Are you like me and rely on your feelings and circumstances too much, instead of the promises that God has given us? When things are going well in life, then we are obviously making the right decision and God is blessing us! But when either things are not going well or we don't seem to be hearing any clear direction from God, it's easy to feel that we must have done something wrong or that we have made a wrong decision!
We were very clearly led by God to leave ngm and we have a number of promises, like the 7 camels to hang on to. We had the miracle of the red tulips and camels being in the houses we viewed in February (see Time2 Talk Camels), so why do we have doubts from time to time that we've made the right decision? When we have 40+ years experience each of God's guidance and provision, why do we allow that niggling thought to enter our head, that says "Did you really hear God? Did he really tell you to start this journey?". It's only as I type this, that I realise how similar this is to the way that the serpent put the seed of doubt in Eve's mind "Did God really say that?" It was also the strategy that devil used to try and tempt Jesus in the wilderness, he tried to put doubt in Jesus' mind by saying "If you are the Son of God" etc. You'd have thought that he may have come up with a new strategy by now, but then again why would he when it still seems to work so well?
I think that too often, we can view making decisions a bit like a game show. Are you going to select the future behind Door A or Door B? We tend to believe that God has a single plan for our lives and that he's standing behind one of the doors ready to bless us if we choose the right one. We tend to forget that God is present where ever we are, in which case God isn't behind some doors and not others. Obviously, we need to have some common sense and follow the guidance we've been given in the word of God, we can't expect to lie, steal, commit adultery etc. and for God to bless us. But sometimes in life, there isn't a right and wrong decision, the right decision is the one that we make, just because you made it.
So, coming back to our current circumstances, we've recently been feeling that God is saying that he will supply us with a house soon. We've been regularly checking all the online websites for houses in and around the Chepstow/Newport area. We were due to be visiting Ruth's parents at the end of August, so thought it a good opportunity to view some properties on the Saturday, but we could only find one that we really liked. When we were arranging the viewing with the agent, he asked if we'd considered another one (Ruth had seen it online, but wasn't sure about it, so we'd dismissed it), but we said that as we were in the area that we may as well view both the properties. The first one we viewed was the one we'd chosen, but it was very expensive for what it was and needed lots of work and the layout just didn't flow, so we discounted that. We then went to view the one the agent had recommended, as we turned into the drive, we had one of those moments when we just sat amazed, saying 'WOW'. It was stunning and the more we saw of it, the more we fell in love with it. It had so much more than any of the properties we'd viewed and as we walked around, we selected which room would be the prayer room - the prayer room is a big priority for us.
We came away, believing that we had been directed to the right property and that God would provide. But as the days have ticked away with no sign of any money arriving or even any words of encouragement, the same old doubts begin to raise their head again. Did God tell us to start this journey or was it just something that we wanted to do? As we've said previously, when we look back, there are too many 'coincidences' in this journey for it to be anything else, other than a God given dream. We have to cling on to the promises He's given us and to speak them out and to testify to all that he has done for us in the past. We all need to remember that with God, their are no dead ends!
P.S. While just sitting proof reading this blog, we had the TV on for our grandson. The Go Jetters episode on CBBC was based in Holland and prominently featured red tulips and then after that we switched over to the Antiques Road Trip and they were selling a wooden toy camel. Who says that God doesn't have a sense of humour?
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