Before I begin to tell you about our frog kissing adventure to find the Tsunami, I want to answer a question we are repeatedly getting. “Where are you going?”
Well, we are going nowhere right now! We will be living at the USI RV Park on 33rd street, near 96 and Hillside. We will move in there on 9/27. Robert will continue to operate his business, Diamond Home Design and do what he has been doing – kitchen and bath remodeling/construction. I will continue to do a little personal training (just trained a client yesterday in the Tsunami and she said it was quite roomy and comfie!) and food educating and cooking classes under the KP Ministry business name. We will continue life as normally as possible while residing in a home on wheels in about 380 square feet! Come up and see us ok?
Ok, so with our “sticks and bricks” home (rv lingo for a regular home) sold, it was time to begin serious looking at motor homes. As we researched extensively online, reading blogs and websites related to living in an RV full-time and purchasing a motor home, we began to form a vision of what we thought would make sense for us. So, with our criteria mostly established we began to look at these things called motor homes. We started locally by touring them at dealerships in Wichita. Each time we went in one, we learned something. There is and was much to learn as you are not just buying walls, plumbing and electrical, but you are also buying an engine, a chassis, a generator and an inverter and all your furntiure and lighting too! What? I didn’t even know what half that stuff was when we started! So, we became immersed and nearly obsessed with learning and looking. Our hope was to find one and own it a few weeks before moving.
Once we got passed the research phase and into what I call the consideration phase. God began to teach us a new way (new way to us) to make decisions. Let me briefly describe what this entails. First, He has called us to use the mind He has given us and operate in wisdom. In one of my favorite devotional books, Jesus Calling, the author refers to the human mind as the pinnacle of God’s creation and it’s primarily purpose is to use it to know God and His Word! Second, He has called us to listen to the Holy Spirit, our Wise Counselor. It is in the use of both our minds and the counsel of the Holy Spirit that we are to make decisions. Proverbs 3:5-6 in the Message translation says, “Trust God from the bottom of your heart. Don’t try to figure everything out on your own. Listen for God’s voice in everything you do and everywhere you go. He’s the one who will keep you on track. Don’t assume you know it all.” So, before we went into each motor home , Robert and I paused to pray for the wisdom to use our minds and the courage to listen to the Holy Spirit.
We looked at a lot of motor homes and traveled many miles to do so. The ones we traveled to see looked like princes online but when we got there – FROGS. Big fat, slimy frogs. In frustration, at one point we really thought we were supposed to go purchase one in San Antonio, TX. But, God stopped that purchase dead in our tracks and we are thankful (that is a story for another blog). At one point we thought we were supposed to buy locally and not go to all the risk and trouble and time to purchase out of state. But, once again God stopped that from happening too! How did God stop us? Through the caution of the Holy Spirit. When in a listening (aka quiet) state with eyes and ears and heart and mind and will turned to Him, you will see and sense and know what the Holy Spirit is telling you. The hard part sometimes is that it may conflict with the logic of the human mind, at least temporarily! So, which one, my human mind or the Holy Spirit, has the “override” button? In other words, if these two don’t fully agree, which one do we make our decision in accordance with? The Holy Spirit. The verse above tells me I can’t figure everything out on my own! That I should listen for God’s voice wherever I go.
Example of the Holy Spirit stopping us
We found a great, high quality, right sized and well priced motor home. The owner was motivated to sell. We went up to look at it. We toured it and while all the important mechanical stuff seemed right, the interior seemed worn for it’s age and it was kind of well, not so attractive inside. But, we thought with our human mind, “what a great price for such a quality vehicle. We probably won’t find everything we want in our price range and if it’s not so pretty, then so be it.” Robert began to talk more seriously with the owner and work a little harder on price. Meanwhile, I went back inside and really looked and prayed. As I walked through this motor home, I just didn’t get the seal of approval and ease in my spirit. I couldn’t put my finger on it at first and then I could. I stepped out and asked Robert to come back inside with me. We prayed and talked and felt a caution; so we left and told the guy we were seriously interested but couldn’t commit. Once in the car, we realized that when we are making decisions in agreement with God then we will have a certain peace and joy. Neither of us felt this. We just felt – good deal. See, it wasn’t the right one for us and it certainly wasn’t God’s best for us. With our human mind, this motor home made sense – it was close to home, priced right and of good quality; it didn’t agree with what God’s voice was saying. So, we had to pass.
Example of Holy Spirit leading us
About a week into our search, we found online the Tsunami. When we first looked at this we were wowed and felt like it was perfect for us. It’s the same way we felt when we found the little house we’ve lived in for the past two years. Wow, this is perfect for us. And like this little house, when we saw the Tsunami, we thought, “nah, it’s too beautiful. It’s too…well, it’s just too…” Also, the truth was the price was above our upper limit.
