One of God's Provisions

Before time gets away and we forget the details, I (Stephanie) would like to tell you about one way we have seen the Lord provide. When the Lord made it clear that He was sending us to Zambia, it didn't take long for us to realize that we would have to sell our house. But the house wasn't in any condition to be sold! The kitchen and other house "fix-ups" still had to be completed quickly before we could put it on the market. As we kicked it into high gear to finish the projects, we were also sorting through years of stuff that had been stored in boxes for "some other day". It took three yard sales to sell most of what we owned!

On the first of May, Shannon headed to Zambia. When he returned a few weeks later, we had a family work weekend where all the kitchen cabinet doors were hung and hardware put on. (Thanks family! We could never had done it without you!) The house was finally ready to sell! We decided that we would try to sell it ourselves in order to avoid realtor fees so we put a sign in the yard and asked the Lord to sell our house.

After a couple of weeks we had quite a few phone calls but no one came to look. In a last ditch effort, we ran one ad in the paper advertising a two-hour open house on a Sunday afternoon. No one showed. Forty-five minutes after the open house was over a family came strolling through the yard and knocked on the door. They apologized for being late but really wanted to see the house. We said, "Sure!" They LOVED the house and made an offer right on the spot that was quite a bit under what we were asking. We told them we would think about it. That evening we were talking with my cousin and her husband and told them we just weren't sure if we should take their offer. At that moment my cousin said, "I just have to tell you what we prayed for you last night! We prayed, 'Lord would you please sell Shannon and Stephanie's house. Even if you only send one family to the open house, would you let it be the family who will buy it?'" We looked at each other and Shannon said, "Let's call them and accept the offer!" So, that week we began all the inspections and other things that were necessary and a few weeks later it was done.

Within one month of listing the house, during a time when the real estate market was not good, the Lord sold our house and gave us a substantial profit that enabled us to pay off ALL our debts and even set a little aside for some expenses on the way to Zambia.