Buying our first house, moving to Maryland (on a farm at that), finding our van, finding a job or creating a business with specific criteria.
These are all goals, along with many others, that we have set for ourselves and attained over the last 8 years. This list doesn’t include every goal, but it includes a few significant milestones along our journey. Looking back, there is a very important first step to success that we applied to each of these goals – working even when applied haphazardly. Can you figure out what that first step is?
In 2012, I was desperate for a home of our own. One where I could plant a garden and really make my own. One where putting nail holes in the wall wouldn’t matter, and I didn’t have to fear that my children would destroy another person’s property. I prayed and I searched the house listings, not even sure that we would be able to afford any home at all. Then one day I stopped scrolling. On the computer screen right before my eyes was a house that I knew was supposed to be our home. The style was right, the town was right, the yard was right. I knew the listing agent and, after speaking with my husband, called him to see if he could show us the house. I kept crunching the numbers, and was amazed to figure out over and over again that it would work for us – that we could afford the mortgage payment on this house. Each piece of the process fell into place smoothly and with little effort. There was a little fear with some extra waiting time before we finally closed on the home that I knew was for us.
For years, I prayed to be able to move back home to where I grew up in Maryland. In 2017, I was still praying that prayer, but then gave it to God asking that His will be done with my request. In 2018, just 6 months later, things started changing and we made plans to make the move. In April we started talking about the possibility and my husband started looking for jobs, in May my husband gave a month’s notice to his employer, and we moved at the beginning of July. Literally back home on my parents’ farm, where we lived until finding our own place to rent and live.
Just recently we needed a van. I prayed that our current van would last and that we would find a new van at the right time as my husband kept his eye out for vans. Many that he saw didn’t fit our needs, but he continued to check to see what used vans were listed from time to time. Then he found a van. It had the number of seats we needed and was listed at a price that we could afford without much of a down payment.
My husband has been talking about his future business plans for a while now, waiting until he can finally take action. There are some very specific ways he wants to run his business, and he’s discussed them with certain people in his life. My prayer for him lately has been to experience fulfillment in his current job, or for a job opportunity that would provide that if it is God’s will. Well, God has once again answered our prayers with a new job opportunity. This time we didn’t go looking for it, but it was provided at just the right moment. As John’s co-worker pointed out, it’s everything he’s ever talked about wanting in a business.
If you haven’t figured it out yet, the first step to success is to surrender your goals and desires to our Lord, to pray that His will be done, and to trust that He will provide.
The first goal should be to do the will of God in all things, because He ultimately knows what we truly need. God has been trying to teach this to us over the years. We are far from perfect in responding willingly, but our hope is that we are getting better at saying yes to God first. It’s a yes that we have to say as we wait for His perfect timing, and a yes that we have to say in each action that we take.
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