The Lord Provided a Home

The conversation and decision to move was simple and fast.
Last January (2014), my husband made a random statement, “You know. If we were to move anywhere, it would be to Greenville (SC).”
I simply answered, “Okay! Let’s go!”
That very night I started searching online for our new home.

Our friend and mentor became our Realtor and the looking began.
Because we are self-employed, financing was a beast and was going to take the hand of God to move on our behalf.
Our search was hot and heavy. We expanded our borders and criteria a few times and I’m sure aggravated our Realtor several times!
Fast forward from February to June. We found THE house!

Our criteria was that the home would be a fixer-upper, so we’d already considered the cost of future repairs.
We made an offer. The seller countered. We countered. The seller countered. We countered. The seller accepted someone else’s offer.

Brian kept saying, “That’s our house and no matter how long it takes, we’ll get it.”
Even with that said, we continued our search because we were on a time line.
The Summer came and went, several offers on other homes were made and fell through.
No other house completely satisfied.

During one of our dates on a September evening, we got the text from our Realtor letting us know that THE house was put back on the market.
The listing Agent wanted to know if we we were still interested!

We didn’t waste any time with low bidding. We put the max on the table.
The week that followed; the week that we were waiting to hear back from the seller, was agonizing long for me!

Our cash offer was accepted! ….Then our commitment went south in a hurry.
We had to make other provisions, making our accepted offer void!

Meanwhile, they accepted another offer!!
Our new financed offer was now the seller’s backup offer.
Our faith was saying, “Uh! NO! That’s OUR house and the current offer will not go through.”

We sought the Lord for clear direction and asked God for His miraculous favor.
During this time we shopped for a loan.

We went through the formalities of paperwork and questions answered.
The bank said NO.
After this phone call, my spirit was in knots and my faith was.

Then, what people have said is impossible and NEVER heard of happened!
The bank called back and said YES!

Then, what people have said is impossible and NEVER heard of happened!
The seller (which is the state of SC) said YES!

There were slow downs, snags and hiccups along the way, but we stood solid on knowing that this was too well orchestrated by the Lord to not go through!

I just wanted to take this time to share the story of our home purchase. We closed on our home in November!
In this process we had to put our faith to work. Most times my husband’s faith was stronger than mine! We stood on God’s word, making them our prayer.

There were many friends that were such an encouragement to me during this time. They truly stood in the gap, helped me to gain perspective, allowed me to vent and loved me through it all! To those friends, I'm so grateful!

Renovation started shortly after Thanksgiving and we’re loving the process. We pray that the end results will be a warm, cozy dwelling place for family and friends for many, many years to come!


With Sword and Coffee,
Kela

My Life in Christ

Now all things are of God,
who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ,
and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is,
that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself,
not imputing their trespasses to them,
and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
2 Corinthians 5:11 (NKJV)

And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins…

Ephesians 2:1 (NKJV)

I’m not sure why I read and wrote those Scriptures together in my journal a few weeks ago, but it got me asking myself a question:

God has made me alive and snatched me from the bondage of this world.
What am I doing with my life in Christ?

The past year I’ve been doing more waiting that really living. We put our sights on buying a home in a different city last January. We completed the process in November.

I wasn’t enjoying the “here and now” moments.

What did I do with my life in Christ? For the most part, I squandered it!
Oh, we were stepping out in faith with the purchase of our new home. God moved MIGHTILY for us!

Thankfully, though, the faith of my husband played a major role in it.
I was sometimes like that man described in James 1:6-8, but always like the man in Mark 9:24 (Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!)

There were many times that I cried out to God to not take my lack of faith into account and to let me ride on my husband’s faith coattail.

I was met with sweet rest in Him as He loved and “peaced” me back on the right track. God is faithful to bring us back into Himself.

I share my faith struggle to share that there is overcoming victory; to share that a season of ups and downs can last over 4 seasons of weather.

Even if our faith wavers, we can be picked back up by the mighty hand of God.
Even when the words “Oh you of little faith” are true of us, we dare not stay in that rut of faithlessness.

Remember your day of salvation. You trusted and believed. Trust and believe again…and again…and again.

I may need to ask myself “What am I doing with my life in Christ?” often, but it’ll be worth it to examine my life regularly!

With Sword and Coffee,
Kela

It’s Not Too Early to Plan–Teach Them Diligently Homeschool Convention

photo credit: Stuart Miles | free digital photos.net

*This post contains affiliate links





It isn’t too early to start planning to attend this convention.

I was able to attend in 2013 in Spartanburg, SC.
Last year I wasn’t as fortunate because we were visiting our new Grandson!

The 2015 Teach Them Diligently Convention that I’ll be attending will be in Atlanta, GA.

Teach Them Diligently has proven to be more than just useful homeschool information, resources and vendors.
I’ve found my way back to the core of our family’s calling and back to the deeper heart matters in myself.
I gleaned from the experience of home educators that are “just like me”…human!
They gladly tell stories of their struggles and successes.
They sit and share how God has brought them through triumphant years and how, I too, can lean on Him through not only the homeschool years, but as a daughter/woman of God.

If I don’t nourish my heart, how can I nourish the hearts of my children?

A blog post can never properly convey how my heart soared. I’d love for you to experience Teach Them Diligently Convention for yourself!

Can’t make it to Atlanta? There are several more locations around the U.S.!
I’m sure there will be a speaker at each one the will give you exactly what you need for your Christian and Homeschool journey!

Check out the list of speakers HERE!

Make your plans now to attend and I really hope to meet you in Atlanta!




Living With Sword and Coffee,
Kela

Knowing When You’re Wrong

October has been filled with daily treats of marriage posts at Managing Your Blessings!
We’ve been running the 2nd annual series of 31 Days to a Better Marriage.
Join me today as I talk about the possibility of being wrong.
“I Could Be Wrong, but…”



Living With Sword and Coffee,
Kela

*photo credit: Ambro|Free Digital Photos .net