The past year of my life has been 365 + days of seeing the incredible Hand of God at work. At work in my own life, in the life of my family and even in my country. I haven't written in my blog for months because frankly, we've been a bit overwhelmed by the events in our lives. But after working on this piece for the past few months, amid cognitive challenges, I think I'm ready to finally put it out there. Thank you Lord for getting us through this past year and for being with me to help me put these words in writing.
If anyone had told me back in 2015 that we would leave our home of 24 years in Florida, pack up and live in North Carolina for 9 months in our vacation home and then pack up again and move into a new home in Kentucky I would have said they were completely nuts. But it happened just that way with God directing each step.
If anyone had told me a year ago that Donald J. Trump, a extremely wealthy, bombastic TV star, (who began his unlikely Presidential Run in June of 2015) would end up winning the very close, and often brutal race for the White House I would have told them it could never happen.
But, Donald J. Trump is now the 45th President of the United States and Mike Pence, a God-fearing Evangelical Christian is his Vice-President.
So how could any of this happen? Many in this country are still shaking their heads and doing everything they can to RESIST this new President. I say, NEVER underestimate the power of prayer. Personal prayer and corporate prayer can move mountains. Our God listens to the prayers of His people. Period. James 5:16 tells us "The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective," When you are praying in accordance to God's will, He truly does listens.
This blog is going to be a bit unusual because I'm going to back and forth between my life personally and what I witnessed happening all around our country. It may seem a strange segue, but believe me, they are connected more than you may know.
My husband came to me between Christmas and New Years of 2015 with a dramatic idea. Let's leave Florida. I thought he had lost it. What? Move away from Florida? We've been living here since 1982. Our kids were raised here. All our friends are here. We still have family in the state. Are you mad, man?
He had just returned from a business trip to Kentucky to get some products priced. hooking up with an old colleague he worked with many years ago. He was very impressed with where he was working, the people he was working with (the company was owned by two preachers) and the area of the country he was living in. As he began his long ride home to Florida, the Lord began to work on Steve's heart. He thought,"I think I'd like to work there. It could be a lot of fun and I think I would fit into the company well. It would be great to get Nicki out of that heat.We could use a new adventure." The Lord was telling him that maybe our family needed a new direction.
Could we really start anew and move there when we were in our 60's? He had many conversations with his friend and they were interested in pursuing the idea about putting him on board, but they just didn't have room in the sales force at that time. Then he came home and told me about his idea.
We talked at length about it and we prayed about it. He had the prospect of a this new job in Kentucky but nothing was certain. Nothing was set, nothing was for sure. In many ways I thought it was a pipe dream, but I know my husband and when he puts his mind to something, there's no stopping him and he spoke with such conviction that God had directed him to do this, that I had to sit up and pay attention. He told me he was sick and tired of his current job, he was sick and tired of the Florida heat, he needed a new adventure and he thought it would be good for our whole family. We'd be closer to our older son and his family including our sweet granddaughter Grace. We talked with our youngest son, who had moved home again about 6 months earlier. He was up for the adventure too. So we began a plan.
We put our house on the market, and began to show it. As anyone who has sold their home knows, when you put your house out there for sale, everyday you need to keep it clean and ready to show. After about 3 weeks of cleaning and showings every other day my husband looked at me and said "Why are we here during all this, why don't we go to North Carolina (we had a vacation home in the mountains), and let our realtor handle this .Let's do one last cleaning, back up and head north to wait it out. Plus that's closer to Kentucky anyway. If this thing in Kentucky comes through it's alot easier to drive over there from NC than from Florida." Another bonus was our oldest son and his wife and our darling granddaughter Grace lived in Weaverville, NC, about 40 minutes from our home in Waynesville. I would enjoy being closer to our only grandchild and be able to see her more than 2-3 times a year.,no matter how many months it lasted.
It seemed like a good plan to me, so we headed in March to North Carolina for who knows how long? Within 2 months, the house in Sarasota sold. We held out for the perfect price and they paid cash which was an extra bonus.We began the waiting process again.
We spent 9 months in North Carolina and my hubby and son spent those months working on the NC home because we knew we needed to put that on the market if we ended up in Kentucky. BUT, we just didn't know what the future was going to hold. We were totally putting our trust in the Lord and letting Him take the lead. It was a time of being in limbo or being in the desert as us Christians like so say.
Have you ever been there? Not knowing what was coming next? Wandering around in the desert like the Israelites did for 40 years? It can be a bit unnerving if you let it. But if you believe in the Lord and His promises to love and protect those who love Him, you can endure just about any situation. Waiting can actually strengthen your faith, but it' never easy. Isaiah 40:31 tells us "But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles,They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.:
If anyone had told me back in 2015 that we would leave our home of 24 years in Florida, pack up and live in North Carolina for 9 months in our vacation home and then pack up again and move into a new home in Kentucky I would have said they were completely nuts. But it happened just that way with God directing each step.
