"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; think about Him in all your ways, and He will guide you on the right paths."
EXAMPLE 1: I had been living on my own for about eight months when I realized that I should be putting my rent money towards paying down a mortgage instead of the mortgage of the person I was living with. After viewing nearly three dozen condo properties with a realtor over a one-week period, I viewed one that I had a very good feeling about. The location, although perfect, was in a so-so part of downtown, but everything else - especially the price - was excellent.
Being entirely new to the whole real-estate-purchase thing, I was told that I now needed to put an offer on the property and some money down. So I decided that I wanted possession as soon as possible, but to give the current owners time to move I asked for two weeks. But not realizing that I should have been more aggressive with the money down, I only put $1,000 down.
The meeting with their realtor and mine, including the current owners and I, was set for a Wednesday night. But within only a couple of hours before the meeting, my realtor phoned me with a concerned voice to inform me that another offer had been made, accompanied by $5,000 down. However, these people were looking for possession two-and-a-half months down the road as opposed to my two weeks. Nevertheless, based upon her experience, my realtor was pretty sure that the owners would go for the bigger money down than anything else.
So there I was, if I recall correctly, at a Bible study during a break when I got this news. Perhaps the recollection of what happened next is sketchy not only because 11 years have elapsed, but also because my mind was likely obsessed with whose offer would be better. So I'm not sure if I told the others there about what had transpired so they could pray for me, but in any case after the study ended, I hopped into my car and headed for the meeting downtown.
At the time, I had been "saved", i.e. a Christian, for maybe four years to that point, but I had only gotten serious about pursuing the Christian walk only a couple of years before. I was stuck in old habits like self-reliance that had me wondering how I could manipulate the situation and use smooth and persuasive words to make my offer the better one. But I was also at a point of incredible personal growth due to diving into the Bible, praying, and becoming friends with other believers. So I was also not wanting to resort to old habits, but I didn't know how to let God work this situation out.
So upon entering the car, the old habits of thinking how to manipulate and persuade were causing me to almost panic at the thought of losing out on this piece of property. But then all of a sudden, in an instant, I suddenly realized that if God wanted me to have this property, it would be a done deal and He would give me the words to speak so that my offer was accepted. Conversely, if He knew something bad about this deal that I didn't, I reasoned that He would let the other peoples' offer be accepted.
I was alarmed by this sudden change of perspective; looking back, I wonder if it wasn't the prayers of others in this situation that might have brought it about. But it wasn't a bad kind of alarm, because the rest of my drive can only be described by that verse in Philippians 4:7 that talks about the peace from God that surpasses all understanding. In fact, I was so at peace that God would take care of things that I was no longer the least bit upset at the possibility of my offer being rejected.
As I walked through the doors and entered the meeting, I was surprised to not see anyone representing the people who had made the other offer; I only saw the current owners and their realtor. When I asked when they might arrive, my realtor gladly announced that my offer was the better one because I wanted such quick possession. I almost couldn't contain my excitement! This was perhaps the biggest lesson to that point of my young Christian walk of how just leaving everything up to God was better than any scheme I could come up with. I didn't even have to perform one act or say one word of manipulation or persuasion! God took care of everything for me.
Not even six years later, my wife and I sold that condo after making a 40% return, and this provided a sizeable down payment for the property that we now own.
EXAMPLE 2: After getting serious about my commitment to Jesus in 1997, I naturally wanted to meet and marry a woman who was also a Christian at least as passionate as I about her walk with God. After pretty much exhausting the limited possibilities at the smaller church I was attending by early 1999, I kind of mused to myself (and perhaps others, if I recall) that if I was going to meet anyone, it probably wouldn't be at the church I was attending, or at least not for a number of years!
Not long after this, I was at a Wednesday night Bible study for college and career aged people when in walked a fine-looking young lady who had never been there before. That and her very attractive personality drew me to her right away. I was even more intrigued (and surprised) by how she laughed at all my attempts at humor.
Anyhow, my approach to Christian dating had been much the same as how I had approached dating when I was a non-Christian (minus the sexual sin). I was concerned about getting to the altar, and never mind this "friend" stuff. So as a result, my impatience was leading me to consider some young ladies who weren't exactly my type or who were at a totally different place in their walk with God, some calling themselves "Christian" who lived a lifestyle that was anything but! Fortunately, God gave me the strength to not give in to their seduction and I thereby avoided more things to regret.
For some reason, I had resolved not long before I met my bride-to-be that next time I was going to let God direct things. I was going to just get to know ladies I was interested in strictly as friends and be totally casual about everything. I just didn't realize that the first lady I would try this with would end up being my wife!
So when she entered the picture around February 1999, I was so afraid to screw things up this time around that I limited my conversations with her after studies to only a few minutes. Then we would break the conversation off and rather nonchalantly say, "Well, see you next week."
But whenever she didn't show up, I would wonder if I'd ever see her again. And when she did and we'd talk afterwards, I'd find it harder with each passing time to end the conversation. But I was so afraid of screwing things up and being outside of God's will that I wouldn't even consider asking her to, say, go for a coffee.
So near the end of June 1999, about four months after our first conversation, we had a church service at the zoo in the city where we lived. An open-air tent was booked, but when I saw her walk in, I'll be the first to admit that things were a more than a little distracting! After the service, I made it a mission to not let her too far out of my sight because I couldn't wait to talk to her again. However, I lost track of her because my parents were there, and she began wandering the zoo with another group.
My mind was constantly on her that whole time until after an hour or so when her group and mine finally met up. We even have a group picture from that day that we still have framed. Now I was still afraid of making the wrong decision and screwing up God's plan for me, so no way was I going to ask her to break away from the crowd and do something alone with me. Besides that, such a move would have aroused too much curiosity!
So what did God do instead? Over the course of the next hour, the dozen or so people in our group decided to do other things. With dark rain clouds looming, many decided to head indoors or to leave altogether. Others got hungry while yet others got tired. Before we knew it - and I'll admit that I wasn't going to leave unless she did - this lady and I were the only ones left! So we hung around the zoo for a while, but then realized that now was the perfect time to ask if she wanted to leave the zoo and go get something to eat. She willingly obliged.
After we arrived back at the zoo parking lot at 10:30 that evening so she could get her car, I realized on the drive home that by refusing to force the issue and to leave this relationship in God's hands, things worked out in strange ways that I could have never imagined or concocted myself!
My wife and I have been married for over 9 years now, and I give God all the credit for setting us up and for bringing our marriage to where it is now.
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I could tell a few other great stories of how God has worked in my life and that of my family, but I hope these two are a great inspiration to give the control of your life into God's hands and no longer your own.
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