Trusting God

My children will never behave that way.

I will never let myself get into that position. 

I would never allow that. 

I will never fall in love again.

I will never remarry.

I will never move there. 

I will never live in the city/country.

Fill in your “never”. This list could be endless.

Trust me when I say, we can make all the plans and say that will never be, however God’s will is sovereign.  

Proverbs 16:9 

A man’s heart plans his way,

But the Lord directs his steps.

Proverbs 19:21

There are many plans in a man’s heart,

Nevertheless the Lord’s counsel—that will stand.

Have you ever found yourself in the position where your “never” became your reality?

I have. In fact, I find myself there right now. 

It is funny how God works in our lives to fulfill His plans and purposes while at the same time, answering our prayers in His timing. 

I grew up on a farm. We raised all our own food. We had a very large garden, raised and slaughtered our own pigs and chickens. We had fresh eggs and my grandparents had a dairy farm so we always had fresh milk as well. I never remember being sick as a child. I believe it was in large part because we worked hard and ate good clean food that we raised ourselves. My husband was raised out in the country but didn’t have the farm life I had. When we got married, we talked a lot about having some land and starting a small farm. That was nearly 32 years ago and God is just now beginning to fulfill that dream and answering that prayer but not in the way we thought. In fact, He is giving us the opportunity to have a small farm through a “I’ll never live there” statement. 

We rented for the first 6 or 7 years of our marriage and then we began earnestly looking to purchase our own place. We were looking specifically for a house with land, preferably 3-5 acres with a water source on the property. Through a series of events where God shut door after door, He gave us our little house we currently live in. It was the exact opposite of what we were looking for but it was what God provided. Our house was around 900 square feet, 2 bedroom, 1 bath, one tiny closet with a 50 foot by 160 foot lot in a neighborhood. Not quite the farm we dreamed of. Over the years we’ve added closets and some square footage but it’s still our tiny home. 

I know now that was exactly what we needed at the time. We’ve lived here for over 25 years and trust me, I’ve turned into a mini farm of sorts. I have a small flock of chickens and a great garden space. It was where we raised our children and now it’s beginning to be filled with grandchildren. God has blessed us with this sweet little house and I’ve kind of grown attached to it. 

Did we just give up our dream of having a farm?

Not really, but we just didn’t see it happening at our age and what about the house? We didn’t have peace about selling it at all. That got us thinking, could we do both? Keep our little house and purchase some land? 

So we tried. 

For the past few years we’ve looked at many different properties and each time we thought that this could be the one, God closed the door. 

My husband recently inherited his parent’s house and property which he had every intention of selling and using the money to buy our dream property. We never considered moving down there because all our married life we said we would NEVER live in that area. NEVER would we even consider it for many different reasons. But you know what? God removed all those “reasons” as well as caused our daughter and her family to need a little house with a place for chickens and a garden spot. 

“A man’s heart plans his way,

But the Lord directs his steps.”

By the way, this property has 3 acres with two sources of water. 

Never say never.

God has an incredible way of fulfilling His purposes, in His timing, in His way.

Pray for us as we begin this new chapter and I encourage you to trust God to give you just what you need when you need it.