Jesus, two weeks ago I prayed
that you would be yourself with me.
After that I felt convicted that
I was holding too tightly to my possessions – mainly clothing – and resolved to
give my clothes away at the next possible opportunity. “Show me who I can give
my clothes to” I said.
Well, Jesus, you certainly came,
showed up, and blew me out of the water. You said, yeah Brianna, it’s nice that
you’re “ready” to give your clothes away – but I want you to hold everything in
this world with open hands.
Two days later a pipe burst in
our house and flooded from the third floor down to the basement, causing water
damage in about half of our residence. We sat in the living room that morning,
after ripping up the wet carpets till 3am the night before in hopes to save the
hardwood floors from warping. We drank coffee together and listened to the
worries my mom was expressing over the money that this was going to cost and
the amount of damage that took place, how hunter’s graduation party was in two
weeks and the house wouldn’t be ready.
I stopped and let my family in on
the coincidence of my conviction days prior concerning my possessions. We
reflected on how you work, God, in our lives and continually teach us lessons
through real life situations. How kind of miraculous it is to notice that you
were working in that very moment. My mom continued to notice the difficulties
that the flood was presenting for us as a family and showing obvious worry over
the whole situation. Jesus you gave me boldness and faith.
I said to my mother “I believe
that God is going to provide us with enough insurance money. He’s going to be
like – here you go – I’m taking care of you, and just put it in our lap.”
Alyssa agreed and said for some reason she felt at peace about the whole thing.
Maybe that’s because we weren’t paying mortgage on the house, maybe because it
was your Spirit giving us what you promised. “The Lord is good, a refuge in
times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in Him” says Nahum 1:7.
Later that day the insurance
guys came to estimate and calculate the damage to let us know what our next
step needed to be. Through their consultation we were informed that the damage
was worse than we initially thought, there was lead in the paint, we couldn’t be
in the house when they were demoing and I definitely needed to be out of the
house as soon as possible. This was because I had lung issues a few years back
and they traced it to mold, dust mite and pet allergies. While the men explained
these things and their little machines told us which walls had water and which
walls would remain, we didn’t really know what to do with ourselves. We just
knew we were going to be making a lot of changes over night.
Alyssa and I started packing my
van with the things I already had packed from moving home from college. I had
barely unpacked so it was pretty simple. God you were preparing me to handle
the transition through teaching me how to live on the go; by moving to college,
back home for the summer, to college, to camp.
We were thinking of where we
could sleep that night, and Alyssa immediately thought of the apartment that
she planned on moving in to with Tim after they get married in October. About
two weeks prior, Alyssa had informed my parents that she intended to move in to
this apartment in August, in order to avoid the stress of moving while starting
her new job at Valley in September. She wondered if it would be possible for her
and me to move in to the apartment now until I go back to school mid-august.
God, your hand was so clearly over our living situation – you want to give your
children good things, comfortable things.
The landlady, Veronica, was away
on business in Germany that week. Alyssa got a hold of her and Veronica was
more than happy to let us move in as soon as we could. She gave Alyssa access
to the apartment over the phone and even extended her empty house to accommodate
our family’s needs. God, you bless through the body of Christ. This woman has
been a faithful servant at our home church for many years. I pray you would
shower her in your wondrous grace for what she gives so freely to others.
Three days prior to the pipe
bursting, I stumbled upon an ad for a paid internship for content writing with
DialAmerica for the summer. I received a call back from my resume not three
hours after sending it, and scheduled an interview for Monday at 2. Little did I
know I would be moving my life in to the van Monday morning. I felt like maybe I
shouldn’t go to the interview because of how hectic things were and what it
would be like to start a new job on top of it all. My family encouraged me to
go anyway.
I stopped at Starbucks and sat
with a grande Zen tea, trying to focus on my strengths and weaknesses. They
always ask that question in an interview, right? With my life in the back of
the van, I talked to You, Jesus about how good you are, and you filled me with
joy. I walked in to the interview confident and was able to not bring any
discouragement or disarray with me. I am still waiting to hear back from them
on whether or not I am hired, but I trust that God will open or close the door
for the better.
When I got back to the house our
friends, John and Jess, were ready with 2 mattresses and their vehicle to help
us move Alyssa and I up to the apartment. Many hands make light work and hearts
serving Christ serve each other. We took one trip up to the apartment, and then
were blessed by the hospitality of our lifetime family friends, the VanLentens.
They had us over for a home cooked meal pretty last minute. While talking over
dinner, they offered their backyard and house for us to host Hunter’s
graduation party. What a great family of believers we are surrounded by – who genuinely
grasp the concept of loving their neighbor and giving their possessions.
Alyssa and I settled in to the
apartment through another set of disguised blessings. Alyssa’s fiancé, Tim, had
lived on his own for a few years after college. He moved back to his parents
house after a change of jobs. That meant his basement was full of the
essentials for living, all boxed and ready to use; couches, side tables,
kitchen appliances, Tupperware, bath mats, towels…you name it. We are at no
loss for comfort and we didn’t have to worry for a second what we would be
cooking our eggs in. God, you see everything in advance and know exactly what
we need – you orchestrate our lives so perfectly, and although we don’t see the
whole picture most times – we can trust that.
Hunter, Reagan, Mom and Dad have
been living in a hotel for the past week and have been told they will be
displaced for atleast 2 months while our house is renovated. Hunter graduated
high school and is moving to Boston on June 30, and his needs will be provided
for just as perfectly there.
My parents were told that
insurance is covering everything from demo to renovation, even food while they
are inconvenienced.
When Alyssa and I went food
shopping for the apartment for the first time, she asked me if I minded putting
the money out for the bill. She said she would pay me back once she got paid
next. I said not to worry about it, it was a blessing that I even had money
enough to pay for anything, seeing as a month ago I had 40$ in my bank account.
God has provided me with a job and the time to save up a little, just in the
past few weeks. I told her that she didn’t have to pay me back, I just trust
that God will provide the money. I told her when we got in the car in the Shoprite
parking lot that I thought we should save our receipts from food to keep track
of how much money we spend.
Last night at dinner Dad asked
if we saved our food receipts. We said yes and he told us that he was going to
take them to the insurance company and they would reimburse us for what we
spend on food. He said because we weren’t supposed to be out of the house
paying for our own food, they would cover that cost. God, you did it again.
How could I invest any time in
doubt or worry when you so blatantly show you are in control of every single
thing and on top of that want to bless your children?
My family, when telling this
story, says that God can use a bad thing to bring so much good. However, I think
we need to start by not referring to the flood as a bad thing. God, you can
only create good, and I believe that this was so curiously orchestrated by you.
I think you answered my prayer, that you decided to be yourself with me, and
show me how creatively and unexpectedly you can use whatever you want in this
world to bring glory honor and praise to you. I get chills seeing your
creativity – I would never have thought of a flood! It wasn’t the first time
you did ;)
Lord, Father, Protector, Healer,
Sustainer – you are teaching me that when we speak our faith and believe you
have the power, and WILL do it – You DO! You are a miraculous person and I can’t
wait to experience more of you.
