June 2015

The foundation.  We are building our house on THE ROCK (Jesus) and concrete. 🙂 Isn’t the foundation always the most important thing?  The thing that stays strong and true and holds everything together?  This month it is all about the foundation.  I never thought I could get so excited about dirt being pushed around and concrete being set.  But I am…really excited! Things are happening. This is real.

GROUND BREAKING

June 1, 2015

This is such an exciting day for us! After 8 months of planning, we are finally breaking ground! Jonathan and I stopped by on our lunch break and I think we were both shocked that it was actually happening.  Oh the JOY that floods my soul!! It is actually happening!

So here’s the thing: God is faithful! I don’t think that word has meant as much to me in the past as it has this year.  There were days that were so hard.  Praying and really wanting to do the best thing…the God thing…this was not an easy decision for us to build. There were a few days that I had complete emotional breakdowns (like I have never had before). Seriously…this was so hard.  But I was reminded of truth, and I reflected on what I know I heard from the LORD.  He always comes through.

God is faithful! From the very beginning, I heard Him speak these words to us “Build your home”. I went back and forth between whether that was a literal “build your home” or a figurative “build your home” (as in build up our family in the Lord).  I knew that He wanted this to be a time for our family to grow.  There was no question about that.  This time at my parents’ would be refining, character building, and bring us closer.  But literally, was He saying “Build your home?”  I’ve always been a little skeptical when people tell stories about seeing a sign from God, but I have one of those weird stories. 🙂 In January, I flew to Arkansas for our Mary & Martha Leadership conference.  In the shuttle car on the way to our hotel, we passed a sign that said “Lindsay, build your house.”  It was so shocking, I didn’t know how to take it in!  I had just spent two hours on the plane journaling and praying about our house situation.  And then  I literally saw a sign from God.  (I had to google it when I got home to see if the sign was real or if I was crazy, and such a sign did exist.  It was a new housing community going up and the real estate company’s name was Lindsey…unfortunate spelling. 😉 I saw their advertisement at the airport later so I had to take a picture. 🙂 So crazy!)

But still…even after I saw the sign, I questioned.  We had already bought the lot and had a peace about that. But we still kept searching for the perfect existing home (I swear Jonathan spent about 5 hrs on Zillow every night). We were unsure of finances and concerned about taking such a huge leap.  Over the months, it seemed like God opened the right doors and closed the wrong doors and continued to make the path clear.  We leaped.

God is faithful! We doubted again when we ran into some unexpected setbacks.  Our lot was not ideal for a septic system. We waited for almost two months to figure out what that meant for us.  Originally, we were told that we would need a 100 ft. mound system that would cost about $16,000 and would need to go right across the middle of our lot (leaving no room for our house).  um…what??!! We were pretty sure we wouldn’t be able to build AND we would be stuck trying to sell a lot that was unbuildable.  Why would God lead us there??  It started to feel like the Israelites, wandering in the wilderness.  Like a “Why would you bring us to the Red Sea when there is no way out?” kind of a thing. But just when we thought it was hopeless, God would provide and make a way.  Jonathan (because he is super-human smart) figured out that we had a drainage easement on the back of our lot.  We took it to the city and figured out that we could directionally bore underground (through the neighbor’s yard) if he gave us permission for the easement.  There were a few other things that were causing us some major anxiety that month: the bank was saying they may not approve our building loan since it wasn’t a traditional situation with a builder (Jonathan was our GC, but we hired Tim Merchant of Skyline Builders to consult).  This way saved us money and let us be more involved in the process and we were so thankful it worked out.  But, since the billing would go through Jonathan, the bank was unsure.  Also, I was worried about having the kids at three different schools when they went back in August.  In one day, in a matter of hours, God answered all three of those prayers!!!  Lainey was accepted to the GT program at Lincoln, so she would be at the same school as Sam.  Our building loan went through, and the neighbor agreed to our septic plan.  It was such clear confirmation to move forward.  And we were reminded again that God is faithful!

When you have a God-sized dream…

When He gives you a vision of a home that will be a haven for your family and a place where family and friends and strangers gather to have “church”…

When your heart longs for a big dining room table to serve others and nourish their body and soul…

When God gives you this dream and this vision and then you actually see it happen…

When you see the ground being unearthed and you feel so excited and so overwhelmed and so undeserving….

When you realize that it is all Him. And it’s all about Him…

When you look back and remember the words He spoke to you…

You understand in such a deep, meaningful way that God is faithful!