HOUSING MIRACLE

By now I feel like the miraculous shouldn’t surprise me but it still does. When I witness a miracle I feel like a child. So giddy and excited. I just can’t help it. God is so cool and sweet and good.

Let me rewind.

December 2018 Bruce and I were on our way back to YWAM Kona. With only a few weeks before arriving we found that we had no place to stay. In a shocked whirlwind I started to research housing options. Then an idea came to mind that perhaps someone would like to invest in property in Hawaii.

I asked multiple people but no takers. Then one week before we were to arrive housing on the YWAM campus opened up. Phew!!

Over the next several months we didn’t know where we were going to live at the end of every quarter. Yet God continued to open doors for us to stay on campus.

As I searched for off campus housing I was met with the same result. Housing is exorbitantly expensive. We also couldn’t shake the feeling that God wanted us to purchase a home. But how?

Then out of the blue our Pastor’s from the mainland messaged us. God had been stirring their hearts for ministry in Hawaii with YWAM. They also felt God was leading them to purchase a home with us.

Excitement and shock over took us!!

The end of August 2019 Bruce and I sat before the Lord. We were excited for this new breakthrough but we still had to live in the present. The Fall quarter in YWAM is extremely full and they have little housing slots open for staff. Therefore, we needed to know if God was calling us to get into a rental that fall and wait until we could purchase a home with our Pastor’s. Or was He saying to wait and believe we would get housing on campus.

As we prayed we got pictures of the home we were going to be moving into. Bruce got an Asian man, a metal roof and nicely cut bushes. I got one single horse.

We prayed again and both felt that God was asking us to stay on campus. By God’s miraculous grace we were able to continue to live on campus.

A couple months later we were accepted into a low income apartment complex next door to the campus. We had applied almost a year prior. At first glance it made complete sense to move into these apartments yet as our family prayed every one of us heard the Lord say no. So nervously I replied to their invite stating we would not be moving in.

January 2020. Our Pastor and his wife came to Hawaii to look at property, meet YWAM leaders and have a vacation. While they were here we found a house that we all really liked yet they were not yet ready to put their house in Washington on the market. So we prayed, asking God to hold the house if it was to be ours.

April 2020, the house was still available but not on the market. There had been a few offers but the owner was clear he would not budge on price and the offers fell through for a variety of reasons. But the main reason was he would NOT change the price.

One of the times Esperanza, our 9 year old, prayed and she got a picture of a man with hearts coming out of him. He then proceeded to give us the house for free. Bruce got a picture of a wedding happening in the yard and a few other visions. As I prayed I kept feeling I needed to trust the Lord.

One morning when I was leaving for my quiet time the Lord told me to take a walk in the neighborhood of the house. So I walked along the flower filled road and waited for what God wanted to show me. As I approached the neighbors yard I saw it.

You see I hadn’t had peace yet about the house because I couldn’t shake the picture I had been given when we had prayed back in August 2019. Remember, I had seen a vision of a single horse. As I had toured the neighborhood I had never seen a horse. I had even looked on google maps trying to see if maybe there was property that potentially could have a horse, yet nothing stood out.

So as I got closer to the neighboring house I saw a single horse statue. There is no way I would have seen it if I had been driving. At first I shook it off but then God began stirring my heart and I realized He had just answered my request. Faith began to fill my heart.

A week or so later Bruce heard the Lord say we were to write the owner a letter. During a family prayer time Gryphin, our 7 year old, saw a picture of a mailbox. We all sensed that this meant we were to snail mail the owner a letter explaining who we were and visions God has given us for the house.

It took TWO weeks to snail mail a letter from the YWAM Campus to reach our realtor’s home which is only a 10 minute drive away. Our realtor then brought the letter to the owner’s realtor. She opened it and read it to the owner of the home (I had put our letter in a sealed envelope with pictures from the kids and postage for her to mail it to the owner).

In the meantime our Pastors’ wife felt God tell her they’d need the cash and to put their Washington house on the market. Their Realtor said their Washington home should sell very quickly. The first day it went on the market they received a verbal offer. A few days later the offer was receded.

A couple days after the owner’s realtor had read the letter to the owner we felt prompted to put an offer in on the house. Within hours our offer was denied. His Realtor said he wasn’t willing to budge on price. The owner already felt the house price was low enough (it is in a really nice neighborhood but had already been discounted because it needs considerable maintenance).

I struggled with feeling defeated. One night Esperanza convicted me when she walked by and saw that I was looking at other houses on my computer.

“Mom why are you looking at other houses when we already know which house is ours?” she asked matter of factly. Oh out of the mouth of babes . . . .

Two weeks later our Pastor’s house in Washington State still had not sold. We were curious to why and what God was doing. Then on Thursday, June 10th Bruce and I were praying. Instantly I was filled with incredible faith that the house was going to be ours soon. I messaged our Pastors and he said he had heard the Lord say it was done.

The next day we found out the owner of the Kona home we wanted to purchase had contacted our Pastor’s realtor in Washington state. He had finally physically received our letter and wanted to get a hold of us.

So we waited the rest of the day, excitedly waiting for his phone call. We all prayed together once again wondering what God was up too.

No call, yet I was reminded that an unknown caller had called the day before. I didn’t see a voice mail but I became curious to know what my voice mail sounded like. Soon I realized I hadn’t set up my voice mail properly. There were over 2 months of messages I had not received. To my excitement one of the calls was from Jim, the owner of the Kona home (he had called the same day our pastor and I felt God say the purchase of our home was done and it was happening soon).

Chills went through my body as I put the phone on speaker so Bruce and I could hear. “This is Jim. I’m hoping to get a return call from either the Sanders or Norcross’. I had a dream yesterday and um I would like to talk to someone. . . ”

No WAY!! God REALLY. You gave him a dream?!! God is in the business of the miraculous but it still shocks and excites me.

The next morning with anticipation we chatted with Jim. He described that in his dream he spoke to both Bruce and I. It was a very vivid and a long dream. But the jest of it was Bruce and I were living in a forest with 9 children (hmmm not sure how I feel about that part LOL) and we were homeless because he had not responded to our letter. He apologized to both of us and when he woke at 2am he couldn’t go back to sleep.

This is when he called us. He shared that he wasn’t willing to budge on his price with anyone but us. He had already told his Realtor that he was willing to work with us but if anyone else gave an offer lower than the full asking price he’d say no.

AMAZING!!

We also got to pray with him because he has some major health issues and can’t even fly back to Hawaii. Hearing Jim’s story made us realize we were in his life for more than just his house. God had placed us there in this intense season of his life to be a blessing and to share God’s intimate love.

Over the next few days our Pastor’s house went into escrow, we negotiated a price with Jim and a couple days ago our offer was accepted. To make it even more exciting, there were two other offers put in right before ours but he denied them both because he wanted to sell his house ONLY to us.

With excitement in our hearts we are now walking through the closing process as our house will close on August 5th. We are curious and expectant for more miracles to follow as we believe for the extra finances needed to do some much needed updating, furnishing, etc.

God is in the miracle working business!! So excited for what He is going to utilize this house for. We have felt a strong sense He wants us to utilize it to bless many. So He obviously has plans!!

Thank you to all of you that have prayed with us up to this point. I invite you to continue to pray for favor over the next few weeks of this process.