Over a cup of coffee at Jacque's: Just Enough is Enough

Early Spring 2016

“This is the time of your life when you must learn to let go: of loved ones, of possessions, of control. In order to let go of something that is precious to you, you need to rest in My Presence, where you are complete. Take time to bask in the Light of My Love. As you relax more and more, your grasping hand gradually opens up, releasing your prized possession into My care.

You can feel secure, even in the midst of cataclysmic changes, through awareness of my continual Presence. The One who never leaves you is the same One wh never changes: I am the same yesterday, today and forever. As you release more and more things into My care, remember that I never let go of your hand. Herein lies your security, which no one and no circumstance can take from you.” Jesus Calling (written first person as Christ speaking)

This was exactly where I was at, God had over time released my fingers from this house we “brought back to life” over the last 25 years. I was ready to move on, the situation was getting desperate that we move -with the city annexation coming, bringing double or triple taxes on our few acres of land. We had listed with a realtor who had seen our For Sale by Owner listing. It wasn’t going very well and we were not happy with how she was handling things, but we were under contract with her.

I continued to read each day of... of I am with you... do not fear, trust me fully, I will supply ALL your needs according to His riches, be in constant communion with Me, be thankful in ALL things, Trust Me in every detail of your life. May 9, 2016 “Trust Me and watch and see what I will do.” Micah 7:7 Therefore I will look unto the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me. May 21 Watch and see what I will do was there again. So I trusted and waited as best I could. The realtor had offered to release our contract and we took it. Put For Sale By Owner back on the front yard and researched another realtor option. In the meantime a Doctor couple was interested. Moving here from the Carolinas, had lived in older homes there. The wife was coming house hunting ahead of the move. She came and loved it, wanted her husband to see it as well he would come Memorial Day weekend. He liked it as well, it all looked promising, she really wanted it. But, they decided to not make an offer or anything until they would actually move. They found a place to rent for when they move and would pursue buying a house once they are here permanently. It did not make sense. It seemed so perfect, they had already sold their home, were in a great place to buy ours….. did not understand… IS 41:10 my all time favorite verse was referenced that day

Combine verse 10 and 13 and you see, my right hand is in His righteous right hand. That means we are face to face, He is face to face with me. He is right here with us through this. Trust. “”Hold My Hand and trust” a week or so went by and another couple called. They had driven past and saw the sign, they were newly married and both grew up in older homes. They wanted an older home, but were in no rush - were content just waiting for the right one. She loved it and wanted it from the first visit. It was humorous because she did not hide her feelings at all and he was more like “honey, we will think about it and check things over…” not wanting to agree to it before they had done it right with inspector ect. She was like “nope! This one is it!” So funny. We had explained all the nuances of the house, our water agreement with neighbors and a new roof that was approved by insurance to be done. We agreed on a price and had our lawyer draw up an agreement and we were rolling.

I was getting my parent’s new retirement condo painted and ready for them to move into when I got a call from Craig that the deal was at a stand still. Makes. A knot in my stomach to even remember this day... Our lawyer told us that we technically have a house without water. In order to sell out house at all we have to have a water source. Our agreement that we had was not sufficient. We need to drill a well. So, Craig started calling and found a firm that would drill one in July for us. We informed the new owners of the finding and of course she said “Oh it’s no problem, we will just figure something out, we will get water somehow, it’s fine” and he said “well… honey we have to make sure of a few things here… “. So, we signed with the contingency of water being located and sufficient clean water and pump system installed in the house. So we pulled money to cover this huge expense and would trust that it would all work and we could pay it back with the sale money. Trusting again.

In the meantime we needed to get more serious on our house search, we had looked at a few. Craig prefers to be out by ourselves, I wanted something in a subdivision, by a walking/bike trail, but all that we looked at just weren’t right and had other concerns. I wanted newer, not too much that we would have to redo… God seemed to keep showing me Just Enough is Enough. I don’t need what I want, I need to be content with what He gives me. We had looked at a house out in the Challacombe area and really liked the area. There were neighbors but not close by, everyone is on a few acres, rolling hills, quiet… The house we looked at wasn’t for us, bad foundation ect. It would be a total rebuild and we couldn’t do that. But Jackie, our realtor told us she had heard another was coming on the market in this area by a different realtor, but had no details until it lists in a few days. We are set to take a 3-4 week vacation end of June. Needing to get something setup though and still praying for water in July. A new tax assessment came, it had more than doubled already without being annexed… Trusting Trusting…. trusting there’s water. Mid June a house came on market just up the road from the other one. 3 bedroom sitting on a hill. Nothing fancy, it was a grandma grandpa house, didn’t really excite me at first, but I knew God was saying it was Just Enough. We looked at the possibilities of what we could do with it over time, Jackie’s husband walked through it with us and assured Craig that we could make the changes we were thinking with the structure of the house. So we began the steps to purchase our new home. We did some packing up of the old house, as much as we felt comfortable with doing. Not a done deal really… We left on our trip and learned how to sign electronic documents on the road. Inspectors came and went, our girls were at home if anything needed into the Alta house. We held our breath as the day of the inspection came and their appraiser. Once again God pulled us through. The inspection didn’t bring up anything major and they got their loan so the appraisal must have come in high enough. Such a relief, now wait for water… We really were able to rest in Him and enjoy our trip, we just had an assurance - even if this all fell through He had us. No idea what we would do, but He did...

