The House That God Picked

This one has me so dazed that I can't even conceivably wax eloquent on it. I am like a stuttering fool before His goodness. After sharing the story about God's lead to Naples, of course I was bombarded with questions about logistics. Where is Naples in relation  to Lesina?  Does this mean a move? So then you need a house?

Well let me assure you that God was far ahead of us all. Indeed, as someone told me precisely 22 months ago, not to worry about the future, the house, the logistics, because God was Already There . And in fine form, just like The Story With Our Van His sovereign signature was in the details.

Before leaving Canada our care team was praying for the home God was preparing for us. One of our friends challenged us to be super specific with God, as we were with the van. So we went home and did our homework, ie. made a list of our needs and desires. This was not an easy task, but I will say the kids had a much easier time with it than I did. We wrote the following:

Need: Three bedrooms: one for us, one for the boys, one for the girls.
Desire: A spare bedroom

Need: A dining room big enough for our ginormous table and family
Desire: A spacious open concept floor plan that would allow hosting big gatherings

Need: Windows. (without light I am prone to struggle with depression)
Desire: Green. It doesn't even have to be on my yard, but if I can just SEE a tree, God I will be happy.

Need: an outdoor space. maybe a balcony, a little patio, or a terrace... just a place to sit in the open air
Desire: a yard "a giardino" as it is called in Italy. with grass, and trees and space for the kids trampoline.

Need: 600 euros a month rent
Desire: a free, private parking space with room to tinker.

Other Desires:
Nichole: please no whacky, tacky tiles and patterns.
Elisa: to be near the sea
Shailey: to have horse stables nearby

Yeah, like I said, the kids didn't have trouble with the Extravagant Giver or  "specific desires" aspect.

During the past six months, I must admit I was a little confused as to the exercise in specifics. I had felt that God was convicting me on doubting His desire to give good gifts to His children. Almost as though I thought He would be stingy in order to test my faithfulness or maturity. I sensed this offended God,  (rightly so) repented of it and asked Him to help me see Him as the Extravagant Giver that He is. Not that that is all He is, but specifically for me this was an element of His character I struggled with.

I really believed I had "broken through" in this area, and was holding great expectations for God to wow us with "something amazing" for our family and ministry. I just gotta say that our 900 square foot, two bedroom, second story apartment with one itsy bitsy teeny weeny shower and expensive 100 euro a month parking 3 blocks away, kinda let me down a bit. DON'T get me wrong. The apartment is beautiful, bright, the four rooms are relatively spacious, and it has a huge balcony for outdoor living, and the 400 euros a month was a huge plus as well. For all of these things I was truly grateful. But... well.... I felt like after challenging me to step up my expectations, God kinda dropped the ball on this one.

Cue the house in Naples. When we were planning the dates to go and explore a ministry opportunity at Il Faro, we were told that they had a potential house that we could rent as well. On Monday afternoon, at 5 pm, we stood in front of the big gate and waited for them to buzz us in. I will describe what we saw, as we saw it as the gate slid open. Yard. A big, big yard. Grass. Trees and lots of place for kids to run. A detached double garage with plenty of space to tinker. A huge two story house, with tons of big windows.

Entering the house we found ourselves in a great room that was practically the size of our whole apartment, with a huge fire place, high ceilings and incredible finishing details. To the right, sliding mahogany doors open to steps leading down to the kitchen with patio doors leading to the patio. A hall, a laundry room and a bathroom lead to the stairs that take you to the second floor where there are two bathrooms and four bedrooms, all with french doors leading on to balconies. From the balconies you look out over a pine forest reaching as far as the eye can see in both directions. Literally a carpet of lush green. And 500 yards beyond, the sea.

As if all of these particulars were not enough, there were little over the top things that left us speechless. Fancy bathtubs and showers and a gas hook up for the barbecue we brought from Canada. But the piece de resistance came at the end of it all when we were sitting around the formal dining room table with the owners and some of their neighbors who had come to help them pack. The neighbors asked our girls what they missed from Canada and the girls said how they missed their horses. The lady's face broke out in a big smile and she said "Well, no worries. We have horse stables and we live just a few miles from here, plenty of horses to choose from."

This dream home, this answer to need, desire and dream and so much more? The rent is 100 euros a month more than what we paid for rent for our apartment and garage in Lesina and exactly the 600 euros a month we had budgeted...

It's just a house. But it's the house God picked and may I just say, He has excellent taste. Extravagant grace has taken on a whole new depth.