The morning after we saw the Tsunami for the first time, I pulled it up online to look at it again. Between 7:00 p.m. the night before and 8:00 a.m. the next morning the price had been lowered by 16% putting it right at the top end of our budget. But, we thought, “No, it’s in Houston. That’s risky and a lot of work to go get. This can’t be the right one. Plus, we haven’t seen a lot of these Tsunami’s and that seems risky too.” But, to even see if it could be right for us, I called. The woman on the other end of the phone was brisk but nice. I asked her to send me the details. She did and included an invoice in case I wanted to present it to the bank to for financing purposes. When I opened up the invoice, she had made a typo in the price. Robert called her and said, “Hey, you’ve made a typo in your price.” She said she hadn’t. Robert insisted that she had. She insisted that she hadn’t. So, we sent the paperwork to the bank. Later, she called back and realized she had made a typo in the price. The typo had lowered the price now to a full 20% off the initial price we had seen. She said she’d honor it. We began to realize that the Hand of God was working in our favor. To make a long story short, God was leading us to Houston to buy the Tsunami. Here’s a short list of how He did that:
- The price was lowered 20% to fit right into the top end of our budget.
- This company was the only company that provided a one year warranty and 4 new tires included in the price.
- We had kissed a lot of frogs and it was exhausting. We drove and drove and drove and spent HOURS looking at all kinds of motor homes that looked good online, but when we got there were absolutely horrible.
- We consulted with our bank and afterwards, reviewed our excel spreadsheet with the motor homes we were considering and all their data points laid out for comparison and the Tsunami did stand out as one of the top three best choices.
So, God was showing us that what had at first seemed ridiculous – a motor home out of our budget and 600 miles from home was really becoming possible. So, we prayed and felt as much human wisdom as you can feel buying a motor home, sight unseen, 600 miles away from someone you don’t know! We called her back, said we wanted to come down and planned to purchase the Tsunami. Now, here’s the short list of some of God’s favor once we took the leap of faith and followed His voice to do what seemed a little crazy to our human mind.
- She asked for only a 5% deposit to hold the Tsunami instead of her usual 20%.
- She insisted we stay 3 days and live in the motor home on their property and they would teach us all about it. See, we knew nothing about living in a motor home! She also put one of their cars at our disposal while in Houston so we wouldn’t have the cost of renting a car once we got there. All of this would be free of charges.
- One morning before heading to Houston, Robert and I wondered if the bed would be comfortable since the Tsunami is a 2005, making the bed 9 years old. 90 minutes later, she called Robert and said she wanted to put in a new bed for us and would we want a sleep by number or a tempur-pedic?
- We found a review online of Tsunami’s and realized that this motor home was one of the highest quality ones to be found and it had more features than we knew.
- Once we were down there and walked into it….the joy. Pure joy and peace. We felt at home right away. It was as beautiful in person as online. No frog here!
Lesson: Learning to make a decision with this kind of unity and prayer with Robert has been one of the most amazing experiences. Learning to follow God’s voice and the Holy Spirit and let our thinking take a back seat to God’s voice was a little unnerving. As we followed God’s voice, His choice for us became clearer and then began to make total sense to our human mind. If we hadn’t taken that step of faith and taken that risky trip to Houston, God wouldn’t have been able to fully reveal to us the wisdom of the Tsunami nor would we have received all the blessings of the Tsunami.
On many occasions in the past we have seen God bless us not only with what was practical, but also with our hearts desires. He has done it again with the Tsunami. I wanted a certain kind of very rare bedroom floor plan – the Tsunami has it. Robert wanted certain mechanical things like a big horsepower engine and he got them. I cook a lot and the Tsunami has a residential size refrigerator and a dishwasher – very, very rare things in a motor home.
We don’t know everything. Our minds are limited. But God knows all and sees all and will lead us to what He has prepared to give us and where He wants us to go; we just need to allow His voice to override the limitations of our human mind so we can take that step of faith!
Believe in His word. Believe in His voice. It will make the step of faith easier to take!
Tomorrow: Praying in the heat of the moment and seeing God answer instantly. I promise it will be a much shorter blog than today’s!!
(the picture above is of the living and kitchen area in the Tsunami. Decorations are not mine!)
I wrote not long ago about a Tsunami and how it rolls in off shore and as it’s rolls towards shore, things are changing profoundly. Lately, I just keep thinking over and over a rising tide lifts all ships. The past couple of weeks, God has used Exodus 14 and Psalms 22 to show me things about deliverance, victory and true humility. Tonight, I went to sleep and this statement woke me up and began to bring these things together: God can’t/ won’t change our circumstances until we see them through eyes of faith. So here’s what I believe God is saying to His people right now.
