Want to join in, chronicling the hand of God in your life? Please, your stories are so very welcome...When we move next month, our plan has always been to rent this house out.
Renter #1 - A girl who used to work with Pat, bringing her boyfriend and her brother. She said she wanted it, Pat said she could have it. I felt unsettled, but was prepared to stand behind Pat's word to her. But I really felt like this house is a family home. When we got to serious talking about leases and such, she changed her mind. Coincidence?
Renter #2 - A couple...a blended family...just starting fresh. There were no red flags with them, but numerous yellow flags. For example, he was employed, but just started at this new job a week earlier due to a layoff. We were uncertain if we needed to heed these yellow flags or if we were supposed to be compassionate and give them a chance. We prayed about it. We asked them to come for an interview. They declined. Chance?
Renter #3 - An African family with 5 very young children. Very friendly and appreciative. They kept talking about where there things would fit in this house. We both felt really good about them. They wanted to stay and fill out a rental application on the spot.
Renter #4 - Came to look on the heels of #3. A young couple with 3 kids. Friendly, social, very interested in the house. We both really liked them. They also wanted to stay and fill out an application.
We were unsure, but decided to go with our gut feeling on the first family. It was a risk, because they could change their minds in the meantime (before we got damage deposit). And then the second couple could have found something else. We'd be back at square one... But we prayed about it and felt that "this house is home for the African family."
When we told them we wanted them to be in our house, the husband exclaimed, "praise the Lord!" When we told the other couple (#4) that we were renting it to someone else, they seemed relieved.
The wife later told me that they had been looking at a few places to rent, but none of them felt right to her. They were about to pay the deposit on a house and she asked her husband to wait another couple days. For some reason, he decided to search the internet for other rentals. She told me that he never searches the internet, and that before this day they had never even heard of a website called kijiji. On just that very day, renter #2 didn't pan out, and I decided to re-post my ad on kijiji. When the husband googled "houses to rent in Red Deer" the very first link that came up was our ad.
She tells me that she believes God has provided this house for them, just for their family. She said she can feel that the Holy Spirit dwells here. She says it already feels like home. I told her that we have been praying for just the right renters, and that we believe God has provided them for this house. Good luck?
I don't believe in luck, chance, or coincidence. Nothing is done by accident, without the foreknowledge of a loving God. He is as concerned with the small details of our day-to-day lives as he is with big global issues. He is a God who cares.
This couple isn't able to officially rent from us until December 1, due to their current rental agreement. Interestingly, our mortgage payments on our new house in SP don't begin until December 1.
Only God could work out every detail so meticulously to ensure that just the right people are living in our house. Renters who, I believe, will take good care of it as if it were their own home. And a house created for a family of seven, with all of their needs in mind - right down to the extra water heater.
Nope. No coincidences here. Just God-incidences.
God is in the business of the details!
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