"But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."
Joshua 24:15
Some of you may already know the big news, but Matt and I are now homeowners! We are thrilled to be in a house and have loved living here for almost a week now. While I would love to tell the story of how we found the house and show pictures of how we have it decorated, that's going to have to take the back burner because there is a much bigger story that needs to be told.
This house is not our house.
While technically we own the house, and the mortgage is in our name, and this is where we sleep at night, neither one of us feels as if this house "belongs" to us. This house belongs to the Lord through the graciousness of Matt's dad Bud.
Many of you know that this past summer, while we were on our Honeymoon, Matt's dad passed away suddenly. Through his provisions to us and Matt's sister's family, we have been blessed to be able to buy a home earlier than we expected. As teachers we planned to do the apartment thing and save our pennies until we could find a house. However, as has been the theme of the past few years, nothing went according to our plan.
This house is a blessing from the Lord and we would be fools not to share this story. The story of his blessings poured out on undeserving people. For this reason, we want this house to be a testimony of His work in our lives. From unimaginable sadness to unspeakable joy, we have been blessed beyond belief. This year we have seen that it is possible to seek and find the Lord in times of grief, and we want to be honoring him and praising him in this season of blessing.
Perhaps another time I will share all the ways the Lord led us to this specific home and how he provided for us along the way, showing us what to do and giving us peace in the process. But for now I just ask that you would pray for the following:
1. That this home would be a place where the Lord is sought first and that it never becomes about anything Matt and I did to have this blessing.
2. That this home would provide opportunities to reach out to neighbors and share our story of how we came to live here, and that this in turn would point them towards Christ.
3. That this home would provide an opportunity to serve people at our church, our friends, and our families by opening it up and being hosts for various needs.
4. That this home would eventually one day be a place where we can raise our children to come to know their Heavenly Father, and to know the absolute love their Bud would have had for them if he were still here.
5. That we would never stop being thankful for the blessings that have been poured out on us, none of which are deserved.
"Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!"
Psalm 107:1
