The Beauty of A Home

The Beauty of A Home


We love living here in the mountains. It is a quite, gentle place. Filled with beauty and kind people.
My husband moved us here  to start a new life.
God had plans for us and He saw us through some tough times.
God has his reasons for the direction our lives took.
We obeyed Him, even if it was hard.

Through all this, God was getting my husband’s attention. What it took to have that happen, cost us almost everything. Even nearly his own life. I will get to that in this story.

Before coming to this great place we are now at.
We lived in Richmond for a short time…we started going to a church there called The Roc. He and my son, starting serving and helping in a couple of different ministries within that church, whenever they could.

My husband was over the road truck driver.
He was gone out a lot. He made sure he was home on Saturdays…that was the day they did anything they could to serve at the church. Saturdays was a big day at the church…children’s ministries were  in full swing, and plenty of activities to help and be apart of in it. That night was church service in general for everyone.
They always came home, so filled with joy and good things to tell me.

There is a lot of soul winning at this church as well. Groups would go out and minister to the needs of the inner city people and lead them to Christ. It is normal to know that at least 500 a week were getting saved. My husband and son loved going out soul winning. Telling others about God’s great love for them. They didn’t just do it during the times the groups went out from the church, they did it all the time, everywhere they went.

To this day, my husband is a soul winner. It is in heart. It is his great joy to do so.

He doesn’t just go to anyone…though, God has given him a gift of knowing who to talk to and who is saved and who is not. The Lord speaks to his heart, who to go to and talk to. Every time this happens between him and God, this person is lead to Christ.

I saw this many times while out with him. I will give you an example of the first time I saw this. While we were out one day, driving down the road, my husband turned into Taco Bell in Richmond. I was concerned, because I was on my way to a Dr. appointment and was running on time…stopping meant being late. I said, “What are you doing?” “We don’t have time to stop here.” He said, “I have to, see that man over there.”
He pointed to a man standing with a group of people outside the restaurant. “That man, there.” “The Lord just told my heart, to stop and ask him if he wanted to know who Jesus is.” I said, “Go then.”
Who am I to get in the way of eternity.

I sat in the car and watched.
I will tell you later why I did not get out or go out and do what my husband does.

I sat in the car and saw my husband practically run up to the man. The man saw him coming. My husband had a huge smile on his face and gladness in in heart. It looked like he was seeing an old friend he had not seen in a long time and was so happy for the moment. I heard my husband say. “Hey man!” “I got something to ask you.” “Do you know who Jesus is?!” The man smiled at David and said, “No man, but I sure want to.”
I saw them move closer to each other and I saw them praying together. David then gave that man a big hug, and told him, “Welcome to the Kingdom of God!”
“You belong to Him now and He lives in your heart!”
The man was smiling the most wonderful smile I had ever saw in my life.

I was sitting in the car, tears running down my face. I just witnessed a moment in time that was priceless, it entered my heart and would stay for ever.

This is what my husband does. The Lord will speak in his heart and tell him to say a certain thing to certain people and whatever that is, captures their hearts, cause it is meant just for them. He ends up praying for them, planting seeds, leading them to Christ.

I remember he told me once, the Lord asked him to tell a waitress something, at a truck stop he was at.

He said, he walked in and sat down to get a bite to eat before going back out on the road. The Lord said to him, “I want you to tell that woman, that Jesus is her friend and that I love her.” David did just that. He said, “I want you to know, Jesus loves you and He is your friend.” She broke down crying, sat down with him and told her of the pain in her life that she was experiencing and how she was needing to hear that, she was wondering if anybody loved her anymore or cared about her. He assured her that God did and was with her. He prayed with her.

I do not have this special gift. I think sometimes, I sure wish I could do what my husband does….but God gives each person different gifts. Mine is in writing and in encouraging others.

My son caught the fire of soul winning while we lived in Richmond. He was attending a very violent middle school there. You would wonder, why would we put our son there…well we were obeying God, even if it scared us or was not what we wanted….it was what God wanted. God took care of my son. My son made fast friends with one our neighbor’s son. He became a Christian and together they lead 25 kids to Jesus in that middle school, during that time.  Now, my son is in High school, thinking about his future, college and ministry.

During this time in Richmond, my husband was out in another state, a long way from home, his appendix busted. He ended up in the hospital. The Dr. said it was a miracle he survived it. Because he was 4 days out with a busted appendix. It was the grace of God that kept him alive.

