Finding our Home-the beginning

[OliveTree13]

3 years ago, my husband Joseph, and I were living in a little beach house that we had raised the kids in, and decided we were going to build a log home for our retirement, in place of the cabin. Joseph works away, 6 weeks at a time. While he was gone, he was drawing the log home, designing each floor and all the details.
God spoke to me one day and said, "move away from there". I said, oh Lord, I don't want to tell Joseph that we have to go. I said "You tell him Lord". I wasn't really sure that it wasn't my own thoughts and so to be sure I asked God to speak to Joseph and to put the thought in his mind that we should go. I said to the Lord that I wouldn't say anything to Joseph. Then, if Joseph said something to me about it, I'd confirm for Joseph that it is true and from the Lord.
Joseph came home from his 6 week rotation, and unrolled plans for the most beautiful log home I've ever seen. I knew Joseph had spent many hours of his spare time drawing it and planning it. After he explained some of the finer points, he rolled the plans back up, and looked funny at me. He said "honey, don't think I'm crazy, but I think we are supposed to move." I just about fell down. I told him what the Lord had spoken to me and so we began our search for our new home. We told our friends and family nearby, and asked for the Lord to guide us to the place He wanted us to be in.
More to follow...

 

[walkinthespirit]

woohooo JESUS!

 

[OliveTree13]

The wrong place

So we started looking for a home. We searched the internet. We thought we might end up in Montana and so I was doing lots of searching there. We took motorcycle trips and camped. We also looked in Idaho, Oregon, etc. We found a place in Montana that seemed to have all the components that we were looking for: farmland so that we could grow our own food. So we booked a trip to NE Montana. Our prayer before we left was, that if it was the right place, everything would go right; if it's the wrong place everything would go wrong.
The first thing to happen was, Joseph got into a small fender bender at the airport, getting ready to leave. We should have turned around and went home, but noooo. Then, when we got there, to the middle of nowhere, the rental car place, the only rental car place, forgot we were coming and didn't leave us a car. Fortunately, the only airport employee knew the guys dad, who came and took us to town. We eventually got our car. Then, the hotel had more dust than grandma's attic. It was almost funny. But wait, there's more...the beautiful log home on the property was infested with bugs and there was a huge crack in the slab in the basement, and obvious small fault line. We decided to leave, but just in case there was any doubt about whether it was the wrong place, the airline lost our luggage on the way home. Needless to say, when we asked the Lord to make it really clear if it's the wrong place, He did. Thank you Lord.

 

[OliveTree13]

The right place

We had just gotten home from our disasterous "wrong place" trip, and Joseph was getting ready to go back to work for another 6 weeks away. I started looking on the internet again, and a property came up that was amazingly beautiful and had everything we would need, except a house. It was farmland with water, and old fruit trees. And it was in our state. (Joseph and I had talked about the fact that Montana would be too far from our family and that if the need came for people to come and share in our food/safety, etc, then how would they get to us? ) That is the reason we were looking for acerage. To house and feed other people.
We said the same prayer again to the Lord, if it's right all will go right, if it's wrong, then everything will go wrong. We talked with the real estate agent the next day, and the owners had just dropped the price of the land by $40,000 that very day. Our offer was the first of a dozen offers. We put some ernest money on it with a contingency that we had to see it. After dropping Joseph off at the airport to go back to work, our son David and I took the 9 hour journey to see the property. We were a few miles from the property, and were following the directions through the beautiful mountains, filled with farms, trees, and sunshine. David said "Mom, how are we going to know if it's right?" I said "David, we will just have to see a sign." Just then we came around a corner and one of the farmers had each of the Ten Commandments posted on signs along the road. I said "See David, there's 10 of them". David said "woah". I just laughed. We got to the property, and it is the most beautiful place I've ever seen. I've been all over the US and other parts of the world, but this place is special. The closing happened in 30 days. Thank you Lord.

 

[OliveTree13]

The big move

A year after we bought the mountain land, we were still on the beach. We didn't know when we were going to be ready to build on the land, and with Joseph's schedule the way it was, we just didn't have the time to try building a house. We talked about hanging onto the land until Joseph was ready to retire in a few years, and just sit tight. We prayed "Lord you have to make it really clear to us, when we are supposed to go, when we should move." A couple of months later...

