I’m not proud of it, but yes, there was a time when I said I couldn’t trust God! But, being the loving God He is, He went on to prove to me that He COULD be trusted.
You see, at the time, my husband and I lived in a too-small house. It had one bathroom, and we had eight children. We really needed to move but we had no money. On top of that, the house we were living in required quite a bit of work before it could be sold.
But my husband kept praying. He prayed telling God that if He wanted us to move, He was going to have to do it for us.
And guess what?
That’s when God stepped in.
My neighbor informed us that he had just heard the news that all of the houses in our area were being bought out by the city, to expand the Jeep factory around the corner from us. So we were being forced to move but were concerned about how this was going to work financially.
People didn’t give us much hope as to what we’d get for the house. So we decided we should pay all we could on our mortgage, to be ahead for the new house. So we began to very seriously start saving as much money as we could.
That’s when it happened.
My husband came home from a deacon’s meeting at church one evening. He said there was a need at the church, and he wanted to know what I thought about giving a rather large sum of money to help with the need. This was a gesture of faith, meaning most of what we had managed to save to pay off our home would go to this need.
I looked at him, and began to list the reasons we couldn’t do that – we needed to save for the move, down payment on a new house, etc. He then in turn asked me, “Do you think we can give this money? Can we trust God to provide?”
I hedged and protested, and he said very directly, “Kathie, I’m asking you – do you think we can trust God?”
Being the spiritual person I am, I blurted out, “I can’t!” (I hope you read my sarcasm here!) The words hadn’t been out of my mouth for too long before I began to feel convicted. I KNEW I could trust God. He had proven Himself over and over to us. Long story short, the next day, I told my husband that it was okay and that we should give the money, and trust God. Then the most exciting things started to happen! God began to prove Himself over and over again and in BIG ways!
Here are just a few ways God showed up when my faith was weak. When I thought we had blown it by giving away all of the money, look what He did!
1. We were gifted about 3 months’ worth of cereal out of the blue. (With 8 kids, that’s a LOT of cereal)
2. We were gifted enough frozen food to fill our full-size freezer.
3. Someone gave my husband money for a new suit.
4. Someone gave us new bunk beds and a dining room table for when we moved.
5. We were given a computer.
6. When the city came to us with their first offer on our house, it was better than we expected, but we were advised to hold off and see if they’d come up with a better offer.
When they came back with their second offer, they appraised the house at $9,000 more than the first time. They also added $5,400 more for relocation expenses and added another $450 to the moving expense. The final topper was when they said they would give us another $10,000 because of having to relocate my home business.
All totaled, this came to $24,850 more than the first offer!!!
This along with the original offer came to quite a bit more than we had even paid for the house, AND we didn’t have to put thousands of dollars into fixing it. Now we didn’t have to put it on the market. We didn’t have to deal with the stress of showings, and there were no real estate agent’s fees. So it ended up that we got way more than we ever could have sold the house for, and were able to get a much nicer, bigger house than we ever would have been able to afford. (and we went from ONE bathroom for 10 people, to FOUR bathrooms!)
God REALLY did prove Himself to my doubting heart! What a testimony of His faithfulness this was to my children also.
But God wasn’t done blessing us just yet! While waiting to settle with the city, we looked at a lot of houses. There was one that we looked at early on. But weren’t sure yet, so we kept looking. We came back to look at it a month later, decided that was the one we really wanted. And guess what? The price of it had been reduced by $5,000 from what it was the first time we looked at it!
When we did that, He proved himself beyond doubt. The city paid all closing costs on both homes, inspection on our new home, the lawyer’s fees, and points. Our income level wasn’t real high, we had eight children, and the house we lived in was not in a very good neighborhood.
But because we were willing to trust God and give when there was a need, we were blessed with a beautiful house. Plus it was in a smaller city, in a subdivision where we feel safe walking, riding bikes and so much more! God blessed us with even the small things that were important to us. The yard was really big, fully fenced, and had a beautiful swing set for the kids.
And to think that I doubted Him!!
If you find yourself saying “I can’t trust God”, be encouraged by the truth that God is faithful and worthy of your trust.
8 Responses
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Wow, I love it! Another great story that shows God’s faithfulness!
Wow! God really is great,isn’t he! Our family of 7 at the time lived in a small house on a busy 5 lane highway and we were in a bad place with repairs, etc. as well. We “knew” that it would take forever to sell because of the location. I also “knew” that we didn’t have the money for a home that was any better. God provided a new job for my husband and we talked to a realtor and came up with a plan for putting it on the market in a few months. She called a week later and asked if she could show it. We agreed, the couple made an offer for higher than we were going to ask! We purchased the house we had longed for and have lived here for 3 years now. Crazy thing is that my husband showed me a sketch he made with some specific details of our “dream” house before we even considered selling our old house. He showed it to me after we had moved in and it could have been a sketch of our new home along with all the details we desired. Since that time, houses have set on the market for over a year before selling right near ours. Of course, nothing is too big for God. We have used our house to host many guests and our entire church for picnics and other events. What a great God we serve. Good reminder to trust him in all things.
Wow, Kathie, this is an amazing story! And to think it’s peanuts to God 😉 I know I have a hard time trusting God. This is so encouraging.
Kimberly – so glad this was a blessing to you! It’s one of those stories that we talked about often with our kids, to show them God’s faithfulness to provide. Keep trusting!
Hi Jennifer! I’m so glad that this post was encouraging to you. Keep trusting and believing. 🙂
Thanks for the wonderful testimony, Kathie! I’ve been praying I would believe and see God as bigger than my problems and your story of His faithfulness is really encouraging. Blessings to you and your family.
Jennifer Schrandt
Wow and wow. I was so blessed by this. I’m forwarding this article to my husband. I remember when you shared this article before but it seems you share more in detail here and I can not say it enough thank you for sharing. God is so faithful and generous. We have 8 kiddos dont own a home but would love to one day. This testimony encouraged me to trust despite what it looks likes.