If anyone had told me a year ago that Donald J. Trump, a extremely wealthy, bombastic TV star, (who began his unlikely Presidential Run in June of 2015) would end up winning the very close, and often brutal race for the White House I would have told them it could never happen.
But, Donald J. Trump is now the 45th President of the United States and Mike Pence, a God-fearing Evangelical Christian is his Vice-President.
So how could any of this happen? Many in this country are still shaking their heads and doing everything they can to RESIST this new President. I say, NEVER underestimate the power of prayer. Personal prayer and corporate prayer can move mountains. Our God listens to the prayers of His people. Period. James 5:16 tells us "The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective," When you are praying in accordance to God's will, He truly does listens.
This blog is going to be a bit unusual because I'm going to back and forth between my life personally and what I witnessed happening all around our country. It may seem a strange segue, but believe me, they are connected more than you may know.
My husband came to me between Christmas and New Years of 2015 with a dramatic idea. Let's leave Florida. I thought he had lost it. What? Move away from Florida? We've been living here since 1982. Our kids were raised here. All our friends are here. We still have family in the state. Are you mad, man?
He had just returned from a business trip to Kentucky to get some products priced. hooking up with an old colleague he worked with many years ago. He was very impressed with where he was working, the people he was working with (the company was owned by two preachers) and the area of the country he was living in. As he began his long ride home to Florida, the Lord began to work on Steve's heart. He thought,"I think I'd like to work there. It could be a lot of fun and I think I would fit into the company well. It would be great to get Nicki out of that heat.We could use a new adventure." The Lord was telling him that maybe our family needed a new direction.
Could we really start anew and move there when we were in our 60's? He had many conversations with his friend and they were interested in pursuing the idea about putting him on board, but they just didn't have room in the sales force at that time. Then he came home and told me about his idea.
We talked at length about it and we prayed about it. He had the prospect of a this new job in Kentucky but nothing was certain. Nothing was set, nothing was for sure. In many ways I thought it was a pipe dream, but I know my husband and when he puts his mind to something, there's no stopping him and he spoke with such conviction that God had directed him to do this, that I had to sit up and pay attention. He told me he was sick and tired of his current job, he was sick and tired of the Florida heat, he needed a new adventure and he thought it would be good for our whole family. We'd be closer to our older son and his family including our sweet granddaughter Grace. We talked with our youngest son, who had moved home again about 6 months earlier. He was up for the adventure too. So we began a plan.
We put our house on the market, and began to show it. As anyone who has sold their home knows, when you put your house out there for sale, everyday you need to keep it clean and ready to show. After about 3 weeks of cleaning and showings every other day my husband looked at me and said "Why are we here during all this, why don't we go to North Carolina (we had a vacation home in the mountains), and let our realtor handle this .Let's do one last cleaning, back up and head north to wait it out. Plus that's closer to Kentucky anyway. If this thing in Kentucky comes through it's alot easier to drive over there from NC than from Florida." Another bonus was our oldest son and his wife and our darling granddaughter Grace lived in Weaverville, NC, about 40 minutes from our home in Waynesville. I would enjoy being closer to our only grandchild and be able to see her more than 2-3 times a year.,no matter how many months it lasted.
It seemed like a good plan to me, so we headed in March to North Carolina for who knows how long? Within 2 months, the house in Sarasota sold. We held out for the perfect price and they paid cash which was an extra bonus.We began the waiting process again.
We spent 9 months in North Carolina and my hubby and son spent those months working on the NC home because we knew we needed to put that on the market if we ended up in Kentucky. BUT, we just didn't know what the future was going to hold. We were totally putting our trust in the Lord and letting Him take the lead. It was a time of being in limbo or being in the desert as us Christians like so say.
Have you ever been there? Not knowing what was coming next? Wandering around in the desert like the Israelites did for 40 years? It can be a bit unnerving if you let it. But if you believe in the Lord and His promises to love and protect those who love Him, you can endure just about any situation. Waiting can actually strengthen your faith, but it' never easy. Isaiah 40:31 tells us "But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles,They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.:
So there we were in North Carolina, watching and waiting for the Lord. After about 6 months with no word from Kentucky, Steve decided to go out and look for a job in NC because we just weren't sure what was going to happen with the job in Kentucky. He said,"I'm sick of painting, I need to go back to work" We had been living on our savings but you can go through that pretty quick if there is no income coming in. We prayed about it and thought maybe God wants us to take action on our own? Steve did some research online and approached a few companies in his field. After a few interviews that went nowhere, he got in his car, got all dressed up in his pinstripe suit and proceeded to head to another interesting prospective company, but this one was 2 hours from our home.
