God Is Working Behind The Scenes (Originally written on Wednesday, September 22, 2010) For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11 But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19 Many of us have periodically gone through seasons in which we experience times of hardships, whether it be financial difficulties, medical related issues, personal family issues and more, and through my own experiences I can tell you that it is not always easy to deal with. At times it has seemed to be nearly impossible to believe that things would ever get better, but because of Gods unchanging hand and His mercy and grace, things did although not always the way that I wanted them to change. I had to learn to become humble, to accept the things that I could not change, to stop trying to fight God and surrender to His will concerning me. And as I continue on this journey, I from time to time, come across someone who is struggling, and they too start having doubts that things will change for the better. As I try to bring in a word of encouragment, I think about how God has shown me in the past that no matter what, keep my eyes on Him, trust Him, and follow HIS direction, not my own. Recently an issue in a friend of mines life brought me back to something that recently took place in my own life exactly one year ago that as I look back on it, it is a testimony of what Father did on my behalf in the mist of my own worries which brought me to the place that I am now, both in the natural and in spirit. I hope this testiment to the awesomeness of Gods never ending power will encourage anyone who is going through in this season... My family and I spent 14 years at our previous residence and during that time the house was slowly falling apart all around us, both within the structure and outside of it. Gods grace and mercy was with us during that time as we experienced one problem after another which included the plumbing busting almost ruining a Thanksgiving dinner, a gun accidentally fired with the bullet flying past nearly half an inch from the right side of my face causing my ears to ring for about an hour, and having a tree that had been rotting for years which the landlord refused to have cut down, fall that somehow missed my kitchen and fell on my neighbors roof instead. I would often call up my mentor out of sheer frustration, but I never stopped being there for others, no matter what took place in my life. It was during such a time in which I extended a helping hand to another when out of nowhere my former landlord called me up, demanding to know when was my husband and myself planning on moving out. Apparently he had made plans to sell the house but could not or would not do it while he had tenants living there. He also alerted out neighbors who had already started moving before he even called them, but for us it took us completely by surprise and to make matters worse, he gave us only 30 days to get out...30 days to go through all that stuff, 30 days to pack, and 30 days to find a new place. It was this month last year (Sept 2009) and we had just paid our rent. We did not know what we were gonna do, no xtra money, had made no plans to move, and with the pets it would be nearly impossible to find a place to rent that would accept both cats and dogs, but regardless I immediately started looking. My husband contacted our attorney who advised us that unless the landlord/owner of the house lived there (it was a duplex), legally he must give us 90 days to move. Still, it was hard trying to find a place, and now the landlord decided to get cute and try to charge us for rent if we would be there for another couple of months. I was so distraught, I think I cried all day long for the first two days. The thoughts that were going through my mind in regards to the landlord I had to repent of because they were not pretty, lets just say some of the violent things I had done in my past started creeping back into my mindset and there was no way I was going to allow them to take up residence again. So I looked, and looked and looked, and each time I looked, I always came to the same apartment with the one important thing we were looking for; acceptance of both cats and dogs. I felt drawn to it, but because we would have to go through a realtor, I kept ignoring it; we just did not have the money to pay them as well as put down a security and a half deposit and the first months rent. Every other place I called turned me down, and so I talked it over with my husband and with a prayer on my lips, I called the realtor. That, was day four of our alleged (landlored decreed) 30 day time frame to move. Soon as I started speaking to the realtor I broke down crying. Through tears I explained to her what happened and what we were looking for, and then I blurted out that we did not have the money to pay them up front to find us a place. She was so compassionate and caring, she told me that she would not collect a dime until she found us a place. Getting my contact information, she said she would both email me as well as call me as soon as she found something. All of this took place in mid September of 09, and within ONE DAY, she called me to tell me that she found us a place. We met her at the realtor office and went to the apartment...it was the EXACT apartment that I had felt drawn to when I was searching and it had EVERYTHING that we needed! In the old apartment there were no lights in the backyard so at night I had to use a flashlight to take out my oldest dog, she was still tramatized from the abuse she was forced to endure at the hands of her previous parents, so she would not walk down the street and we had to take her out back to do her business. If I had no flashlight, I had to rely on the light of the moon when it was out. Thank God for natures night light, but as we looked at the new place it has motion detector lights; no need for flashllights. The kitchen ceiling was caving in in the old place, in the new place everything was new including a beautiful ceiling fan. The back steps in the old place had been replaced twice by a friend of my husbands and they were threatening to fall apart again, the new place has the steps on the inside making it easier for my dog Sheba who is getting on in the years, to be able to walk down. With my health issues it was becoming increasingly difficult for me to walk to the stores for little things, the new place, the stores for things of neccessity are just down the street, and the woman who is my trainer and is my sister in Christ (we met at the last