November 3rd, 2014 by Zac

In our last update, I told part of the story about the miracle of our new house. But it wasn’t the whole story. It’s a little long, but worth retelling the miracle!

In April, our old house owner had told us that he would like to sell the house we were renting and we needed to be vacated by the end of June. We were really disappointed, because moving is such a life disruption and it was also in the middle of summer. But we accepted it as God’s movement and began packing and looking, as well, for a new rental house.

But by the middle of June, we had only found one place we felt was suitable. It was a row house (the kind that are connected to other houses on each side). So, because it was getting so close to our moving date, we decided to take the row house, even though didn’t seem ideal. On a Friday, we contacted the realtor and agreed to take the house. But something didn’t feel right about it. We prayed that if it was not God’s plan, that he was stop the process somehow. I felt weird praying a prayer like that, since we had already made the decision. But our time had seemingly run out.

Packing Days

One of the first loads

Over that weekend, we somehow found out that the house we just agreed to rent was previously a dog hotel. But we had already made the decision and our time had run out for other options. Or so we thought.

On the following Monday, the realtor called us and said, the owners had changed their minds. They didn’t want rent any longer, but they only wanted to sell. We were excited not to have to live in a dog hotel, but our next thought was, we had no other good house prospects and only 15 days until we had to be moved out.

But as usual, God had the details all organized! The next day, we went reluctantly to look at one house prospect, which was unfinished – no floors, no bathrooms, kitchen, lights or doors. We left the viewing, liking the house generally, but knowing how unrealistic it was to finish a house in 2 weeks.  Plus, it was a larger house than we currently had and we needed to have something a bit cheaper to stay within our budget.

First viewing

View from up the street

The next day, while Kim was cooking supper, she got a call from an unknown caller. When she answered it, it was a women’s voice calling from Canada. As it turns out, the woman was the daughter of the unfinished house owners. She said that her parents really liked us and that they were eager to rent the house to us. Plus, they felt like they could have the house livable within two weeks! Plus, it would cost us 100 Euros less than the current house! Kim almost passed out in the kitchen as she listened to God’s gift unfolded in front of her!

To make a longer story shorter, within two weeks (by the end of June) we had signed the contract and moved all our belongings into the new house! There were still no doors, but we didn’t care much. We were so grateful for what God had provided and were ready to celebrate his faithful care for our family.

Since that time, we have been falling in love with our new place more and more. It’s extremely quiet, it’s plenty large to accommodate our constant flow of guests, it’s energy efficient and it’s well situated to our city.

Now this weekend, we are planning a “kolaudacia”. It’s the slovak word which basically means an open house celebration after a new house move. So, we are looking forward to meeting our new neighbors and making new friends.

Thank you to all you who prepare our paths here with regular prayer. This is a great example of our spiritual partnership and God’s generous response to our physical needs.