For the past 6-8 weeks or so, the Lord has continued to give Carol, myself and our intercessor the same passage of scripture as we would go before Him.
Proverbs 3:5 (NASB)
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And do not lean on your own understanding.
This scripture always seemed to be present when we were praying about our housing situation. Every time we would hear this verse we would see so many different ways it could be applied to our search, but we just weren’t getting any further clarity on where we needed to be looking.
A few weeks ago, my business partner asked me if I would consider living in a mobile home and he even went so far as to go on a fact finding mission for me at a local mobile home park. As doors continued to close in front of Carol and I we decided to explore this option. Last night Carol and the kids toured several parks, but came away without a real sense of peace about any of the trailers they looked at. So today, being our only real day to look we decided to go back to one of the parks after looking at some houses this morning that just didn’t fit.
She showed me the trailer she had looked at the night before, but both of us came away with the same sense that this particular trailer wasn’t our answer. As we were driving away, she pointed out an attractive double-wide that was for sale by owner at the far end of the trailer park. We called the number on the sign, and low and behold they were home (I must warn you, there is a twist in the unfolding of events…you haven’t solved the case yet Sherlock Holmes). We went inside and met the owners who were moving due to the husband’s terminal illness and his need for in home care. As I looked around, the trailer was nice, but there were large gaps between the two halves of the trailer and part of the ceiling was breaking away from water damage. This wasn’t it either.
Carol and I left, dumbfounded and asking ourselves “now what?” As we were driving away, the phone rang. It was the wife from the trailer we had just been in. She told Carol that her sister, who had been at the trailer when we were there, had a house on Padre Island that had been wrecked by the previous tenants. She said that if we were willing to paint and clean carpets she would be willing to reduce the rental. As we turned back around, I told Carol: “this sounds like a God thing taking shape.”
When we returned to the trailer, we were met by the sister of the trailer owner’s wife. She jumped in the van and said, “let me show you the house.” As we drove towards Padre Island, we learned that her husband had passed away a couple of years ago and that she didn’t want to live there anymore. She said the previous tenants had ruined the carpets and the walls, requiring a lot of elbow grease.
When we arrived, we found a 4 bedroom brick home with a pool and ample space for our Organic Groups. The work needed was primarily clean up and cosmetic. When I asked her what she wanted for rent and she named what our price range was. When I asked her what the work was worth, she indicated that it was worth at least one month’s rent, but she also stated her need for some rental income from it. I told her what we were currently paying and asked her if we could pay her that same amount for February and March, discounting for the clean up work. We agreed to begin paying the full rental amount in April. She suggested we put it in writing, so on a notepad we drew up those terms and she handed us the key. No pet deposit, no rental deposit and just what we needed when we need it.
God being the loving Father that He is, went far above what we needed. Placing us 3 blocks from my favorite fishing spot, giving me a place to exercise daily with my favorite activity…swimming! And by positioning us on the Island, our ministry now has placement in 3 key areas of Corpus Christi.
God is so awesome…please take a moment and give Him your best “just gotta praise You dance.”