing on a couch/our air mattresses in someone’s room in an apartment.
And after his offer, we got a couple of more offers, just driving in the fact that God is good, and that His people are faithful to each other.
But a few days past, and the apartment we thought we had - well, we don’t have it, so permanent “homelessness” is looming over us again. Fortunately, though we originally only needed to “house sit” until Wednesday, the family wasn’t coming back until Saturday, so we were allowed a few more days to get things together.
But once again, I just had to know that God was going to make something happen. I wanted that apartment, but obviously God had other things in mind, so I just had to trust him on it.
Leading to the next provision of God - blessing me with a wonderful family. My aunt made arrangements with a cousin who works for Marriott to get us discounted hotel reservations for two weeks. And my dad put money towards it. So there an another extension - two more weeks for us to get something together.
Things kept on falling through, though. Before we even thought we had an apartment, we’d tried to find two-bedroom places with at least three different roommates, and they all ended up bailing on us. Then we tried to find month-to-month lease places because my dad was willing to co-sign if we did that, but all of them were either sketch as heck or the deposit exceeded what we could afford. Nothing was really lining up for us, but I had to keep in mind and hold tight to the knowledge that when God closes a door, it’s for a great reason, and He’ll open the right door when His timing is right.
So once in the hotel, we found another roommate. One who wasn’t going to bail, and we even found an apartment that my dad agreed to co-sign for, even though it wasn’t month-to-month. Those arrangements were made pretty quickly, and it seemed as if we wouldn’t have to wait until the last minute this time before something came through.
Except a week into our hotel living, we decided that taking this apartment would not be the best decision for us. So we ended up being the roommates to bail this time (oh, the irony), leaving us back at square one. I didn’t mind, though, because I knew God had something for us.
The very next day after we decided not to take that apartment, we visited a different apartment that a girl was subleasing. That meant no credit checks, no long term commitment, no signing a lease. And everything about it was just great. I had the best feeling as we sat there, talking to the girl - like this was the place.
And that’s where I am now. 2 months since I’ve moved out to Los Angeles, and I now see why everything fell through. It wasn’t that it was “falling through”, actually, but that God had something better. And He just further proved how faithful He is. Every single time we were at the edge, He came through with another path for us to walk. He never left us hanging. Not at all.
This really was the best thing for us. The location is amazing - we didn’t even realize how great it was until after we moved in. We get to live together,and just us - no awkward third roommate who may have ended up crazy or just incompatible. It’s safe. It has cool roof top access. God really just wanted us to wait on Him for the perfect place.
So I just want to encourage people to put their full trust in God - no matter the circumstance. Because God promises that He will provide for all our needs (Matthew 6:25-34, Philippians 4:19). And I know that we suck at keeping promises, but God transcends our petty humanness. If He says He’s going to do something - He will. He won’t leave us hanging, because He loves us.
That’s what I got into the habit of telling myself these past two weeks that has allowed me to keep a genuinely positive attitude, no matter what happens. “No matter what happens, God loves me so so so much.” It’s a love so strong, in fact, that nothing can separate us from it (Romans 8:38-39). And that just covers over any hardship, because I know that because of God’s love for me, He is going to work everything out for the good (Romans 8:28). And I mean, just the fact that He does love me, period, is just such an amazing blessing. No matter what goes wrong on this Earth, I am still incredibly blessed because oh my gosh, the Creator of the universe loves me unconditionally! What the heck?! That is amazing! It didn’t matter that I didn’t have a permanent address or that my car kept on having all these insane problems, because God loves me.
And believe me, you save yourself so much stress, anxiety, and all sorts of things if you just know that. That He loves you and will take complete care of you. I know it’s hard to put into practical means. It’s easy to read and feel like you know that God will get you through anything, but it’s harder to act out. But pray over it and internalize everything He’s done before in your life and you have seen Him do in other believer’s lives. Those are the biggest contributors to my faith - God blessing me with it, and the fact that I just focus on all the amazing things He’s done in my life before, and know that He will do them again, and even more amazing things at that.
I’ve been able to appreciate these past months in a way I wouldn’t have been able to if I didn’t have my relationship with God. Anticipating that He was going to lead me through every bump I encountered, and then actually getting to see Him do just that has been amazing, and has just built my faith in Him even more. I’m just so blessed and grateful for all He’s done in my life. Because this faith is not my own - I wouldn’t have it at all if it wasn’t for Him and His faithfulness.
So I just wanted to share a bit of my story from the past two months. Hopefully someone can derive some sort of encouragement from it. And I just really wanted to give glory to God through all of this, because man, He’s amazing! And He will be amazing in your life, too - just give Him the chance!
No comments:
Post a Comment