“My testimony goes back several years. While I have shared it verbally with many people, I always felt inadequate to fully capture all the depth and nuances of God’s goodness and faithfulness on the written page. Just as John expressed in 21:25, if I tried to include everything that God did during this journey, there would not be room for the books to be written! Having said this, it is still lengthy, and I apologize in advance!
Many years ago, I had a deep desire for a home. My husband and I were living in a small townhouse that was affordable in every way, but just never felt like a home to me. It was nearly paid off, so the common sense said to make the best of living there. Nevertheless, I was feeding my spirit with many messages from numerous ministers that included faith for homes. The Prosperous Life with Gloria Copeland and Pastor George Pearsons featured several episodes that I watched over and over.
Fast forward to January 2020, I was nearing the final hearing of an unwanted divorce and asked to pay out half of the townhouse’s value. Instead, with prayer and family consultation, I contacted Pastor Brian Friday (a great realtor if you did not know this) on Sunday, January 13, 2020 to schedule a meeting for preparation to sell the townhouse and with the earnings, buy a new home.
The following day, I was traveling to Wisconsin for work and while waiting to board the plane, I casually opened a realty app to browse current homes for sale. I looked at 3-5 different listings without much interest before opening one that the Holy Spirit spoke loudly and immediately, telling me that this was my house. That evening, I contacted Brian to discuss. My son-in-law got me in touch with a loan officer. My accountant nephew assured me that it was entirely feasible to take a loan from my 401k to make the 20% down payment and pay it back afterwards. I sat on my hotel bed, watching the LSU-Clemson championship and submitted many documents for the pre-qualification. I was shocked that my loan officer approved my application within 15 minutes, during the game! The following day, Brian walked through the house for me. We submitted the offer and was under contract even though I had not physically walked onto the property. During the inspection and weeks to come, it became clear this was a “fixer-upper”, but I knew God had given me the word that this was my home. We closed on February 14th; the day originally planned in my offer. The townhouse was readied for the market two weeks later (March 2nd) and within 24 hours, we had a full price offer.
Within days, covid invaded our lives and nearly everything as we knew it before was changed. The seller backed out and a short 49 days after closing on the house, I lost my job in a workforce reduction, also losing a great salary. There were many nights of “faith over fear” where I laid awake fighting the lies of the enemy. The townhouse was still available. I could “go back to Egypt” so to speak, but I stayed confident in God’s message to me that “this was my house.” I put in application after application for jobs. No one was hiring, much less at a salary that I was accustomed. I received an interview at a local hospital for a staff position. During the interview, I was offered a manager job – in a field that I had absolutely zero experience! Grateful for any income, the realization that my salary was “$57,000 less than my previous position was daunting. However, to put into perspective, many of my colleagues were still without work many months later. I was only unemployed for one month.
The townhome sold in July, providing the funds to tackle many of the needed improvements to the house. It is important to add that I continued to pay my tithes and offerings well over the 10%. Money was tight so you can appreciate that I cried tears of joy at the end of the calendar year when I realized that my individual yearly giving had exceeded the 2019 married couple total. God is so good!
During this 16-month period of working in the hospital position, the Holy Spirit was so faithful. When I would get discouraged or hear the lies of the enemy that I was “too old” or “forgotten” or “didn’t have the expertise” that would promote me out of my situation, I continued to praise God for being the God of the Impossible. Kenneth E. Hagin expressed in many of his messages that you can have faith in your heart and doubt in your head. I understand that statement now. I lived it over and over during this journey. During one morning service, the Holy Spirit told me that my answer would come suddenly and that I would know without doubt that it was God. These and many other whispers of encouragement from God kept me going during a very difficult season in my life. A few months later, a text message from someone I had worked with 7 years prior and not very closely at all, recommended me for a position that she thought was “perfect for me.” Still, it took 3 months for this position to come to fruition. I accepted the position with a restoration of $40,000 of what I had lost in the salary reduction. God told me that He will restore the remainder in HIS time.
In retrospect – God was miraculous in so many ways: I had no way of knowing that I had a short window of time to buy this house. Had I waited or delayed, the loss of my job would have caused my loan to fall through. And, the house payment for my “Grace & Favor Home” was less than renting prices during covid. I was hired to a leadership position in a department in which I had zero expertise. I paid all my bills and still gave more to God than in the previous year. Most of all, God spoke to me often during my darkest days with words of encouragement. He spoke through daily devotion and scripture time, through my Pastors, and whispers from the Holy Spirit. Brandon Lake sums this up so eloquently in his song: “Don’t’ you tell me He can’t do it. He’s too good to not believe!” God IS faithful! He IS the God of the impossible!”