The Cloud Moved

When the Lord was leading the Israelites to their new home and He wanted them to move forward, the cloud, representing His presence, would move and He would lead them to their next destination.  (Exodus 14)

We had moved back to Louisiana in 2013 so that I could care for my sweet mom as she began to suffer from dementia.  Six years later, the Lord called her home to Heaven and the Lord began to stir in our hearts that the “cloud was moving” for us again.

We prayed about where our next chapter of ministry would be and what the Lord would have us invest ourselves in for this season of our lives.  One day while in Oklahoma visiting family and friends, the Holy Spirit simply whispered to my heart, “Move back.”  I was tremendously surprised but thankful He was calling us to a move that would be fairly simple in many ways.  We have family here and the area is familiar because it is Randy’s hometown.  

But the looming question began to be, “When?”  How do you know when to make a cross country move when you aren’t moving to a specific job with a start date?  We knew the Lord was calling us to move but we didn’t exactly know what He was calling us to do.               Randy came to me one day and said he felt strongly impressed that we should find the home the Lord had for us first and then everything else would follow.  He is the one who leads by faith in the family. I’m always the one asking the questions like “Well, how in the world are we going to do that?  What about this, that, and the other?”

We began to make trips on the internet and in person to visit many homes hoping that the Lord would show us one that could be the place where we could settle and spend the remainder of our years serving Him.  With a large family and both of us working from home, we prayed for a place that would just fit our needs.

Both of my parents have gone on to Glory and, like everyone else on the planet, they left every single thing they had behind.  I became a steward of some of those things and wanted to honor them with what I was entrusted.  

The Lord kept leading us back to this house out in the country on this great big hill with this crazy narrow driveway that crossed a pond.  It seemed like a beautiful refuge.  It suited every single one of our needs and made my heart swell because I could completely see my mother’s beautiful things fitting inside this home and my father would have absolutely loved the land.

But….I could not believe that this was actually where the Lord wanted me to live.  I couldn’t wrap my mind around it.  It fell into the category of “abundantly beyond what I could have ever asked for or imagined” and I simply was NOT asking for something like it.  I bristled against the idea that the Lord was opening this particular door for us.  

So I wasted a few months looking at other things that He simply would not bless or open doors for.  One day Randy simply looked at me and asked me why I didn’t want to pursue “the house on the hill.”  I began to weep because I knew deep down I was walking in disobedience.  It was easier for me to accept that He would lead me to something that my mind could comprehend and that felt immediately comfortable than to something that was out of my comfort zone and did not immediately seem to ‘fit’ within the ways He had previously worked in our lives.

Out of sheer obedience we made an offer on the house and to our great surprise, they accepted it.  I wish I could tell you that I was grateful and full of peace but I still had this nagging sense deep within me where my spirit was not settled.  I could not put my fears to rest.  We were stepping out in faith to buy another house before selling the one we already owned in a world that seemed completely upside down with the pandemic and political disasters.  And the Lord wasn’t calling us to do something that even looked “possible.”  My grandmother used to say that her “elastic was shot” meaning she just didn’t have any more ‘stretch’ in her at that point to face something.  My elastic was SHOT!  Randy stood firm believing this was in fact the direction the Lord was leading regardless of how crazy it seemed.  

We made the long drive to do the inspection and to my surprise the homeowners were at the house!  I had to check my attitude because I was very tired from a long trip, I didn’t feel like I looked presentable after a tiring day, and frankly I wasn’t in the mood to visit with anyone.  I just wanted to poke around the house and inspect everything!  I prayed and asked the Lord to help me and walked in to find this absolutely delightful older couple who clearly knew the Lord.  I introduced myself and asked the woman since she was there if she would like to give me a tour of her home.  I wanted to see it through her eyes.  With a gleam in her eye and a smile on her face, she asked me to come stand in the foyer with her.  She pulled out a piece of paper where she had written down the scriptures that she had written on the foundation of this home.  We both began to shed tears as she walked me all over the house telling me how the Lord had led them to build this house years before and how they had used it to share the gospel and to disciple others.  People had turned their lives over to Christ right there in my new den.  She told me that other people had come and gone through the years wanting to buy it but she never had a peace about it.  She told me they had been waiting for us….that nothing else ever felt quite right. When they saw that we were in ministry, they knew the Lord was at work and bringing another family who would use this property for His glory.

The Lord was so gracious to allow me that confirmation.  He had to pull me through the mud to get me to obey Him in this but I am so very, very grateful now.  

I am still astounded that He led this couple to build this house with the design that they did knowing that years later another family would come here to dwell and it would fit them like a glove.  Only the Lord could work that out!

The other miracle……..We bought our home in December of 2020.  It was an enormous leap of faith.  I kept pressuring Randy to get our other home on the market to sell it because I was so nervous about owning two homes!  He kept assuring me that it wasn’t time yet.  We still needed our home in Louisiana to LIVE IN (lol) because we needed to stay until May and the Lord would work out the details when the time came.  In May of 2021 we sold our home in Louisiana after the real estate market exploded and the Lord BLESSED us and PROVIDED for us AGAIN!

I have so many things for which to be grateful, but this home has become a daily reminder that His ways are not our ways and when we walk by faith, He will do things we cannot even fathom.  I’ve found so much beauty through so much pain in my life as the Lord has sovereignly allowed a great deal of heartache and loss.  For whatever reason He chose to show His glory to me through this miracle of joy and my heart is so very full.  I do not think I will ever get over this gift.  I feel the presence of the Lord in this special place and I feel so deeply loved by my mom and dad.  They didn’t get the blessing of growing old together.  My children don’t have the blessing of having them in their lives, but they get to experience a little piece of who they were right here in this special place every single day.  I so pray Randy and I have many more years to serve the Lord together and that He finds us faithful to the very end.  

Isaiah 2:3 People from many nations will come and say, “Come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord and there He will teach us His ways and we will walk in His paths.”  This is the verse under the floor of my foyer.  Lord, let it be!

Lord, this is your house. Everything we have is Yours.  Use it for your glory and our good as we look to you in praise, gratitude, and surrender.  Amen.  

Friend, maybe you have something in your own life where you are struggling to move forward and trust the Lord? I encourage you to follow Him as you listen to His still small voice and trust Him to move the mountains in your own heart. He will bless you in the valleys and on the mountains as you look to Him and walk in obedience!