He pretty much got hired on the spot. WOW, we thought, this is another God-thing. Maybe the Lord does have other plans for us? It was a good job with good benefits plus we'd be closer to our family. Maybe God has changed his mind? Maybe He has a different plan for us.
Steve loved his new boss, but it was definitely a problem with the plant being 2 hours away. logistically, it was becoming a issue. He was spending a lot of time going back and forth to the plant for new samples, etc. But he trudged on. We continued to wait and trust. He continued working the territory assigned to him not knowing what and if things were going to change.
Meanwhile in our country, an amazing thing was happening in the Presidential election. Donald Trump, the unlikely yet highly popular non-politician candidate seemed to be gaining momentum all over the country. There was a groundswell of support for him unlike anything anyone had ever seen in any of the many previous elections.
Trump had a different message. America first! - Make American Great Again! The mainstream media didn't like anything about him. He was loud, outspoken and sometimes crude, which was nothing like any politician we had ever seen. He said what he thought, he wasn't guarded like most politicans. There was something about him that became endearing to millions of the working class of America. He touched a chord with many of those who had felt lost and left behind by past administrations. There were people that supported Trump who had never voted in their lives. They didn't trust politicians or Washington. He was truly a different kind of candidate and was tapping into something that was other politicians had obviously missed.
He talked about bringing back jobs, he talked about building a border to secure our country from the influx of Mexican immigrants, many of them illegal,and some of them criminals and stopping the flow of drugs that were coming in from our southern border. He talked about appointing conservative Supreme Court Justices. He talked about changing the heart of this country from the hard left almost socialistic policies of President Obama back to more conservative values and I have to say I sure did like the sound of it. I was on board from the primaries on.
Our family continued to pray and wait on the Lord's perfect timing. In September, a month after Steve began his job in NC, the call came from Kentucky. We had a important and hard decision to make. Do we go with the original plan to move on to Kentucky or stay where we were? It was a tough call. After much prayer and discussion, we decided to go with what we felt was God's original calling. It seemed a much better fit for Steve, and he was excited. Thank you Jesus! It was sad for us to leave our family, but we knew we'd only be 5 hours away, not 12 hours like when we were in Florida.
Now we just needed to get into gear and get ourselves moved to yet another state! My husband spent many weekends in Kentucky trying to find the perfect house. You can see many houses on the app Zillow and get a pretty good idea of what they look like from the pictures that are posted. We spent many hours together looking at different houses in the surrounding area where he was going to begin working. I even made a trip over to look at some houses with him, but because of my disability, it just wasn't logical for me to go on every trip so we communicated via phone, text, and the internet. We just couldn't seem to find the right house. The area we were moving too wasn't big, and there weren't that many houses that seems to fit the criteria we needed. But we trusted that God was going to land us in the exact perfect home again, in His perfect time. We did put an offer in on one house and they wouldn't accept our counteroffer. We took it that the Lord didn't want us in that house and continued looking.
There was one home we came across in our searching that was intriguing. Zillow had a very detailed description of the house, which had been rebuilt from the ground up after a fire. It sounded on paper like exactly what we were looking for. The only thing was there weren't any pictures of the inside of the house? How could that be, I thought? How could any realtor list a house on the internet and not provide any pictures of it? It didn't make sense. I asked my hubby on his next trip to have the realtor we were working with see if he could get him in.
Steve had looked at many houses mind you, measuring the doorways to make sure my scooter would get through them. Trying to find a nice basement for our son to live in because he came with us and we knew he needed his space. There were a lot of parameters we had decided on so it was making it more difficult.
So on his next trip, he went to the mystery house with the realtor, walked through it and after about 10 minutes said, I think this is it. He called me and said, I think we've found our new home. They proceeded to take pictures of each area of the house including the backyard and huge finished basement. I was sold. We made an offer and they countered and we countered again. They accepted. We had our house. Thank you Jesus. You always come through.
I knew that God was behind this house. That's why there weren't any pictures of the house on the Zillow site. I believe with all my heart, that the Lord was saving it for us. If there had been pictures posted , no doubt it would have been snatched up in a New York minute, but there was only a small number of people who read the description and moved on because there was nothing to look at. Thank you Lord for that. Your surely work in mysterious ways.
So, we have landed now and are getting settled in our new life in Kentucky. You just never know how God is going to work. Sometimes people to me, say what do you mean God has directed your steps? Clearly, that is exactly what happened in our life and in the life of our country. It's plain to me as the nose on my face.
The Lord is using the most unlikely of his servants, a brash reality TV star with a vision for a New America to lead us. Could and would the Most High God actually use this kind of man to lead our country? Sure, why not? Remember Nehemiah, God's servant,who rebuilt the wall in Jerusalem? The Lord has called many unlikely servants over these centuries to do His work. Not always the strongest believers, but that doesn't mean the God can't use them to do His Will. He can use anybody He wants to accomplish His will.