church I was a member of), her gym is right down the street enabling me to be able to do my therapy without having to leave the neighborhood. And what we were worried about the most was taken care of with one phone call, ALL of our pets were welcome there too. As far as the financial concerns as to HOW were we going to pay the money to the realtor and the owners? Taken care of right at that moment; we did not have to worry about that until the next month on the 5th of October, which was the exact date that we knew we would have the money to take care of all of what was needed for us to be able to move in there. So here is the awesomeness of Gods favor, His mercy, His grace, His love; within 5 DAYS (the number of GRACE) we had a new place and here is another things that blew my mind; the realtor told me that this apartment has been vacent for a long time, that she did not understand how anyone could have missed this place in search of an apartment. She said that she has had clients that were financially able to afford it, that it had everything they were looking for in an apartment and the area, but somehow it had been over looked. When she told me that I kind of joked with her and said, its just one of those things that make you go hmmmmmm..., but inside I began to see the hand of God in this. I believe that it was His Divine orchestration, arranging things to fall in line in a certian order so that when the time came, all we could do was to follow His lead. My husband who is not saved does not understand about these particular things in how God works, but in MY heart I knew it could only be the Lord who was working behind the scenes on our behalf, and it is HE that I humbly give all praise to, none of this was my doing, but I had to STEP OUT ON FAITH and follow the direction in which God was taking me. From the start I had no way of knowing what we were going to do, how we were going to make it out of this mess, but our all seeing and all knowing Father knew. Not only were we blessed with this new apartment which has EVERTHING WE NEED, all other things fell in line too. Because of the urgency in the time frame in which we had to move, we fell behind in paying the utilities and other things, but God had already taken care of that too; each company I spoke to let me know that because I paid most of my bills on time and had always been honest with them when I could not, they xtended the grace periods on each bill, giving me enough time to catch up on them. But it did not stop there; at my previous address our public service bills were always high sometimes going up to over $500.00 because of the many drafts in the house during the winter months. Here, where I am now, each window has been thoroughly sealed, examined and inspected, and even with having to make back payments, our utility charges have been cut down by almost $300.00. So at times when I hear about someone who is going through and dont see any possible way out of their situation, I think back to this and other things that God has done on our behalf, and humbly realize that God will take our views of the impossiblity of change, and make them possible....already having taken place in the spirit realm, those changes waiting on His release to be manifested in His time. HOWEVER...and please hear me on this, WE MUST do our part and activate our faith by stepping out in the belief that God has everything under His control and command, even if things dont look like it will happen, even through tears which trust me I shed plenty of during that and many other times, just step out. You never know what God is doing behind the scenes if you dont give Him a chance to show you and bless you. There is a friend of mine who has had some difficulty in the past in getting a job and keeping them. Recently he went on an interview but kind of knew that it would not pan out for him, but he did not let that stop him, he found a job elsewhere. It was not the ideal job that he wanted, but believing that it may lead him to someday a better one, and being grateful that THIS job would help pay the bills, he accepted it, and started working a couple of days ago. Gods grace, Gods favor, Gods mercy, Gods blessings. One final note; my former landlord (slumlord) tried very hard to rip us off even when we had already moved. First he tried to tell us that he did not get Sept (last year) rent, but I called him on that thanks to the bank records, then he tried to tell us that we owed him rent for Oct and possible Nov. He tried to take what our attorney had told him that legally we have 90 days to move against us, but what he did not know was that not only did we find a place within a period of five days, we were out of his home and into this one by the 5th of October. This is another coincidence of Gods grace; the number 5 is anchored where we live now in several areas within the structure. And our new landlords? A wonderful, loving couple who not only loves animals as much as I do, we hit it off on the first day we met; both of them have a lot in common with both my husband and myself, and they are people of integrity and God fearing. They take care of their home, check in with us from time to time to make sure all is well not just with their home, but with us as a family. In the old place WE had to contact a plumber, our former landlord would not do it, here, the owners of this residence makes sure that whatever our plumbing problems are, THEY take care of it, AND the plumber is a follower of Jesus Christ as well. Both the owners and the plumber are now on my friends list on here, they are such wonderful people and I feel so blessed that they are a part of my life. My former landlord has been unable to sell the house, and he is loosing money daily. He has been advised repeatedly to do more in fixing up the house, and to have that tree (the portion still standing from the part that broke off and slammed into my neighbors roof) that is remaining in the back yard cut down because it is rotted and looks like it could fall any day. At this time he still refuses to comply, so now the city is stepping in. I hope this testimony will be an encouragment to someone who is going through a storm where things seem hopeless. God does work on our behalf, even if we dont know it or even want to believe it. I know it is hard at times especially when everything is going wrong, but have faith even if it is mustard seed faith, step outside of the box and trust Him. God bless.
Posted on: Sun, 02 Feb 2014 12:21:14 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015