The God who provides

Nine years ago, we needed a $20,000 miracle and we needed it within a month’s time. It seemed impossible. I was heavily pregnant with our third child and our living expenses just seemed to increase with each passing week. We had a land mortgage for the property we were building our house on plus our rent for our current home and the rent for the ministry center in the city.

I’d heard stress was not good for pregnant women and since this pregnancy followed a miscarriage, I wanted to make sure that I didn’t do anything to hurt the baby inside me. God heard my prayers and it was one of the few times I remember not feeling stressed. We needed the money to build the framework of our house. The foundation had been laid and we were awaiting a container full of materials that was being shipped from the U.S. to the Czech Republic.

A friend had e-mailed us about our finances and I remember writing him the amount we needed, which is probably why I remember the sum. We had been missionaries to the Czech Republic for five years and we believed God had given us a vision to build a house for Him. One of the key verses He gave us was:

“Unless the Lord builds the house, the workers labor in vain.”*

We’d purchased a piece of land in a foreign country as our seed of faith and prayer to reclaim the nation back for God. Our missionary friends tried to dissuade us and the reasons they gave were logical and they meant well. But we wanted to be obedient to God’s call on our lives.

Even so, we’d put a fleece out — praying that if the government would not allow us as foreigners to buy the land, then we would know that God was closing that door. But in what seemed like rare exception, we were able to legally purchase a plot right next to the forest in a new development. What’s more a Czech bank gave us the loan we needed. Even then, we did not have the funds to actually build the house.

It gives me hope just remembering how at the of the month when our support report came in, we saw a little over $20,000!!! Half of it came from someone we’d never met in our entire lives. And we knew then, that the Lord was going to build our house if only we’d trust Him.

We are still building that house … nine years later, even though we moved in six years ago (something that is common in Czechia.) As thankful as we are for our beautiful house and for the fulfillment of the vision (we’ve had visitors from 14 different nations worshiping with us), we are learning that the most important thing is not the physical house. Rather, God never meant for us to overlook the heart of the home which is a family knitted in the love of God. And we are in a season, where we are once again praying for another miracle and we are crying out to the Lord to build our home. He’s been a great provider and we are trusting Him to provide the healing and help we need.

“Unless the Lord builds the house, the workers labor in vain.” Ps. 127:1*

Linking up today with the Five Minute Friday community. I simply can’t write a post in five minutes but I sure enjoy trying.