My husband had a forty-five-minute commute to work through heavy traffic in a large city. We both agreed that it would be best for our family if we moved across town to make his commute shorter. We also needed a home with better parking to meet the needs of running a Branch and home fellowship for the ministry. My husband asked me to take on the task of finding us a new home that met our needs in the area we wanted. I happily agreed! The first thing I did was get clear and concerned like I have practiced for many years since taking my first Foundational Class, and I made a list of all the things we were looking for in a home. Some of the things on the checklist were: ample parking for fellowships and classes, enough room inside to run classes for the Branch, a guest room and office, a family-oriented neighborhood, and a community pool for our son to learn to swim and make friends. I then began the search online for homes for rent in the area to which we wanted to relocate. The choices were sparse, but I finally came across one that partially fit our criteria. It didn’t have all the things we were looking for, and going to see it was really a long shot, but because it was the only one I could find in the area where we wanted to move to, we decided to take believing action and take a look at the home.
I got in my van with my eighteen-month-old son and started the drive across town to see this home for rent. As I was driving, I began to get more convinced about the need to move so my husband didn’t have to drive through all of this heavy traffic. I arrived at the house early and sat outside waiting for my husband, who would be meeting me on his lunch hour. I wasn’t very impressed looking at the house from the outside and wasn’t even sure I wanted to go inside. As I was waiting, one of the neighbors came outside. I decided to get out of the car and ask him some questions about the house and the neighborhood. He was a very nice gentleman. After he filled me in on the area, he told me that if we don’t like the house we came to see, he had a beautiful home for rent right down the road if we wanted to go take a look. I was so excited at the possibility of going to see his rental home because the one in front of me was NOT very appealing.
Shortly after my husband arrived, we decided the house we came to look at wasn’t going to work for us and we didn’t even need to go inside it. So, we asked the neighbor if we could go see his home for rent instead. We got in our cars and followed him down the street. As we pulled up to the house, I knew right away this was going to be our new home! It was lovely and had EVERYTHING we needed to be able to run a fellowship and Branch from our home. All the items on our list were checked! It was Ephesians 3:20! It was above and beyond what we were looking for. God certainly blessed our believing action as we took steps in looking for a home. We never would have found this home had we not gone to look at the first one, even though it didn’t match all the criteria.
As we stay faithful to do all we know to do, God brings to pass the desires of our heart! We enjoyed living in that home for eight years and ran many fellowships and classes, and the community pool became a center of outreach for us as well. It was a wonderful home for us to move the Word together as a family!