Not long after that, he lost his job.
The sewer in the house broke and for reasons we still can’t figure out, the landlord would not fix it.
Our dog got hit by a car. That is a cool story too though….God healed our dog. My son and I prayed for her for 3 days, slept beside her and read Psalms to her. The vet told us she would not live out the night.. We didn’t give up….in 3 days she was up and herself again…now she has a limp in her front leg…but she is alive.
Then our car got reposed.
Our next door neighbor decided in her mind we were her enemy and relentlessly picked on us. She wrote us bad letters and put them in a chair on our porch for us to read.

Don’t worry about her too much though, we kept loving her and doing good to her, praying for her…she broke down and cried, told us she was sorry and was scared she was going to go to hell for the way she treated us…we told her we forgave her and she went to church with us one night and gave her heart to Jesus.

These things all took place in a weeks time. One right after the other.

I learned much later that my husband had been praying for awhile about going into to ministry full time at The Roc and wanted God to do whatever it took, if that was His will for us.
I said to my husband, “Good gracious!” “Couldn’t you just listened to what He wanted you to do the first time, with out being so hard headed.” “Look what we went through.”

I also learned God had a bigger plan and it didn’t just include us. God works all things out for our good. This I know is true for our lives.

It came to the point when we had to move out of the house.

My husband met with the Pastor of the church he was attending, told him what was going on and what was in my husband’s heart, to serve there and it was decided that we would go to the Roc and volunteer in full time ministry, in whatever way we were needed, give them all we had in our home and in return, while we would serve there, they would give us a place to live and provide our needs.

I was sick and I was sacred. I had not been well for some time and I suffered from sever agoraphobia and panic attacks. I was not well physically as well and was suffering.
I would pray and cry myself to sleep each night, I wanted God to heal me, so I can live a “normal” life. I was on the inside looking out and missing life.

I also wanted to obey God and I wanted to support my husband.

I had to drag myself out of the “safety” of my room and go to the rest of the house and begin to pack things to give to the church, so my “treasures” could be a blessing to others.
It was so hard for me and I cried the whole time. My tears fell like a broken water faucet.
I felt I was giving away my life and it hurt and it was hard. I was giving up everything. My safe feelings I created for myself…my family, my life, my things…myself.

I watched my comfy cozy bed, that had been my life and my safe place to hide in for too many years, go into a big truck for someone else. My dressers, my son’s bedroom set and things…pots, pans, dishes, TV, couches, chairs, lamps, microwave…everything…
but my pictures and Jonathan’s things I saved from when he was a baby.
Just kept some very personal items…stored in my in-laws barn on their farm.

My husband, hugged me and comforted me and told me God would take good care of us and would bless us. That all our things would be a great blessing to others. They were just things. Still I got to understand how hard it is to let go of “things.”

It was hard for me to give up everything, of what little we had left. I was upset about it.
I was unsure of what was next. Plus I was very sick. I barely would come out of my bedroom, much less think of going into ministry at an inner city church.
I was thinking, how easy it would be to just put a mattress down on the floor of my empty bedroom and just fall asleep. Even in a house with the sewer broken.

We had $20 to our name the last day at the house. I said to my husband, “What are we going to do?” “I have medicines to get, we need to feed Jonathan and we have needs.“
I was crying. My sweet husband hugged me and he said, “God will take care of us.” Right then, there was a knock at the door. Our neighbor from across the street, (not the one that was being mean), came over and she said, “I felt it in my heart to come over here and give you this.” She handed my husband $80.
We cried and thanked her. We prayed that God would bless her 3 times as much.
God was right then demonstrating the beginning of meeting all our needs, even before we set foot out of that house.

The next day, I was to serve at the church’s thrift store. I had a terrible panic attack. A beautiful woman of God, named Monica that also served there, saw my distress, she just grabbed me and wrapped her arms around me like a blanket and washed me over in prayer. I could feel the love of God covering me in her arms. After that I was fine and while there I did not experience another attack.

Inside of a week, we watched God bless others with our things. I saw it with my eyes, it blessed my heart. I felt grateful to do it and humbled to be serving Him in all areas of my life. Joy entered me and I felt like It was like popcorn popping in my heart, none stop.

I never felt so complete and humbled at the same time. I saw first hand in ministry there, real hurt, pain, and need. My own was a shadow compared to the needs in Richmond. Thank God for The Roc. For any Church and the people willing to give themselves up so others can know God and to be a comfort and help to others that need it. I saw giving, by the people in that church in such profound ways. No regard to self, if there was a need, that was the most important moment, nothing else mattered. Time stopped and surrounded each person in thier need, so they could be loved on and that need to be met. God touched me in the deep places of my heart. I came to know love like I never known it before. I reflect often at my times at The Roc. My heart is still there. I cry sometimes still, for missing it. My husband, son and I repeatedly say to one another, we would do it again Lord. Yes Lord, we would. If He asked it of us again…we would not hesitate.

