God Spoke : Road Closed

*I realize this is a much longer post than usual, but please hear me out. My God is an awesome God and he has wowed me lately.

As I alluded to in Fruitful Thursday, I've been struggling. I've been praying for what feels like a long time for some answers, for direction.

And I do believe I received my answer.

You see, my husband was offered an opportunity to work in Libya for about a year and a half. This would mean an international move for our entire family. We discussed it, prayed about it and decided yes, this was an adventure we would like to experience.

When this opportunity was presented to us we were told we had to make our decision and be ready to move in 60 days. That was 4 months ago. Since then there have been a few bumps in the road. Different scenarios have been presented; going to Libya, staying here and Hubby traveling to Libya once a month, no Libya at all and the logistics of if we don't move overseas we need to move here, we just don't have enough room-so where to go, stay in Pennsylvania, go to Virginia (where Hubby's work is) or to any other state the company would like? You get my point.

It's a blessing to have so many options, but extremely frustrating to have no idea which end is up.

I prayed day and night for direction, eventually getting weary and almost embittered. I told God I was willing to do whatever he wanted, just please tell me what He wanted! But was I really willing?

Sometimes God just wants us to wait patiently while all the pieces of His plan come together. I'm not good at waiting. Wait was not what I wanted to hear. I wanted to do!

Since I wasn't getting an answer from God (or so I thought) I decided to start things moving on my end, I prayed that if I was going the wrong direction that He would "slam the door'. Since it looked like this Libya thing wasn't going to pan out I decided to be prepared for moving locally.

I searched for houses and was pleasantly surprised to find a house I've had my eye on for two years on the market-within our price range. I then called my preferred mortgage company to get pre-approved. All was going well.

Then I talked to my mom about my frustrating predicament. I don't remember exactly what she said-because I didn't want to hear it, but I remember the theme being 'wait'. I ignored that bit of wisdom and continued to pine, pray and struggle. That night, with our 3AM prayer, my husband prayed that God would give us the strength to wait on Him.

The next morning, I felt wait was probably my answer...but still wasn't ready to accept it. I then found out my mortgage representative went to Ireland and I couldn't get any answers from him. And the house I had my eye on was no longer listed, gone that day.

Then the most extraordinary thing happened. I had grown frustrated and tweeted about needing a Big Blinking Neon Sign from God since I wasn't hearing Him. And you know what? I got it. The very next day.

After running errands with Bram, who is three, I told him it was time to go home. He said "No home, go drive." He has never requested this before. Ever. So I decided to go on a long winding road, hoping he'd take a nap, and drive by another house for sale I thought I might like.

I turned down the road and guess what I saw? That's right. A big, blinking sign with neon reflectors stating ROAD CLOSED. As I turned my van around to turn back the way I came I began to cry. Why? Because they weren't just working on a road, they were rebuilding a bridge.

I heard Him that time. I realized that He had been talking to me, just not giving me the answers I wanted. I wanted to go, but was to wait.

When asking God a question, He can answer us three ways; 'yes', 'no' and 'not now'. In this instant gratification culture, 'not now' can be more difficult to accept than 'no' because we are forced to wait rather than rushing on to Plan B.

We can make all the plans we want, but there is only one right way, and that's His way.

Psalms 37:34 "Wait for the Lord and keep his way. He will exalt you to inherit the land; when the wicked are cut off, you will see it."