This summer, our family embarked on one of our craziest journeys. No, it wasn’t a “busting out of a pandemic lockdown” once-in-a-lifetime getaway. With a daughter entering her teenage years, a 10-year old son not far behind, and a gracious gift of a daughter born last year, we were feeling cramped in our two-bedroom, 1100 sq. ft apartment. It was time to move. But that meant both selling our apartment and finding a new place to call home.
Even if you weren’t buying or selling this year, you would have heard of the turbulent real estate market in the NY Metropolitan area. Still, God was gracious and provided. While it was not by any means smooth or without issues, we were very quickly provided the opportunity to purchase a home near church—an aspect of our house purchase for which we had prayed deeply. And, after many frustrating starts and stops, He provided the exact buyer for our apartment whom we prayed for as well.
Though professing deeply in our hearts, my wife and I were shown throughout this entire process just how much our minds had to also learn that our merciful God was and is in control of everything.
We are planners and doers. Like many contemporaries, we don’t act without a very well-considered plan set before us. Whereas I once jumped out of an airplane at 13,000 feet for my quarter-century birthday and threw myself down a mountain on a bike without the proper “armor”, I have now come to fret about contingencies and nitpick the most significant details before moving ahead on anything . . . as was the case with the apartment sale and house purchase.
Yet, at every obstacle and complication, it wasn’t our grasp of the situation nor our ability to fully understand everything that got us through. We were forced to pause, pray, and trust our Lord. In one of the most significant transactions in my life, I found myself relying completely NOT on myself.
It was not easy to do, but that is what Jesus calls us to do. And, sometimes, He brings us down to our knees to help remind us of that.
Now, as we settle in and prepare our new home for guests and fellowship—something that drove us in this house purchase—I find myself reminded by the lesson Abraham was taught. When God finally provided him with the son he so long desired, God commanded him to kill Isaac. Was Abraham’s love now transferred to Isaac, or did he still love his Lord? I pray that, like Abraham, my love remains on God and not this material possession He has provided, and that my love will only grow so that I (and we as a family) will seek to honor and serve Him all my days.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)
Tony Lim and his wife are members of GRC. He serves on our Men’s Ministry.