The Land is Ours to Possess

At the beginning of this year I really felt the word for us personally was increase in an exponential expansion kind of way. I know to many this year hasn't really been, but for us it has very much been. God had also spoken to Shawn about an endowment-an income or form of property given to someone , a quality or ability possessed or inherited by someone. A lot of times people see the fruit of your labor or just the favor of God and envy it not really realizing it didn't just appear overnight. They get angry with you mostly out of jealousy. They don't realize that you simply obeyed God by cultivating and preparing for the harvest from the seeds He had given you while He alone brings the harvest. I always like to share a part of the story so you can recognize the Miracle Worker working behind it all and look at Him.

When Shawn got the job (miracle job by the way) we'd prayed for this spring, we began looking for property. A place of our own to settle, a place to expand a ministry that Shawn had in his heart since before we were married. Sometimes God puts a call on your life way before He calls you to it. Gives you a vision long before it is to play out. I know that while it may not be mine per-say, I do have things that God has placed in me that will play out in a way that coheres itself with Shawns to make this mission one.

Initially we saw this property, but because it didn't look even remotely possible to us and I didn't really want to move there either, we moved on. It was still very much in the forefront of Shawn mind tho. He already had ties to the area. Elizabethtown. I don't really want to go that far God. (It's actually kind of humorous now looking back because the past 3 major moves were much greater distances.) I half heartedly told God that if it was His will for us to move there and live there that He would have to change my heart on it. So, we continued searching and found new land in a place closer that I still wasn't crazy about. But, since we could purchase it outright and there was NO other affordable land (more than a few acres) in the area, we put in an good offer on it. Meanwhile, God asks me how long I will neglect to possess the land He had given. I was kinda hoping He meant the land we put an offer on, because the countless options were just getting annoying really. We prayed that if the land we offered on wasn't His will that He would shut the door. Well, He did. That land didn’t work out because someone else put in a much better offer at the same time. Imagine that. So I was like oh well, God has something better planned for us, hoping that something would just pop up miraculously that would suit me. Oasis - it will be an oasis; another word Shawn got during this time. It certainly is that. He was drawn to and returned to the previous property. We considered various way to obtain it, but because of the VA loan requirements we thought we couldn't finance such a large acreage. My conclusion was that there was no way we could get that and a house. So I said, God if you want it for us I know you can make it happen and secretly hoped He didn’t . Then, Shawn found out we could do a different kind of loan. And we found a builder who would work with the budget of whose slogan on the website was Matthew 19:26. What may be impossible with man, is completely possible with God. What!!! All the while, He had slowly begun to change my heart. I had been against moving to Fayetteville when Shawn first mentioned it, but I had to learn that one the hard way. Apparently I can be stubborn. Go figure. So, my faith began to rise. When I saw we could get a house the size we wanted, I was like ok God. Let it be. Surrender is a hard thing, but it does help if you're surrendering to something bigger than yourself, a plan already in motion before you were born to the One who already knows the future and has good plans for you. We put in an offer on this property and reached an agreement on a builder the same day! That morning He had told me He would build us a house. Why is He so nice to me? It's nothing that I have done, but it is His nature. So many snags happened between then and now that I won’t mention, BUT I just kept saying God if it’s your will, make it go through, make it happen ,and if it’s not shut the door to it. He was faithful every time !! When we found out we could even possibly be in said new home before the end of the year, God reminded me that it was one of the specific things I had prayed for during our 40 day fast. When Shawn first showed me the land physically, I couldn't see the forest through the trees, so they say. Overgrown, ridden with garbage and trash, not in most ideal location demographically either. I didn't hold my thoughts long, because God reminded me of the process of things and the state we were in before God saved us. He sees the finished work. We must trust Him in the process, that He sees the end from the beginning, because to Him its already done.

Then the week of the closing on the land, I kept getting confirmation after confirmation. A culmination of all that was spoken becoming all that is. From 'I’m expanding you to expand the kingdom', to a song about new wine in reference to a word He had given me in the beginning of the process about it needing to be a new vessel to pour new wine in when we were praying about whether to buy a house or build a new one. To the morning before on Good Morning CL (every M-Th 9-10 am EST https://www.facebook.com/covenantlovechurch), the very words ‘ God has given us the land for our inheritance' and the pastor read in Isaiah 35 a passage that connected so well to the land and to the word I first got about Him doing something new and making those streams in the desert (Isaiah 43:19) when we moved to Fayetteville approximately 2 years ago from the date it happened. It was so prophetic, I didn’t understand it fully 2 years ago, but in that moment I saw a fulfillment and it all just came together and it all made sense . And while I read chapter 35 in entirety, the pastor was praying about fear being gone and surrendering, I read certain words that addressed the very fears I had about the land. It was like an epiphany and I just stood there with my jaw opened like wow. Only you God.

So ....I said all that to say this. We are now landowners of 60 acres of land in Elizabethtown, NC by the power and purpose of God. To say this is a new chapter about to begin, isn’t quite right. It is a new book. Like a sequel where every winding road it took to get us here, has now become straight. My Father owns the cattle on a thousand hills, what are 60 acres to Him. He has big plans for us and this property He has given. He has big plans for you too. They may look different, but they are just as important. Remember, He does exceedingly, abundantly, above all we could ever ask or think. Again, and again, and again.