Friday, June 12, 2009

Precious Metal

My Pastor in Minnesota gave one of the best altar calls of my life last fall. He shared the key to true freedom is Jesus, that through Him we can unlock the blessings God has in store for us... and proceeded to drop a bunch of shiny, uncut keys on the platform. We all went forward, picking up keys, praying together to leave the altar changed, to understand what is possible with Jesus, to keep our blank keys and work towards unlocking the blessings. I still have mine, and the three I picked out for my children.
Precious Metal.


My prayer? That our keys will fit a door like this.A little beat up, but not ashamed of it, no this door has character. This is the door to my house. Only... I don't have one... yet. But I have this key, and more importantly, I have faith. I'm attending a meeting on Monday night for the application process with Habitat for Humanity. If I am selected, after 350 hours of sweat equity and a lot of paperwork to arrange payment on the no interest loan, I will be given a key to my very own front door. Precious Metal.

Remember that one of the ways I fought us out of Minnesota was leaving without child support. I praise God for my parents who opened their hearts and home to us 6 months ago. I vividly remember what the door of the shelter looks like; without their generosity that's where we would be.

Do you remember the parable of the widow and the unjust judge? Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and never give up. He said, "In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, 'Grant me justice against my adversary.' For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, 'Even though I don't fear God or care about men, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won't eventually wear me out with her coming!' And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. Will not God bring about justice for His chosen ones, who cry out to Him day and night? Will He keep putting them off? I tell you, He will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:1-8)

I will be that woman. I will bother the Lord day and night, do my best to wear Him out with coming to His throne, begging for a home of my own. And the One who walks on streets of gold, on precious metal, will find faith here, and answer me. The Bible says one can put 1,000 (angels) to flight, two put 10,000. Please pray that we will find favor, be chosen, be blessed, be home.

Hammer in Hand,
Carolynn

***Update After The Meeting***

3 comments:

The Berni Family said...

I am sooooo praying for you on this one!! Well all the time for you and the kiddos. I know how much you want this and a place to truly call home...you have so much strength and patience that I am in awe. When you are finihsed with your SuperMom cape can I use it?? Mu best friend used to be a finance gal for HFH. I am going to pick her brain for you and see if she can give me any bonus info for you!

Blessed said...

You'll have your own home again. I have faith and I'm believing with you!

jubilee said...

I think the story of the widow is such an under-utilized illustration. I tend to think that God is like me in that I tire of my chickadees repeated requests, so I stop pestering God as a result. Perhaps I should be more dogged in my requests before the Throne!

Here's to hoping (and praying) for a new house for you! Just having rec'd the keys to our first house in Oct. I can relate!