Jim Shares…
The timing was miraculous. Just as we all felt that God’s mantle of peace and grace was beginning to lift at Jim and Bonnie’s home, God provided a two-bedroom apartment. There was no doubt that our lives were being directed-timing, provision, and relief. The new apartment had two bedrooms. One was quite lengthy and able to accommodate five beds side by side. Janie and I stayed in the other, which was very small in comparison. The apartment complex was located just off campus with college kids being the majority of tenants. Often their parties would go on all night. We were introduced to the sound of music, “full base sound.” The apartment next to us had our walls moving in and out to the beat of their base speakers. Still, we were on our own, and things were looking up, temporarily. After a friendly discussion, they kindly limited their music to treble only!
Our own apartment-what a relief! A ton of pressure seemed to vanish after we moved in. We were like wounded animals, now wanting to hide. Right before we moved into the apartment, God performed a miracle for us. My son had suffered from allergies for years. I had prayed for a long time and checked different remedies all to no avail. One night at Bonnie’s home I was praying, and I heard the words “meat deficiency.” I knew the Holy Spirit was speaking about Kevin. So I said, “LORD, I do not have any meat or the money to buy it; will you provide?” About two weeks later, just before moving out of Bonnie’s, we were going to the Wednesday night church services. As we arrived at the church, the police were there, and there was a small group of people standing around in front of the church. Someone driving by had hit a deer and knocked it onto the front lawn of the church. The officer shot the crippled deer and then asked if anyone wanted the deer. Janie nudged me and told me to get it. I spoke up and expressed my desire, so everyone helped me to load it into the van. In Mississippi citizens cannot claim a road-killed deer. This was new to me, and I was happy to receive such a prize. Someone from the church helped me prepare it for freezing. God revealed a solution to Kevin’s allergy problem and then provided the supply. Our God is awesome and wonderful!
We moved our few belongings into the apartment, and Jim said I could store the trailer at his place. We were gathering additional winter clothing and returning to some sort of normalcy. We chose to enroll the children in the local schools and forgo the home-schooling routine. I think everyone was pleased with that move!
Shortly after moving into the apartment we received both joyful, but sad news. My family had sold our house on the Coast. That was the joyful news. The sad news was that they had sold our home that appraised for $101,000 for $58,000. We had only owed $50,000, and they sent us a check for $8,000. We had spent thousands fixing up the house and putting on a new roof before we left. The home was immaculate, and we knew it would eventually sell, but the amount they sold it for devastated and offended us. Of course, God had asked us to walk away from our home, so we understood that we could have easily received nothing from its sale. At least we were able to repay the money for the roof repairs that we had borrowed. But getting so little from the sale of our beautiful remodeled home further established that we were still in our “season with the LORD and the trials He had designed for us.”