In December, 2007 we attended a 3 day New Year's Eve conference. During that time, someone that we did not know, nor had ever seen before, told me - Sandra, something that affected me deeply. It was something that no one would ever know about me, not a friend, spouse, let alone a stranger. She told me that 'God wanted me to know that wherever He took me in the world, it would feel like home and in that place, He would always provide for me a home'.
We had already booked our VACATION reservations to Nicaragua. Go to Nicaragua, visit friends, enjoy some time in the sun away from the frigid temperatures of North Carolina and return to life as usual. That was our plan.
Two days before we left on the trip, a mutual friend of ours called to say that 'God gave him a Word for us'. He said God told him that 'the trip would be life changing and there would be a miracle'. Well, the trip was life changing because on our 5th day of the trip, Preston had a face-to-face encounter with the Lord where He invited him on an adventure. That's when Preston knew that we were to move to Nicaragua. The miracle? Well, that was me agreeing to accompany him; to move away from my HOME, my family, my church and friends.
In the first two years that we made a dozen trips back and forth before the actual move, we set up house so that we didn't have to stay in hotels and also to prepare for our move date. And the house was perfect, it had six bedrooms because we were hoping that family and friends would visit. But it was not solely for that purpose, because within in a year we started having boys from the streets move in with us. It was a wonderful house but not suitable for young boys because their play space was in the road in front of our house.
Then, we made a decision to move to the edge of town to a house that had a yard and a pool. The boys needed space to run and who doesn't like to play in a pool. There were 2 kitchens in the house and a built in barbeque grill on a large patio. Perfect place for the boys and get-togethers with teams and other missionary friends. During the dry season, we continually ran out of water. Doing simple things like taking showers became a problem, not to mention the daily task of laundry was becoming a mountain of sweaty, smelly clothes after many days without water. Plus the boys wanted the convenience of being able to walk around town and go to the parks to play soccer with friends. So it was time to move again.
Our next house was like living in a beautiful secluded park with an open air kitchen. It was always cool, but in the dry and windy season, it was always very dirty. We loved the ability to again walk around town without having to take public transportation. We lived across the street from a school which the boys attended, no skipping class was possible under our watchful eyes. As the boys matured and it was time for some to be on their own, it was time for us to move again; we wanted something smaller.
The next house was only 2 bedrooms and located on a private cul-de-sac with a park in the front of our home and a beautiful yard in the rear. There was a Catholic church across from the house and we were always entertained with festivals and fireworks and lots of clanging of the church bell. It was a beautiful house and we hosted weddings for two of our Nica sons in that house. The kitchen was large with plenty of room for several chefs working together to cook for gatherings. I thought it would be our forever house. However, God had other plans for us.
Last month we moved one more time to a much smaller house, actually a condo type rental. It is brand new, we are the first renters, and our rent is awesomely low. It is located a mile and a half outside of town. It is very cool and refreshing with awesome views of the volcanos that we love to look at and it is QUIET. I think as we age, quiet is such a luxury. Nicaragua is a very noisy country, everything is at full volume. When we lived in town, we always had interruptions by people constantly at our door at all hours, daybreak or midnight, needing or wanting something. There is a difference between needs and wants. As Americans, the locals think there is a money tree in our back yard, and it has an endless supply of money leaves. We are having to continually discern the requests and give to the legitimate needs.
It's wonderful to finally have peace and privacy. We were on the verge of total burnout. It's been years of 24/7 and we now have a place to rest from the demands of the people and our work. We have the blessing of a car, finally. Eight years is a long time to be without a vehicle and the timing was perfect. A missionary friend is selling hers to us on payments.
God made a promise to me: Nicaragua has always felt like home, I don't think I could live here otherwise. And, He has always supplied the perfect house for every need we had at the time. He is so faithful, and I am so grateful. God Keeps His Promises!
No comments:
Post a Comment