Neon Sign or Burning Bush

Have you ever asked God to send you a neon sign? Have you ever desperately cried out, "Lord, which way do I go?" Well we have. In fact, Hugh actually said one night back in January, "I wish God would just send down a neon sign that would tell us where to live. Here is the house I have for you." I realize buying a house may not seem earth shattering to some. But, it is a huge decision, and we were making it for the first time. And more importantly, we don't want to make a decision of that magnitude that is going to affect our whole family with out knowing that it is what the Lord has for us. What is His will for our family. Where does He want us to live. What does He want us to do with our finances?

We started looking at houses online around this time last year. We stalked, I mean followed a few of our favorites for several months, until we got to go down and look for ourselves during the Christmas holidays. We saw close to 30 houses in 5 days while we were there. And yes, it all started running together.



There was this one house that I had liked from the very beginning, before we ever went down, and as soon as I saw it, I fell totally in love with it. It was every bit as beautiful as I had imagined it would be from the few pictures we saw online. Hugh even liked it. In fact, it was the only house we both liked. So we decided to make a bid on it. I was ecstatic. But, later that night, I had the most foreboding feeling about our decision every time I thought about it, and I couldn't understand why. Something in the pit of my stomach just wasn't right. So, I prayed and asked God to help me understand why in the world I was feeling this way. And I truly felt like He was saying, "STOP. Don't do anything." I told Hugh what I was feeling and he was also having second thoughts and just didn't feel right about the decision. He told me he couldn't believe I was actually saying I felt the same way, because he knew how much I was in love with the house. And I told him, "I know, that's why I think this is from God, because there is nothing in me that doesn't want this house. But, I couldn't ignore this feeling. Have you ever had that panic ed feeling in the pit of your stomach that says, "Go and check on the children. Go now!" And you get there just in time before someone gets hurt. Some people will tell you that is a mother's intuition. I believe it is the hand of God. And I believe that's what it was, His Holy Spirit trying to impress upon us to sit tight. And so we did, with no further direction from God. I mean we felt nothing. Which is what led Hugh to wish for his neon sign or burning bush or what ever way God would choose to speak to us. And does He even speak to people like that anymore. Well, we would soon find out.



Fast Forward a few months. I had left the dream of that house behind, because I felt like His answer was no. I didn't realize His answer was wait. Last month, in March my friend Shelia was on spring break. She is a teacher. And it was also the week of her birthday. She traveled from Brandon up to Senatobia where her sister lives to spend a couple days and celebrate her birthday. They went to dinner at a local hibachi grill, and ended up at the same table as the couple who owned the house. They got to talking and realized they were both adoptive parents. Shelia adopted her son from Guatemala, and this couple is in the process of adopting a little girl from China. She is also pregnant and due with their son in June. She told Shelia that they were in Senatobia for a doctors' appointment. She said they were actually from Batesville, but, she really liked this one doctor there in Senatobia. It did make her nervous however that he might not make in time if she had a quick labor. Shelia told her, "Well, I have a doctor friend moving to your area. I'll have to give you his number in case you have any trouble." To which she replied, "Oh really, we have a house for sale if he is interested." -Do you see where this is going? Could it all be coincidence? Hmmm...did our friend just travel 150 plus miles and end up at the same table, at the same restaurant with this couple who owned the house we had wanted to buy? Before the couple left, the told Shelia no less than three times to tell us to just make them an offer. They have another house they want to buy in Memphis and they want to move into it by June before the baby comes. Is it just a coincidence that Hugh's residency ends here in Ohio in June? -She even told Shelia that if she could sell us her house, she'd give her the commission for it. Coincidence? Or was the Lord's hand in this from the very beginning? Was this our burning bush, or our neon sign? I don't know about you people, but, it gives me chills, and I'm claiming it. I believe that we asked the Lord earnestly from our hearts to guide our decision, and He didn't just show up, He showed up in a big way. Can I get a big ole AMEN?!



I'm going to do a couple of follow up posts on our story and how it has unfolded, and I want to share pictures. And I want to share about our beautiful little rental we've called home here for the last five years. I'm going to miss it. We brought both of our babies home from the hospital to this sweet little home, and it's going to be hard to say goodbye. Until then, I'll leave you with a snippet of what is to come.
The foyer! Of course this is not our furniture. :) ~Blessings!