When a Big God Shows Up in Your Small Life
Every day, God is at work in both the seemingly small, intimate spaces of our lives, as well as in the signs-and-wonders, immeasurable kind of way you can see throughout the universe.
Every once in a while, God allows us to catch wind of these two things intersecting in our lives. Some would call them coincidences. Others, like myself, see them as one more way our God shows He is all about an intimate relationship with us. I’ll share one of my most recent experiences with infinite-God-breaking-into finite circumstances here.
“He is all about an intimate relationship with us.”
Last summer, my extended family and I made the difficult decision to let go of our summer lake house. It had been our treasure for 27 years; I’m only 35. Packing up swimsuits and half our house had been a lifelong memory for nearly every weekend from May until September each year of my childhood, adulthood, and now my own kids’ lives.
To say it was heart-wrenching saying goodbye to our beloved lake house and all the family memories it represented is an understatement. We had built lifelong friendships there with our neighbors. It was my Grandma’s home for the larger portion of our time there. And when she passed away, it was a gift for us to continue to experience the blessing of the lake house she had bestowed upon us.
Needless to say, there were lots of conversations in those last months about what to do with the lake house. We were at a pinnacle time and needed to make a decision for financial reasons as well as for the sake of the larger family and what had been written and decided upon in my Grandma’s will. Essentially, we had a certain amount of time to make a decision with the rest of my Dad’s siblings, and we had come to that time.
When my oldest sister and I were surprised to find out my parents were leaning toward selling the place, we met to discuss what it would look like for us all to pull together our monetary resources to prevent it from happening. We weighed the pros and cons. Collectively, our family prayed about the ultimate decision: that we would all be at peace and that God’s good will be done.
I began to get creative in my desperation to hold onto my childhood memories. I had thoughts of what it might look like for my husband and I to start a lake ministry up there. (Because everyone seems to be on the lake on Sunday morning, there is a real need to meet lake people where they are and take the gospel to them.) Also, if we did this, we could buy the place from the family at-large and live there fulltime. It would mean moving my family to the northern part of the state, almost three hours away. It would also mean not just a job change, but a significant career shift and leaving our ministry at our beloved home church in Indy. Our kids would have to change schools and we would no longer be in the same town as any family members, at least for the other three seasons of the year. What started as an outside-the-box way to think about saving the lake place, morphed into an honest conversation with God about what I would be willing to do if He called our family to it. I honestly considered it.
But God would have to move my husband Justin’s heart in the same way, and we would have to know that it was God’s calling, not just a far-fetched wish.
Meanwhile, my parents started moving forward with plans to sell the house and property. They began honing in on a realtor. But before the house ever went on the market, our neighbor said they had a friend who might be in the market and asked if they could take a tour of the house. Long story short, the lake house was sold before it ever made an appearance on Zillow or had a for sale sign in the front lawn. Twenty-seven years of memories and the door was closed like that.
Besides the definitive speed of how it all went down, there were other things that alluded to God being a part of it. For one, my Dad, who was the executor of the estate and whose vision it was to create this place for our family so many years before, seemed oddly at peace.
We had prayed before those strangers who took our house walked through the door. And now we were scheduling closing dates and hosting garage sales. We were foraging through my grandma’s heirlooms, as well as making decisions about tubes and skis, life jackets and boating equipment. Basically all things evidence of lake fun. Ugh. Hard. But when you know you are covered in grace as you navigate God’s will, it makes it a little easier to stomach.
So, on Sunday July 29th, 2018, we handed over the keys to our beloved Angola, Indiana lake house to its rightful new owners. And this is where it gets really interesting. On Monday, July 30th (the very next day!), I had a church board meeting pop-up to discuss a property that had caught our attention to possibly expand our thriving church and reach another part of town. I headed to our current church building only to find out that last minute, the realtor of the building we were wanting to look at was going to let us in to tour the facility that night. I quickly redirected Apple maps by clicking on the link to the address I was given and was on my way to meet the rest of the board members at this potential new building. As I followed Siri in her last direction given, my car turned onto Angola Court. I immediately smiled a little smile.
No way, God.
I knew right then I was at my new church home. Justin had already said he told one of our pastors, Luke, that we would go to whichever building he was going to be leading at since we had done student ministry with him for so long. And this was on the side of town Luke lived on and hoped to plant a church in.
But there’s more. When the board decided to move forward with the process of buying the foreclosure on Angola Court, one of the representatives from the abandoned building had the last name “Caruso,” which was the name of the restaurant that we got pizza from nearly every weekend we were at the lake. I got it, God!
I had toyed with the idea of holding onto the lake place by forming a ministry in Angola, Indiana. The very day after God closed that door, he opened one on Angola Court. I would be remiss if I did not see God’s attention to detail.
I recently came across a more uncommon name for God in the Bible: the “Ancient of Days” (Daniel 7:13). The name reminds me that He lacks nothing in might and ability. But He’s also “Abba Father” (Romans 8:15): relationally good and desiring to intimately be a part of His children’s lives. Furthermore, Jesus is simultaneously called the Son of God and the Son of Man (He’s one with the Almighty and one with us). I can’t say I know what God has in store for us by being a part of this new church plant on Angola Court, but that the all-powerful Almighty would also speak specifically to me in the intimate details of my life—it gets me every time.
How have you seen God’s intimate authoring in your life? Leave a comment and keep paying attention for it in your life!
Oh, and feel free to check out what our new Mercy Road Church location is up to on instagram @mercyroadnw or Fb @Mercy Road Church – Northwest
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