Mike and I speak often about ‘building at Echo!’ We call the place at which we want to build “Echo cottage” so the phrase ‘building at Echo’ comes up often. There are many hurdles and challenges. Mike is cautious. He doesn’t want nasty surprises, so he’s working through every possibility, eventuality and complication. And we pray. So the other day, I asked the Lord if at all possible, I could encounter a Bible verse about a house in my daily Bible reading.
Psalm 127:1
Unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labor in vain.
That was a hint!
I usually do my Bible reading in the morning, but his morning, I had received a work email overnight that I felt needed urgent response. I got on with it straight away – it took three hours. Then the day got underway and I decided to leave my Bible reading until this evening. During the course of this evening, Mike and I had another long conversation about building at Echo. He worked through the issue of access to the house once complete. We need to have a secure solution. Meanwhile the house next door is on the market for more than we can afford. We went to see it last weekend and it was difficult not to imagine that buying it would be a whole lot easier than building. There was another couple very interested in it and so I cast it out of my mind. Then today as Mike spoke, I wondered about the feasibility of buying instead of building. He is quite compelled to build. I came upstairs to do my Bible reading. I’m reading Micah – ah some wonderful words in the book of Micah. As I read, I again prayed for guidance about building at Echo. I wasn’t expecting anything, but we need to be laying this plan before the Lord – otherwise we are not going to be confident going ahead.
BOOM! Out of the blue, there in Micah, came a whisper from the Lord:
Micah 7:11
The day for building your walls will come, the day for extending your boundaries.
God is faithful! If He wants us to build, build we will. If He wants us to build, it will all be good! We just have to be patient and do one thing at a time.
I rushed down to Mike to read it to him. He was as amazed as I was. I said to him that if I had read it this morning, it would not have had the impact it has had since we had the ‘building at Echo’ conversation! God knows these things. We will trust the Lord.
#509 of my 1000 thanks is that the day for building our walls will come!!
Today I went to gym and have now completed 6 weeks attending 6 hours a week. I actually started 6 weeks ago today, which allowed me to take one Saturday off when we visited Stacey in Swellendam. I’m feeling a lot fitter, can run 5km in under 36 minutes, I am stronger and more flexible. Onward!
The other thing we did this evening was put on Christmas music and decorate the Christmas tree.
It’s a wonderful time of the year!
These are the days!
Keep the smile going!
God bless you!
In His Grip,
Helga xx 🙂