Devotions with Pastor Fran

When God Showed Up
Philippians 2:3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves;
I Peter 1:14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
Matthew 7:7 Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened
Psalms 84:11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does He withhold from those whose walk is blameless
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I know many of you know my daughter Angie and her husband Michael. They have to be one of the most faithful young couples, always ready and willing to serve where ever and when ever asked.
In August my daughter Angie and Michael put their condo up for sale with the hopes of buying a “real” house. They put it on the market and it sold that very afternoon. We were confident that God was giving His stamp of approval for them to get a house. We also knew that we would have to have a contract or at least an offer on a house by September 11th in order for the sales to coincide. They needed to have the closing dates on both homes on or near the same day.
For weeks Angie went out diligently every day on line and looked at all the new listings that were being posted. We found several we liked, but before we could even make an appointment to see them someone had put an offer on them. I knew Angie and Mike were getting a little anxious and were beginning to wonder if God was going to show up in all of this. I kept telling them that God started this process and He would see it to the finish. They just needed to keep the faith and keep being obedient in serving the Lord. Angie helps clean the church every week and Michael helps mow the lawns plus they are faithful servants in the sound booth and the Welcome Center.
As September 11thrapidly approached I even begin to wonder what God was up to. I kept telling myself the worst case scenario would be that they would have to move in with me for a few seeks until something came available. Every day we would keep looking and searching. I was really beginning to wonder when God was going to show up in all of this. As I was driving to work on the morning of the 11th I reminded God that this was September 11th and we didn’t have a house yet. (Like He really needed to be reminded!) About that time a song came on the radio that I had never heard. The word were just what I needed to hear about how God always shows up in answers to our prayers and that we need not worry when He has control of our lives. So I handed all my worries back to Him (Again!) and said, “OK Lord I’m going to trust you for a house today.”
I came in to work and a guy in our church was in the kitchen talking about his house he was getting ready to put on the market. I knew this guy’s house would have all the upgrades and done in impeccable fashion. So I got the address and the name of the realtor that was going to list the house. It was smaller than what we had hoped for and it didn’t have a basement but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to take a look. So I call the agent and made arrangements to look at the house at 12:30 PM after Angie got off work.
I picked up Angie around noon and I proceeded to tell her about this house and asked her if she wanted to go see it. As I was driving she said she really was hoping for a basement and a little bigger house. So I pulled into a parking lot so we could talk. I told Angie that if she didn’t really want to see the house then we needed to save the agent the time and trouble showing it to us. She agreed. So I called the agent and canceled the appointment.
There was another house that Angie had seen that was available but a little above our price range and she wanted to know if we could at least drive by it and see what it looked like. I told her to go ahead and get the address and we would see where it was located. As she was looking up the address she said, “Mom, look at this house. It just popped up on my feed and was listed only 20 minutes ago.” I took her phone and looked at this really nice looking house. I asked her for the address and realized it was only a few blocks from where we were parked in the parking lot. We drove by the house and checked out the back yard and it looked like someone was still living there so I told her to go ahead and ask their agent if he could make arrangements to see the house. To make a long story short, their agent made the arrangements and we went and viewed the house at 2:30. We really liked the house and the agent told us he would go back to his office and look up the information about the house and talk to the listing agent. Angie was worried that someone might come in with an offer because she and Mike really liked the house. The agent said to them, “I know you guys are believers, so go home, pray about it and if this is the house God has for you it will still be available in the morning.” He called back a little later and asked if we could meet again the next morning (Saturday) at 9:30 AM.
We arrived at the house with family in tow and looked all through the house. Searched every nook and cranny and envisioned what it would look like with their belongings in it. We were certain that God had provided this house just for them. We told the agent that we wanted to make an offer on the house. He told us we would go to his office and draw up the paperwork. I was the first one to go out of the house and as I was standing on the porch stoop and looking over the rail down at the flowerbed below a small piece of concrete by the garage door caught my eye. It wasn’t very big but it had some words written in the concrete. I leaned over to see what it said. “What? No! It can’t be!” I took a few more steps down and looked over again. “That can’t be what it really says!” “But it really does!” I walked all the way down and stood in front of this little piece of cement and I yelled up the stairs at everyone standing up there, “Well guys, this is really your house. God even put your names on it written in cement!” Here on this little piece of cement were the names Mike and Angela!
Now what would be the chances of the names Mike and Angela being written together on a little piece of concrete outside of the house they were wanting to buy? Only when God shows up!