Miracle on Count Court

For the past 2 1/2 to 3 years, our family has had a very specific prayer request: the sale of our house in Fairhope, Alabama. We had to move in the spring of 2008 due to a ministry position change. We had to put our house on the market in one of our country's worst housing market times. We put it up with many prayers that God would come through like He had in so many ways before. We knew that it might take a little while so we didn't expect anything that immediate. When the first year passed, I began to fret a little. I found comfort through a couple of avenues. One was our new church family at First Baptist Church of Birmingham, Alabama. They had reached out to us in a great way and provided a great house at a VERY discounted rate.

Another source of comfort came from Matthew 7:7-8. In this passage, Jesus teaches that we are to be persistent in prayer. Sometimes the answer comes quickly. Sometimes He chooses to wait a little while to answer. If you take a look at the original language that this passage is written in (Greek), you will find that a better translation of the passage would be "keep asking, keep seeking, and keep knocking."

For close to three years, this passage of Scripture became very real and a part of our lives. We were constantly "asking, seeking, and knocking" on the throne room of God for Him to intervene or show us what we needed to do. We had one buyer that was lined up to buy the house from us as a short sale, but as the bank drug their feet the buyers had to walk away. As another year passed, a new buyer came on the scene. One of our friends from our previous church was in need of a place. We began the process once again and this past Friday, we closed the deal.

A couple of things that God has taught me through this whole deal have been...

• Don't hold too tight to the things of this world. Houses are nice and all, but every follower of Jesus must remember that this is not our home. (John 14:1-4)


• God is truly sovereign. No matter how much things around us seem to spiral out of control, God is in control and His timing is impeccable. (1 Chronicles 29:11; Romans 5:6)