The day after Christmas of 2006, I woke up and my whole body was jerking and shuddering like I was having seizures except I wasn't. I was lucid but just couldn't stop moving. I went to the hospital. I was in the hospital for 2 months. Joseph had come home from Russia a few days after I was admitted. They tested me for 2 months, and found nothing wrong with me. My eyes had started darting back and forth and I went blind. I couldn't hold down food. I was being drugged heavily from the dizziness. I couldn't walk. My poor husband was watching me die. He has a medical background and knew the seriousness of what was happening to me. The last resort for the hospital was to take me spleen out on a hunch of lymphoma, even though none of the tests, bone marrow, etc., showed that there was any cancer. So out came a perfectly good spleen. I promptly left the hospital and decided that if I was going to die, I'd rather die at home. Joseph had been out of work for 3 months, and it looked like we had used the last of our savings paying bills, travel expenses to and from hospital, etc. As soon as we decided that we needed to sell our beach home, I started to get better. Within a couple of weeks I was able to get around. The Lord was healing me.
We invited a real estate agent over to have him look at our place and tell us what we needed to do to fix it up and get it ready to sell. He came over and said "Don't do anything!" He had a couple he had been scouting properties for, for months. He said they happened to be in town. They came over the next day and absolutely loved it, and asked when they could move in, and how much did we want for it....Does that ever really happen? Only when the Lord makes it happen.
Next was the issue of jobs. Joseph's contract ran out while he was home with me, and I hadn't worked for 10 years outside of the home. I got on the net and started looking at jobs. There was a music store manager job that just came available. I am a professional musician, and have office/management skills, so that couldn't have been more perfect. We came over for an interview and I was hired on the spot. Joseph's job came a month later.
From the time I was laying in the hospital, having had my spleen removed, and then our house sold, and then I was standing at my new job, only 2 months had passed. Now that't what I call "In the Lord's time". Thank you Lord.

 

[souky]

WOW... thx for such an inspiring story! It shows that we listen to the lord but we dont always make the link or admit that it's his voice, because we dont alwayas understand why he could be asking us for whatever he's asking for... so we just ignore it. But once we do listen, things really happen... it's amazing! I am touched!

 

[Josh]

Thats wonderfull. he is a real and Mighty God who comes when its time to do so.

 

[oneholyfire]

Wow Olivetree what an inspiration!!! I feel like you are living my vision !! My husband and I have been through much transistion in the last four years. It has been the most difficult time in the history of our 25 year marriage, but also the most strengthening to our faith. In the midst of all the turmoil, the heartache, and uncertainty, we have learned to trust Him more, love Him more, depend on Him more. Our daughter left home unexpectedly, our son was in a serious car accident, I injured myself in a fall and began a year long health battle as a result of the shock to my system. God began doing a work in our marriage. We have always had a good marriage, but God began drawing us closer together like never before. We noticed that as He was drawing us closer to one another and to HIM, suddenly things didn't look the same or feel the same. Our children moved out of state, our church was no longer a good fit, it seemed that God was distancing us from our family and friends and drawing us into a time of complete dependance on him. Through all that we realized that God was slowly changing our view of our surroundings. We no longer saw ourselves growing old in the community where we were raised. We no longer saw our home as the place where we would grow old together. We have quietly come to the conclusion that God is preparing to move us to a different location. We have spent months asking Him for signs to point us in the right direction. We just heard a testimony this past weekend of a gentlemen who's story was similar to yours. At just the right time all the pieces of the puzzle fell into place and it was all God. We know that at the proper time, He will do the same for us and we are full of expectation. I would have never imagined a few years ago that this is what the Lord had in store for us, but today I am sooo convinced that He is about to bring major change into our lives. I can hardly wait to see what He's going to do, and I'm convinced that many of the trials came to prevent and discourage us from moving in the direction God is calling us to. But, Praise the Lord, he turns every trial into a testimony and He takes what the enemy meant for harm and He makes something beautiful out of it. Praise God, He redeems it ALL !!

 

[Missy]

Just so everyone knows...I've changed my name to Missy. I'm going to copy this over to the Missy profile if I can. Anyway, thanks for your comments and testimonies kids!

 

[Abing]

OH MY WORD. you are olivetree13?!?!??!?!?!