A life lesson from God

I am not one to get to personal on my blog site, as many of you know, I rather enjoy a challenging mind bending discussion that...how shall we say? Stirs the poop!

However, this is not going to be one of those posts. I have been away for quite sometime. 5 months to be exact, so I thought, if any of you still happen by, I would fill you in on my whereabouts.

It has been a crazy, educational journey that I have been on. As you know, I am a man of prayer. 9 months ago as I looked around my very modest 800 square foot home I realized that when I purchased it 10 years ago I had two kids knee high to a grasshopper. Today I have three who are as tall as the Ent trees in Lord of the Rings. This began my prayer request to God. It was quite simple, "Lord, I am grateful for all that you have blessed me with but I really need more space"

I don't believe I am a greedy man. I felt I recognized a legitmiate need for my family. As is always the case with God, He does not expect you to sit and wait for Him to do absolutley everything while you do nothing. He is a God who delights in watching His children learn and grow. He aslo wants His children to lean on Him while they learn life's lessons. I leaned on God for the answer to my prayer.

I first took measures to place my house up for sale. When a few potential buyers fell thru due to their own "credit" issues, I took that as God's way of saying that I will not be going anywhere. Which left me questioning. "Does the Lord feel I have enough space?", "Maybe this is just not the right time just because I might think it is maybe He see's something down the road that I do not".

The Lord made it clear to me that I was staying put but I was going to learn something in this life that I never imagined I would. He directed to my local bank where I discovered they had what was called an "Add on mortage loan". In other words, one can get the money to renovate their home without taking out a loan but could, instead, have the cost "ported" onto their excisiting mortage.

The financial end of doing this is far more cost effective then trying to buy a larger home. This is where the "educational" portion came into play. God said "And your going to build it!" In other words, except where absolutley neccessary, I was not going to contract ANY of the work out. I would build it with my own hands. A labour of love for the family. Easy to say, problem was is I am by no means a carpenter and have cerrtainly NEVER built a house.

But God said He would provide the knowledge, skills and labourers and I would take care of the rest. Believe it or not, that is exactly how it all went down. I am now in the finishing stages and was even able to celebrate Christmas in it. God saw the bigger picture. My need for more space would not have been easily accomodated with an insane mortage. Especially in todays economic landslide into the abyss. When I began the planning stages of this project back in March (2008) I certainly did not see the market heading where it has today. But I know that God did.

In this, one of life's lessons, God spared me from a foolish mortage amount that could have sunk me and at the same time provided me with a mountain of knowledge from start to finish when it comes to bulding a house. Right from dealing with Planning boards, aqquiring all the neccessary permits, designing my home/blueprints, ordering all materials, organising a crew (made up some very solid friends/family who sacrificed a lot) right down the finishing touches.

As exhausting as it has all been (work all day, come home and work on the house all night and ALL weekends) I am so grateful for the knowledge I have obtained, the friendships that have I hgave solidified, anbd the space I now have.

God really is good. Because in His infinite wisdom He answered my prayer not by me sitting back and having Him do everything for me but by using me to as the answer. For this I am grateful.

Merry Christmas to all and a very Happy and prosperous New Year. My acid tongue shall return in the New Year :)

Until next time...