Miracle, Like

Too often a passing phrase is inserted lightly into conversations, "It was a miracle.” Being a born-again Christian and follower of Jesus, when I say or write a phrase like that, it is not used lightly. I mean that God provided a true-blue miracle. One definition of miracle comes from Webster's online dictionary,  An effect or extraordinary event in the physical world that surpasses all known human or natural powers and is ascribed to a supernatural cause.

Miracles and acts of faith go hand-in-hand. The Bible's Abram (later named Abraham) followed God's command to "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you" (Genesis 12). 

For Abram to follow through with that act of faith, miracles had to occur. Supernatural guidance, for instance. Abram asked, "Where are we going, God?" 

God replied, "Buckle up." 

In other words, God did not tell Abram where. He put his trust in the Who [God], not the what or the where. 

Abram somewhat resembles where my husband and I were, a little over a year ago... needing a place to land. Specifically, needing a house. Shelter is on Maslow's Hierarchy as one of the basic needs, for which we needed a miracle. Housing in the sky-high East Coast costs way more than where we were moving from, the affordable Midwest. How were all of the factors going to fall into place for our crazy move, for a new job?

We stepped out in faith, turning in our resignations, and believed for the rest to work out.* The move was on. Our budget was slim for an East Coast home, so options were slim-picking, as well. After looking at about 15 old and very used houses, we found a clean townhouse in a 55+ quadplex community. Because our offer was lower than the asking price, and contingent on our current house selling, it was rejected. We kept looking.

Rather than going through the details of the ups and downs of house-hunting, including because of a looming deadline wondering in desperation if we would need to settle for renting a tiny apartment for one year, and pay to store our extra furniture, I will skip to the main point. Before we could buy, we needed our current house to sell. Our specific prayer was, "God, we need the perfect package purchaser."

It is not unusual for faith to waiver. We stepped out, things got shaky with a curve ball thrown at us, and I waivered. But my faith in the Who was enough to keep going. I have heard it called 51% faith. Faith that is stronger than the doubts, fears, and struggles that occur along the way.

After 6 weeks, even though the purchase price was lower than hoped for, the one-and-only offer on our Midwest house occurred, given by the perfect package purchasers. Perfect because they overlooked the steep driveway and aging front steps. They didn't back out when issues were discovered during the inspection (their close contacts could fix the issues). Their finances were solid. We agreed on the ideal closing date, exactly when we needed the money. Perfect.

God punctuated his workings, on road-trips during the housing process. It was a 32-hour round-trip adventure, with a friend... Philly to the Midwest and back. During the front-leg, 2-day road-trip, energetic negotiating occurred, resulting in our house selling. So many things about the timing of the offer felt so right.

My friend and I planned to stay in the Midwest for 10 days. Instead, 10 days stretched to 3 weeks before we were able to return to Philly. On the return 2-day trip, sight unseen (for me), we acted quickly to put in an offer on a newly-renovated house, in a Midwest-feeling community... a rare, affordable find because so many buildings out East are old (our house being under contract made the offer solid). Friends joked about the sight-unseen factor, but peace was confirmation enough for both of us.

How often do owners of a flipped house put a for sale notice out on Sunday evening, stating they are accepting offers for 3 days, with one bidder being selected the evening of day 3? Our early-on rejected offer for the townhouse prepared us paper-work-wise (with guidance from our trusted realtor), to present a solid offer quickly. We prayerfully gave a fair bid, with plans to go no higher, deciding to not get into a bidding war. The nail-biter bid was accepted. 

What are the odds of house-sale/house-purchase business occurring, each direction of 2-day each road-trips? Giving just the right delay for a newly-renovated, allergy-friendly house to go on the market, for us to buy. It felt like God placed bookend punctuation marks to indicate the carefully-directed timeline. Clean. Done. Ideal. Needed, but undeserved Miracles. With a move-in date flexible and driven by our wishes, because the new house was vacant.

With COVID-19's stay-at-home orders, and Corona Virus germs seemingly everywhere, we are reminded daily of God's back-to-back, more than we could ever imagine, miracles. The 400-unit apartment complex (2-bedrooms), would have been a costly temporary situation, with the need to move again. And the tight, 100-unit quadplex community was fine, but felt closed-in and dark. Our modest and affordable place is bright and comfortable. The main floor's designated quiet home office/bonus room has been beneficial for 10-weeks-and-still-counting of hubby's COVID-19 work-from-home orders. That newly-needed home office pays the bills. Miracle!

Genesis 12

The Call of Abram

This blog inspired by Transformation Church’s
Online 2019 Crazy Faith series

*Disclaimer: Prior to taking a step of crazy faith, Abram heard from God, which is always strongly advised.