When we realized we might be moving from Lubbock, many people's first response was "What about your house?" or "Oh no, your house!" Why the shock or sympathetic horror? Because 'THE HOUSE" was never just "a house" and it has a story all it's own.
I would love to write a story book of all the things God does, but I get overwhelmed when I try to think of how to start. Do I write chronologically or group them by theme? Do I start with the major story and then follow the thread to completion before I start another? You see, with God, it's "all connected." ( This is a nod to one of our beloved former pastors, Mike Hamlet.) It's so true. It's ALL connected. This is my favorite part of walking with the Lord and studying scripture. You can peel back layer upon layer and find new, fresh and relevant meaning every time.
I suppose you could view your life as independent separate experiences, but I think it would be depressing. If the trials had no meaning or the seasons of joy hadn't been built on those trials? Truly, depressing. I much prefer the "God did this, so then this, which opened the door to that, then God led us to this, so we would learn this, and finally, God was exalted in all of it" approach. Each chapter would have overlapping categories and themes, lessons learned...lessons repeated. With God's hand skillfully weaving individual threads into a complete and amazing story, a story that begins and ends in Him.
The story of the house or houses, as it were, would fall under, protection, faithfulness, God's timing, tithing and giving, and for sure miracles. But, when I think about the story of "THE HOUSE," my heart just melts and I immediately think of the good gifts a Father gives His children. This kind of gift is so extravagant and so unnecessary, but it's not given to manipulate or coerce affection. It's the very desire of your heart, that you never dare speak aloud, given purely to delight you and demonstrate His love. In this story, and in my heart, 'THE HOUSE" is one such gift. And, while others may have enjoyed it and others now own it, it was given to me. My Father gave it to me. I am humbled and overwhelmed even now to think about it.
My Father gave me this gift in particular, to show me several things. It showed me that God knows me in a personal and intimate way and is not "out there" or distant. It showed me that even though God does sometimes work in broad, general ways for the good of everyone, He also does the one thing for the one person, that matters and benefits no one else...unless you're the one person. It showed me that God's plan for the last year was put in motion long ago, this was so comforting to me because it meant that not a moment of it was wasted. It helped me to see everything in a coordinated timeline, with a planned and purposed beginning, a masterfully executed and prepared for ending....and no accidents in between. Not a single day or a single prayer was superfluous. Every disappointment, every dose of reality, every blessing was necessary to propel me closer to now. Closer to Him.
To appreciate "THE HOUSE," you must first understand all that was before it. I think most believers, and especially people in ministry, will tell you that when God is in it, it just works out. Our circumstances have never adhered to practical logic or predictability, not in any area. Our romance and wedding was out of a movie, our 2 preemies, my health, Andy's talent, our finances....all of it has defied even resembling normalcy, but bowed without resistance to God's touch. Especially, in regards to houses. I'm not sure why, though I have a pretty good idea, but this is an area God has protected and blessed us in. Still does.
And so it begins....on Pinelake Court.
This was our first house, in Spartanburg, SC. It's probably not funny to anyone else, but it only just now occurred to me the two houses kind of resemble each other.
When we moved to SC, I desperately wanted to buy a house in the only historic district in the city and renovate. We tried and tried, and either deals would fall through, roadblocks would come up, blemishes would reveal themselves.....we just could not make it happen.
I was so discouraged. I kept telling Andy, "This is the perfect time of our lives for a project. It's just the two of us, we have two incomes...we won't want do this in 10 years." There were a limited number of house in that area and we had explored every one to no end. A few days later, we found Pinelake Court. We loved it immediately. There was a pond in the back, azaleas, hydrangeas, dogwoods. Coming from West Texas, it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. We purchased Pinelake way under value from siblings who were feuding after their parents death. It seemed they enjoyed using the house to torment each other and kept lowering the price to gouge the others profit. They agreed on nothing, except us. As it turns out, their mother's father had been a music minister and though they snarled and hissed at each other, they both smiled sentimentally and agreed, Mother would have loved knowing there was music in the house.
That brother and sister walked away from closing with $600 split between them and their realtor. Two days before we closed on Pinelake Court, we found out I was pregnant. We had no idea at the time, but God had protected us in unbelievable ways.
If we had bought the house I thought we needed, our finances would have been devastated. We could have lost everything trying to get out of it, unable to do the work ourselves.
We moved into Pinelake Court right before Christmas 2006. We had everything we owned unloaded into the front living room and we locked the door and drove to Charlotte to catch a flight home. We were newlyweds, in a great city, in a great house, at a great church and expecting our first child. It was pure bliss.
After we had such a scare with Emerson, we wanted to be closer to family or at least more accessible. We began praying about where God would lead us next. It was mid 2007 and the housing market was beginning to stall. We should have taken a hit on a house we'd only been in a year, the house should have sat on the market....But God. Pinelake Court never went on the market. We sold it to our Sunday school teachers, whose family we still dearly love, at a fair asking price and we prayed together with them and an attorney from church at closing.
We were so excited when we found out we would be coming to Lubbock. There was not a single negative about coming to Lubbock, except the house. I don't know how many times Andy and I would laugh and sigh while we looked at apartments and houses, "We'll never have a house like Pinelake." We must have said it a hundred times over the next year. We had accepted the reality that the greatest and best house we would ever own was gone after only a year. We still had pictures in our phones and we would show people our backyard, with the pond and trees.....and then we would all have a good laugh, because there ain't nothin' like that in Lubbock.
Enter.....THE HOUSE.
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