As we began to divest ourselves of our possessions, the Holy spirit also began to instruct us concerning our departure. We belonged to AAA Travel Club, so we requested maps for just about every state in the nation. In the end, you might guess, the state that He led us to was one that we had not considered, so we did not have a map for it! yet in the scheme of things, had we had a map, we could have easily and most probably missed our “appointed” destination.
While attempting to select a departure date, a number of significant occurrences took place. Janie and I ordered some businesscards from some Christian friends of ours who were in the printing business on the gulf Coast. After sharing with them our plans, they gave us two pieces of advice. Their first comment was strange! The husband told me that we needed to be at least 1000 miles from family and friends. That way they could not just drop in on us, and it would show an effort on their part to travel that distance to visit us. Also, this distance, he said, would move us far enough away where we would not be able to return without considerable effort. Secondly, his wife said she had a song for us from the LORD. She played the song on the piano and sang: “Freely, Freely You Have Received, Freely, Freely Give.”1 I asked for a copy of it from the songbook to take with me. Like Mary, in the days of yahushua (Jesus), I pondered those things in my heart and wrote them in my notebook. What did they mean? What was the significance?
We continued preparing. Finally, we had no doubt that our home was not to sell, or I should say that God was not going to allow it to sell. This was so devastating to us. After doing all of the costly fix-up work on it, we had to fight our thoughts and emotions about giving away our home and leaving. Just what we had dreaded, God was requiring us to walk away from our home. The only reason we could figure for God not wanting to sell it was that He did not want us having $50,000 of equity or any portion of it in our pocket on this trip. It would certainly have changed the nature of a trip that was to be made totally on faith. After waiting a year and missing one window to depart, we knew that it was now time to leave. We set a date and began to prepare our van for travel. We had little money, and little comprehension of how God would continue to provide, but we knew He was directing the whole situation.
Ring-Ring-Ring…A couple of surprise phone calls brought God’s provision. A dear friend of ours, Betty, from Forest, Mississippi called and spoke with Janie. Her husband, guyton, had recently died, and she was calling to inform us. As she recounted the story she informed Janie that he had left her a fair amount of money and that she wanted to give Janie $1000, plus the tithe on it of $100, plus $10 for an additional blessing. This was truly a blessing and an answer to prayer.
I must share this beautiful story concerning the death of her husband guyton, our friend. He was a robust Christian and loved to tell anyone he met about his love for yahushua (Jesus). He had served as a judge in Forest for many years and would often share his faith from the bench. In his later years he would often say that he could not wait to get to Heaven, and that as soon as he got there, he was going to walk up to saint Peter and shake his hand, and then walk up to saint Paul and shake his hand, to proclaim how happy he was to meet them.
In the process of time, guyton had a stroke or heart attack and was unconscious in the hospital. Just before he finally stopped breathing, he got a big smile on his face, stuck out his hand, went through the motions of shaking someone’s hand. He then lay still. Shortly after that, he again stuck out his hand, and with a big smile began to move as if shaking someone’s hand, then lay still and finally stopped breathing. His wife could only figure that he had made it to heaven and was doing just what he said he would. Praise God!