THE TEXAS HOUSE SOLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No more paying for a house we aren't living in...

No more hassles with renters, will it sell, etc.....

No talking to realtors!!

No houses in other states!

No electric bills or water bills for an empty house!!

Praise God! It has been a long, long, long journey on this road. A hard one! We have had doubts about many things and have questioned God's purpose through this. Now, at the near end, I look back and ask what I've learned and what God has taught us.

We have grown in our marriage, in our faith, and how much bigger of a financial crisis can we face? I imagined the worst case scenario and stressed out at the first thought of it. Once I put my faith in God for those fears, even the worst case scenario wasn't scary. God is bigger.

I have learned a lot about money and feel we've been less materialistic only because we've had to be. When we lived in the Dallas area, it was very easy to get caught up in who has what. The culture there is VERY materialistic. Even at our church it was hard to not get caught up in it as they had almost unlimited funds to work with. A huge blessing for the church to have that freedom to do ministry as they desire, but I think I at least developed a mindset that there wasn't anything we couldn't do! At church, there really wasn't, but I think it slipped into my personal mindset (and spending) as well. I have often called Dallas the "shiny" city. There was a lot of glitz and glam and plastic surgery. Fashion was/is huge. I remember moving away from Dallas and being shocked at how different the fashion trends were. It was so easy to slip into those surface things! It was a fun place to be for a while, but just not a good place for us personally.

Paying two house payments nipped that in the bud quick and being on a strict budget now has continued that. Our Bible study last night focused on greed. I'm not saying that I never struggle with greed anymore, but I can see that I have grown in that area over the past three years. I used to be very much a "I gotta have that" kind of person, and I'm just not now. Again, there are still some things I struggle with in that area - just not as much as I used to. It's a blessing to be freed from a lot of that.

I could go on and on with the lessons we've learned. The biggest and most important lesson though is that even if things are not going as they should, when bad things happen to good people, when you are seeking to serve the Lord and sacrificing but there doesn't seem to be any answers to prayers, when everything that could go wrong does, GOD IS STILL GOD.

Our faith should not be constructed and based upon our circumstances. Our circumstances change, but God does not. He alone has the perspective of our past, present, and future in His view. He alone knows what areas I need to grow in, what experiences I need now in order to minister to someone else in the future, and what experiences I need to make me more like Him.

So many people quoted the verse, "All things work for good for those that love Him." That's true! But, when I first heard that, I expected everything to just work out. A miracle would occur for our house to sell and pay off debt and just be set. Now that happens to some people, but it's not what the verse means. I think people (including myself prior to this experience) get caught up in the word "good" and equate it to financial success, the situation working out as we think it should, or everything having a peachy, rosy ending. That's not true. The best things in our life here on Earth is to come out of a situation where we are closer to God and more like Him - even in the smallest ways. That means things will not always work out, and there is not always a happy earthly ending! "Good" may mean that I learn a lesson, someone learns from my example, someone comes to Christ through someone else's bad experience, or just that God's kingdom is furthered in a way I'll never see here on Earth. We should never lose our faith!

That's been a VERY hard lesson for me to learn! But, it's one that I will cherish forever. I've always known that in my head, but knowing it in my heart through a life experience is more precious to me than 100 billion sold houses and trillions in the bank!

Keep us in your prayers as we seek to stay on budget and pay off debt. The storm has passed, but there's still a lot of debris to clean up! I'm excited to see how God will work through these lessons as well. Many thanks to all of you who have prayed for us through this and been a huge support. The situation was made easier with your love, concern, and prayers.