My family and I were only there for a season. But in the time we were there God did a great work in our hearts. We are forever changed.

Now we are here. In the mountains. God is restoring our lives, in His way.
Gently healing me in His rest and peace. He has been blessing us ever so slowly and providing all that we need in His time. Replacing the things in our lives that we gave. But we get to keep what treasures He gave in our hearts, in the place of the “treasures” we gave away to others.

Nothing compares.

We are in a church here, with similarities of The Roc. It is called Valley Church. The heart is the same. We feel grateful to call Valley Church our church family. The Pastor preaches from the Bible and speaks truth. He has a heart for God and the people, you can see it in his face and hear it in his words and feel it in your heart. You know you are at the right place, if you are at a church that keeps you growing in love and the knowledge of God.
If you never leave feeling corrected, convicted or wanting to change or improve, then you are most likely at a dead church. A good pastor, will draw you to the heart of God and then encourages you to go deeper still. The leaders he puts in place in the church, should be doing the same, by example. No church is without faults…we are all human. But God is without faults and He works in the hearts of men, to do His good will.

Some have said to my husband, “How could you do that to your family, just give it all up and not be a man and take better care of them.”
My husband doesn’t get offended. I do though. In my eyes, my husband is my hero. He obeyed God. Even though it was hard. Even though we suffered. We encountered, things man can never give to us.
We encountered God. People of a church that lived Jesus out loud. We encountered a flowing of peace everlasting. A continual understanding of the realities of God loving a lost and dying world.

We know God, we love Him and we serve Him.
You can never out give God.

Our life belongs to God. We give it freely to Him. After all, He gave His life for us. That is a debt no man can pay. Jesus paid a price we could never repay, out of complete and perfect love toward all men.

Each person’s life is planned different. No journey is the same. None should ever be judged by anyone else. Every relationship with God is different. That is a personal thing. A sacred thing. A most prized experienced only between God and another. No one should compare their relationship with God to any one else.

I am proud of my husband, I have deep respect for him. I honor him and love him. God choose this man just for me to share time and space with him on this earth.

I do confess, I sometimes still fret over wanting this or that for the house to make it into a home. God cares about that for me. But He also reminds me what is most important.

Right before we left The Roc, my sweet friend, Monica gave me a love letter out of a book she had at the time.
The book is called, Love Letters From Your King, by Sherri Rose Shepherd.

This is what it said.
My Princess…fill your home with peace.

I know how hard it is for you to feel content in your home when you’re always wanting one more thing to make it the perfect place. I long to give you beautiful things that turn a house into the haven of a home; but My Princess, you must first learn to let Me build in you a place of peace and contentment. Do your best to rest in Me and wait for Me, and then I will give you what I know will benefit you the most. I want you to make your home a place that builds relationships and reflects who you are in Me. Remember that your loved ones need you more than any material thing. So decorate your home with joy, fill it with timeless memories, and create a safe place to grow in Me.

Love, Your King and Resting Place

John 14:27
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled.

Monica had no clue how God was using her right then. I keep this “Love Letter” handy, whenever I get discouraged about homemaking, I get this letter out and read it. I get my heart set on what truly makes a home beautiful.

Not long ago, my husband and I were up early, sitting at the table having coffee and talking about God. We were discussing how we needed to please God with our lives and with our actions to each other in the home. So others that come into our home can see a reflection of Him in our lives. We prayed together and asked God to help us do that and to help us please Him with our lives in our home, so that others who come in can know His love for them. We asked Him to forgive us, for the times we have not being doing that and asked God to help us be more tolerant and forgiving of each other.

After we prayed that together, I gave a kiss to my husband and told him I was going to show more thoughtfulness of him and show that I cared more about his feelings.

All at once, I had a type of vision.

I saw a large water fountain in the center of my home. It was flowing smoothly and was refreshing and calming. Then I saw it with rocks in it and grim and dirt, stopping it up and it was running slower and then hardly at all, then none at all.

I got an understanding of what it meant.

The fountain is the spirit of the home, the Holy Spirit must run through our lives and in the home. Our bad actions, words and sin causes Him not to flow. We must work on keeping our fountain clean and flowing. (Our Spirit)
The Holy Spirit works through us and is the well spring of our lives.
People should come into my home feeling refreshed, calm, safe and at peace.
The Holy Spirit can’t flow through our lives if we clog up our spirit with messy things, it is my responsibility to keep my spirit clean and available to represent Him in my home and in my life.

I am very grateful to have Jesus living in my heart and in my home. He is welcomed in both. I have invited Him to do so. He makes all the difference in our lives.

KimWenrich
2 Corithians 5:17
Psalms 139