That Is When God Stepped In (Part Two)

1 Peter 1:6-7 "Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:"

On Friday, I began the story of a test that my husband and I were facing.

When compared to the testings that others may be facing, ours may not seem like such a huge deal. But no matter the size of the test, God is growing us, shaping us, and strengthening us so that we can develop into the man or woman God wants us to become. 

Tests are a tool to show us where we need growth and where we are doing okay. As a former classroom teacher and now homeschool mommy, I recorded the grades to the tests my students would take in order to see if there was progress in my students.  

In all honesty, I'm not sure how I did on this test of ours. Sometimes I wish I could get a little peek at God's "grade book" to see if I passed the course or if I need to retake the test. I really dislike retaking tests!

On Wednesday night, Brian came to me and asked if we could pray together about what was happening. Although our car situation had been handled, we still had a potentially expensive air conditioning problem to face in the morning. 

On Thursday morning, Brian and I decided that we would fast until lunch time and ask God to break through our situation and give us wisdom, guidance, and grace about what our next step should be. After breakfast, I put on a Superbook episode for the kids (their current favorite show) and went into my bedroom to pray.

In the back of my mind, I thought about a piece of property that we had purchased 8 years ago that we have had on the market for some time now. We have had an interested buyer but the timing was never right for them to follow through with the purchase. If we could only sell it, at least that would give us a healthy cushion and relieve the stress of this air conditioner. I mentioned it to God......

Brian called me while I was homeschooling later that morning and asked, "Hey, you know our property? Why don't we re-approach the interested party and offer them a one time deal?" 

In the meantime, my father-in-law had contacted a gentleman in the area who owns an air conditioning repair/installation company to see if he could have one of his guys check on our air conditioner (which if you remember had leaked water into our return air vent and subsequently through the wall into our office soaking one quarter of the carpet).

Before lunchtime, we received a call from the other party interested in our property that they would jump on our offer. We are now in the process of dealing with contracts, title companies, and praising God for this relief.

At 2 p.m., the air conditioning guys arrived and after cleaning out our drain pipe, inspecting every inch of our inside and outside unit, and crawling into our return air vent, they discovered that our problem was a faulty sensor not alerting our system to turn itself off when the drain pipe backs up. They then told us that our unit was good for another 3-4 years and our total bill was going to come to $175- not the $2500 the other company quoted us. 

God has stepped in to my life on so many occasions and yet sometimes I forget to just wait for Him to make an entrance.

I panic, start trying to find ways to get a solution, cry, get so distracted that I let my children get off the normal routine of our day, and I forget that God has been so good to me so many times in the past.

I don't know what my grade was on this test. I do know that I didn't get an A or even a B. It is so easy to look at characters in the Bible like Abraham and tell them to trust God, He will fulfill His promises to you. But Abraham was walking through a test just like we do in our everyday lives. 

Abraham's story and all of the other accounts in the Bible, are a reminder to us that God will fulfill His promises to us just as He did to those in His Word. Our stories have yet to be completed. And when they are, what a testimony they will be!