God's Sense of Humor

I used to hear the stories from my mom. “Don’t ever say ‘never’!” One of her best friends from Bible college always said, “I’ll never marry a preacher. I’ll never be a missionary.” That wonderful woman has been married to a preacher many, many years now, and they spent decades serving the Lord in Africa!

One day we were driving near a larger city, marveling at the urban sprawl. “Why would anyone build their house so close to an interstate?” I ranted. “I certainly would NOT want to live there!” Another day, another road: “Man, I would never want to live in a trailer.”

Somewhere along the way we were getting pretty cramped in our adorable, updated Victorian one-story with only one bathroom, and I started praying for the right house for our family. I had lots of good reasons…Oh, Lord, we didn’t really know about Hannah’s special needs when we chose this house, and we need a better layout for our family. We want Katie to have a place she feels comfortable bringing her friends and hanging out during her adolescence. More space, please. And with all those extra girls around, we REALLY need an extra bathroom!

And we looked. And we tried to sell ours. We even wrote offers on a couple of different houses, at different times, that had logical reasons why they would be good for our family. I reasoned with my husband—a little more debt is worth it to enjoy while Katie is still with us, yada, yada. But doors kept closing.

Then, I finally knew why—God was leading us down a road I didn’t expect. A total change of venue. Moving. New ministry. The whole enchilada. OK, faith is supposed to be one of my stronger gifts, and after a spiritual kick in the pants, I was totally up for this. Still looking at nicer, more expensive houses, just in a totally different zip code. Another offer written.

Then it came, another kick. A series of lessons on Biblical financing. And I finally said, ok, Lord…all those other prayers still stand (more bathrooms, remember!) and a new one—help us get totally out of debt. Sooner, rather than later. And you know what happened. Nothing. That is, on the houses. Ours doesn’t sell. The other offer expires. We’re free to look again.

This time, something comes along, much more affordable. And guess what? It has more space. It has not only more than one bathroom, it has 3 full baths. It has a better layout for our family. And guess what else? It’s a double-wide mobile home. Not “trailer-ish” at all, I mean we have real gutters and downspouts and everything. But it is, in fact, a newfangled, glorified trailer. And it’s right by an interstate.

And I love it. And I love God’s sense of humor!