Have I ever told you?

Have I ever told you the story about our house? OR the story of us moving from close friends and family to what feels to me like the middle of Know where! Aproximately 6 years ago God burdened my Husband and My heart for something more. He did the same in My brother and His wife. That burden became a church. A church in the Middle of nowhere! Yep. I thought I was strong and could handle a move like this....granted its only an hour away from our close friends and family, but its an hour away! That little church began in a home in Flint, mi. My husband and I moved a year after the church started to the flint area without a job. Yep.

Hubby lost his job.

Why?

Cause God wanted us to move.

Why?

To start the Church.

Why?

Because we felt there was so much more to this life than the everyday.

Why?

because autopilot for our lives is just not okay...and because we said "Lord we are yours, use us how you want." HE said "Really? :) " We said "Yes Lord." HE said "ok."

I really wish He would have said how much pain would be involved cause I might have said "Lord I'm yours, but please don't let it hurt so much!" LOL. Yes I really do pray that sometimes. I.am.human.

So here we are up in Flint, hubby started his own job as a spin off of my mom's buisness(what a blessing!) But unfortunately it didn't make enough. We struggled really hard. We didn't understand what God was doing. We've moved and were still struggling?. I honestly thought once we made the move, everything would be magically fine. We lived on food stamps for a while, we had a gas man come to shut off our gas in the middle of winter...that was probably the most traumatic thing for me, a mom, just wanting to keep my babies warm and safe. We had two leased vehicles we couldn't afford to pay for. My BIL lived with us and He was jobless also, and in the middle of the night we had a repo man come to our door and act like he was going to break our door down just to get his car. I won't ever forget that feeling. I honestly was at my wits ends. I cried out to God. I asked why us? Why this life? He slowly answered our prayers for more work for my husband and why we had gone through so much. He was not only showing us what we really need to live off of(No new cars, only used, no credit...if you can't pay cash for something you don't need it, eating out is a nicety not a necessity) but more importantly He was changing our hearts. Giving us compassion and a heart for those that go through rough times. He had to bring us to the end of ourselves so we could actually see others and their circumstances. I praise God for that time. I wouldn't change it for anything, but am also praising God that we are now not in that season of life.

Almost a year after our move up here we had a choice to make. Continue renting our home, or step out in faith and buy a home. I new God was calling us to buy a beautiful big house, but we didn't know how we were going to afford it. After talking to the owners, we purchased the home for $50,000 under market value.






The owners had just remodeled the kitchen putting $20,000 into the kitchen alone, new carpet....pretty swirley kind, new windows, new roof, a top of the line water system, new hardwood floors. More than we would have ever hoped for or picked out for ourselves, But GOD. God picked this house out for us. We did not. Being so confident this was Jesus leading us to buy this house, we didn't even look at the house before we purchased it, no inspection. We signed our papers to purchase the home, and when we got the keys we came into our new home and sat down and prayed and thanked God for His provisions in our lives, and then I cried as we walked through our home. I'm reminded by this entire journey of moving here jobless, starting a buisness, starting the church and buying a home...

Habakkuk 1:5

Look at the nations and watch--and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.

I would have not believed it if He were to tell me all that was included in this journey. But wait one more thing...almost 9 months after we closed on our home, because we purchased our home, we got the tax credit and was able to pay cash for our 2005 Toyota Sienna. A God van. Honestly. Any other van with the same year and all the bells and whistles would have cost us another $6,000.00 but God!

This journey has not been easy, But God. HE is with me. He has provided over and above what I can ever hope for or imagine.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understandings, in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path.-Proverbs 3:5

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen-Hebrews 11:1

And as its just the day after Easter, and I still stand in awe of my Lord. He is simply amazing. He has continued to burden my heart for more things. Like I said in my last post there is so much more. My Grandpa. My heart is so heavy for Him, he is on His 3rd or 4th round of cancer, and I sat in church yesterday praying for him. That He would give His life to Jesus....My heart just hurts for Him. Please pray for Him with me. Thanks.

XOXO!
Gina