When I look at the election, when everyone, all the pollsters, all the left wing media had convinced us that Hillary Clinton was a for-sure shoo-in to win. Everyone on the left, and all the pundits were comfortable and convinced that she was going to win. They were all telling us Trump didn't have a path to the 270 electoral votes needed to win the Presidency. They had just about everyone convinced that Hillary Clinton was going to be our next President. They had to be right, right?
Wrong. The polls weren't in touch with the American people. There was a movement going on behind the scenes that they missed. There were people who had never voted in their entire lives who came out and voted for Donald Trump and Mike Pence. And the Evangelical Christian vote was stronger than it had been in many years. I believe that is what propelled Donald Trump over the top.That and the working class of American who rose up and voted Republican for the first time in their lives.
Hillary Clinton lost the election. The left is devastated. Surprisingly, they have been the ones who are lashing back with intense hatred towards everything President Trump is trying to accomplish. Funny, because they were so sure that if Trump lost, his supports would go mad, but it's the other way around.
I can spot Satan and his minions every time. Spiritual warfare is very intense right now. 1st Peter 5:8 is a reminder to us all "Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. ...
I really feel for President Trump. He's not perfect, he's new at this, and he's trying hard to live up to his campaign promises. But, he is being ridiculed at every turn by the press and everybody on the left. In this social media world we live in, everybody has something to say about every thing he does. His cabinet appointments are being stalled and blocked by Congress. It's ridiculous. I think it's quite an embarrassment for our country. The whole world is watching while so many in our country disrespect the office of the Presidency. Quite sad.
That is why is it imperative that we continue to pray for our President and Vice President, asking the Lord to guide them, give them strength and protect them for the onslaught of hatred that is directed at them on a daily basis.
In my heart, I know exactly why Donald Trump and Mike Pence won the election. It was totally a God-Thing as I like to call them. They won because millions and millions of God-fearing people voted for them. They won because Christians prayed, and God listened to the cry of His people looking for someone new to take our country in a different direction.. We are after all, One Nation Under God, not matter how hard to left keeps trying to deny it.
For many years,unfortunately, our country has been going in the wrong direction. We had kicked God out of everything. Out of the classroom. our of our homes, out of our lives. That all was brought to a screeching halt the day Donald/Pence got elected. The Lord God honored the prayers of His people, and now the healing can begin.. A few weeks ago, the Vice President attended the Pro-Life March in Washington DC. That is the first time a highly elected official supported the cause of life vs. abortion. That was a huge step forward to putting God first again in our country. He weeps every time one of his creations is needlessly murdered through the brutal act of abortion.
Another thing that happened recently that was awesome. Prayer in the White House. There is a picture of The President, Vice President, Supreme Court Nominee Neal Gorsuch and others praying in the White House before the announcement was made. Unbelievable! I never thought I'd live to see that day again. That is totally a God-Thing, my friends!
We now have a new leader. He isn't perfect, just like all of us, he's a sinner, and he has fallen short of God's glory. My prayer is that God's Grace will cover all those who are angry about life these days, and there are many. My prayer is that they will accept what has happened and accept our new President.
The Lord can do amazing things for those who believe. He truly can move mountains even if your faith is a small as a mustard seed. Matthew 17:20 reminds us all "Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move" ...
So what is the connection in all these events? God, of course. I've been a a firsthand witness to the incredible power of God in my own life and in the life of our country these past 15 months or so.
One more thing to add for a last minute God -Thing, Our NC house has sold!!! We had been trying to sell that place on and off for 4 years but it just never happened. I know now the reason why. God saved it for us to move into while we were making this transition to KY, Now that everything is finished, with all the improvements to the house complete and we don't need it anymore, it has finally sold in His perfect timing.. Thank you Jesus!
If you turn your life over to the God of the Universe you will no doubt see the surprises He has in store for you. You just never know what's He's going to do next and that is what makes it so exciting to be a follower of Jesus Christ!!!
My verses for today are above in red.
My prayer for today
Dearest Heavenly Father,
Lord, thank you for watching over our family this past year as we sought to follow your will and move in a totally different direction. Thank you for your provision. Thank you for your protection. Thank you for having everything fall into place according to your perfect will. It has been amazing to watch you orchestrate everything to perfection.
Thank you Lord for our new President and Vice-President. Be with them Lord. Protect them from the arrows of the evil one that are flung at them each and every day. Give them wisdom Lord. Give them your strength and protect them as they seek to move our country in a new and different direction
Lord, I pray for those hurting. I know their are many that are confused and upset that their candidate didn't win. Give them your peace Lord. Help to open their eyes to the truth. Help them to calm down and give this new administration a chance to lead before they want to destroy them.
I ask all this in the mighty name of my sweet savior Jesus,
Amen,