We returned from our trip with the drilling only a day or two away. We were having a bored well, which is wider and more of a seepage situation rather than hitting a body of water with a pipe. Our area was very spotty for water, that’s why we never pursued it. They had walked around the yard and planted a red flag where they felt would be a good spot to try. It works that they come and drill down, you pay a lot per foot that they go. IF they get to their limit and no water, they fill it in and you pay for a dry hole, then try again. There are no guarantees. So that morning they pull in and I sat on the porch with my Bible doing my devotions, watching them get started. This is what I read in JC

Bring me all your feelings, even the ones you wish you didn’t have. Fear and anxiety still plague you… use your shield of faith to extinguish them… Affirm your trust in Me, regardless of how you feel. If you persist, your feelings will eventually fall in line with your faith. ...concentrate on trusting me, and fearfulness will gradually lose its foothold within you. ISAIAH 12:2 I clung to verse 3. We would draw water.

So I sat and watched as they went deeper and deeper. Coming back up and adding on another piece to make it longer to go deeper, trying not to do too much math..$.. I was texting Craig through all this. At one point the little guy jumped into the hole, then the other guy sent down a hook and pulled him back out… Craig asked if he came out wet! Haha. At one point they took their tractor and started moving the dirt pile, my heart sank, I thought they were going to fill the hole back in, but they didn’t - just moving for more space for more dirt. Whew! I would go inside and try to work on something, but always came back to look…. finally I just had to know what was up, so it gathered up my courage and went out to ask. “Water?! Oh yeah we hit water a few feet ago, we are just going a bit deeper to get a good supply. Oh yeah we hit water about where we thought we would not too bad at all, looks like a good amount coming in…”. I don’t think I have ever felt so much thankfulness in my life. There was so much riding on this. And God was just saying “watch and see what I can do…”. So we had the well hooked up and into the house with new pump. Ran chlorine rinses til we could test it and pass inspection. Craig and I had another trip that we needed to do for church, so the girls were on water testing patrol while we were gone. Everything cleared and passed, what a miracle! God truly Amazed us! These were not things we could have orchestrated, we just had to wait and trust.

The new property was running into glitches with the city of Peoria, so we closed on the Alta house and rented for a month or so in the new house, until we could close there. Even that, it made it better for us in the end, protected us from Peoria annexation for 20 years. Thanks to the great lawyers that Tori works for. It “just happened” that they were the firm handling the division of the house from the farmland and sale for the family we were buying the house from. As we have moved in and remodeled, God keeps providing Just Enough and growing my trust and faith in Him.

Craig and I went to Galena Illinois soon after we had been in the new house for awhile, continuing to see how He was providing again and again just in time, just what we needed. We found this cute little coffeehouse called Otto’s Place and on the menu this was written -

In a time when the world seems to go faster and faster, when we seem to have more and more to do, when we seem to go after more and more and appreciate what we have less and less, when it seems that too many focus on themselves with little regard for others, when it seems that we are in competition to amass the most in the shortest time, Otto’s Place philosophy is very simple; Enough.

In 2005 my Aunt, Sr. Lois and I heard the story by Bob Perks “I wish you Enough”. It touched our hearts immensely, and it is a philosophy that is both simple and deep and one that has stayed with us ever since. My Aunt is now 98 and she is an inspiration to all who know her. Since we first heard the story we have been ending our phone calls and signing off on emails and letters with the simple phrase, ‘I love you and wish you Enough’.

Part of the story goes as follows: ‘He began to smile. “That’s a wish that has been handed down from other generations. My parents used to say it to everyone.” He paused for a moment and looking up as if trying to remember it in detail, he smiled even more.”When we said ‘I wish you enough,’ we were wanting the other person to have a life filled with just enough good things to sustain them.”’

“I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright.
I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun more.
I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive.
I wish you enough pain so that the smallest joys in life appear much
bigger.
I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.
I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.
I wish enough Hello’s to get you through the final Goodbye.”

It was more than perfect. It captured all we were experiencing.

He is so righteous and loving in spite of all our failures. I am trying to just remain content with what we have, with what He sees as our need, keep life simple. There are things that we want in life, but what we need He generously supplies, and therewith we should be content, I try to remember, it’s Just Enough - and He is Enough.