"It's love that makes a house a home."
I told my sister we had the love part of the home, but we needed a house to wrap around it. It looked as though there would be another couple of months before that happened.
Our challenge arose when my husband, Ray, took on a new pastorate that required us to move, but the church didn’t have a parsonage. We needed to buy a house. While we began that lengthy process, Ray and our daughter began his ministry as the guest of a farm couple in the congregation.
I remained 115 miles behind with our son, dog, and cat until we could bring the whole family together under one roof. When our daughter left for college in late summer, our son took her place so he could begin high school in this upstate New York community. I continued to keep the pets company.
We remembered Jesus had said foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man had nowhere to lay His head (Matthew 8:20). We could share in His suffering if we could keep bringing the difficulties of purchasing a house and moving there to Him for help and focus. The words of Psalm 90:1 comforted us: Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations.
We did make it through. It wasn't the easiest summer, necessitating a 230-mile-round-trip commute each weekend so I could worship and spend time with Ray and our son. The day came when I was able to make my last trip with the dog, the cat, and a tank of goldfish. What a jumbled journey.
The Lord of housing was worthy of our trust. We had a fruitful ministry in that community for many years.
If you’re trying to find a job, a college, a house—or if you’re waiting on a closing—trust the Lord of housing. Let Him be your dwelling place while you wait on Him for direction and forward movement.
(Photo courtesy of pixabay.)
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Ginny Merritt lives with her husband Ray in a small New York town on the Erie Canal. They recently retired from thirty-four years in the ministry. They are renovating a home built around 1860 and are enjoying being closer to their daughter, son, and two grandsons. Ginny has published two books through Journeyforth, a division of BJU Press: an early reader chapter book, A Ram for Isaac, and a children’s novel, The Window in the Wall.