The Ninety Day Covenant

How can we know God’s will for our lives? This is a very difficult question that my husband David and I have been wrestling with for some time.

Last summer, we began to consider the possibility of moving to the northwestern area of the United States where our oldest daughter and her husband live. Our youngest daughter and her husband had made the decision to make the move with us. Surely the Lord would want us to live out the remainder of Earth’s history with our children, to be a source of encouragement and strength for one another! After all, won’t the Lord ask us the question, “Where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock?” (Jeremiah 13:20)

Since learning the end-time message, we have also learned about living by faith — being willing to GO where God leads, BE what He requires and DO what He asks. So, plans were made, prayers were said, the “For Sale” sign went up and we placed our plan before Him.

Here was our plan: We would place our house on the market for a three month period. If the Lord saw fit to sell our home, we would go — if not, we would stay. To give you a better idea of the nature of this fleece, here are some facts: We live in one of the fastest growing areas of our state.

A large multinational company was transferring 699 people to the area where we live. The school district for our neighborhood is considered one of the best in the state. Everyone’s expectation was that the house would be sold in a matter of days or weeks. January 31 was to be the day the sign would come down if our house was not sold. Our friends assured us we would be packing by Thanksgiving!

The sign went up on October 25, and we began to wait. A month went by and not one person came to look at our house! Meanwhile, we were praying diligently and hoping the Lord would say yes. At one point, I considered calling the realtor to ask why she was not doing more to bring people out to look.

I wanted to help the Lord out! But He reminded me that I had given this whole matter over to Him and He was quite capable of handling it. “Be patient and wait for the Lord to act…” (Psalm 37:7) “Have faith, do not despair. Trust in the Lord.” (Psalm 27:14) This experience has taught me the value of waiting upon the Lord. When we place something in His keeping, we must not try to take it back!

Christmas came and went. Now, many people were stopping by and taking the information sheets, but still, no one was interested. Meanwhile, other circumstances began to indicate that our place might be right where we were and not in Washington.

The Lord sent two people, who we considered the pillars of our Bible fellowship, to another part of the country. Then, God gave a strong sign to our youngest daughter that He did not want her to make the move. We began to anticipate that His answer would be “No.” Through it all, we earnestly pleaded for a willingness to do whatever He said.

Many times I wished for the experience Israel was promised if they would surrender to Him. “Your ears will hear a word behind you, ‘This is the way, walk in it. ‘ whenever you turn to the right or to the left.” (Isaiah 30:21) But instead, He spoke to us through circumstances, which truly teaches us to leave things in His hands.

The last five days of the allotted time were the most interesting. On January 27, a couple made an offer, but withdrew it before we could respond. It was one which we could not have accepted anyway. Then, on January 30, we had a serious interest. It was obvious the couple was very interested and had financing. However, January 31 passed, no offer was made and the sign came down. The house was off the market.

On February 1, our agent called and asked if we would be willing to accept an offer. She was well aware of the terms and conditions of our covenant with the Lord. Her reasoning was that they had looked at the house before the deadline. But our intent had been that the house would be sold by January 31 and we felt that our acceptance of the Lord’s answer was being tested. Therefore, we said we would not accept the offer.

How did this happen? Was something wrong with the house? Was it priced too high? Was it a bad time to sell? No. It was clear, the Lord has a work for us to do here. The Round Rock Texas Chapter of Wake Up America Seminars has been a big part of our family’s lives for the past three years.

God, in His wisdom, wanted us to stay right here and help this ministry’s continuing outreach. This group has mailed out over 7,000 Warning! books; it has a lending library and provides material and financial help for two other libraries, one in North Carolina and one in Colorado.

During the last year, it has sponsored a TV and radio series in Austin. This group has been richly blessed! The Lord led us to a building we have leased which we can now call our own. No more meeting in the YMCA, school cafeterias, etc.! No clock to watch when our Sabbath program is over. In this location it is our plan and privilege to spread the seed of our Lord’s return.

The ninety-day covenant is over, but it has strengthened our lifelong covenant with God. Living the Lord’s will is a challenge. Living by faith is no easy task. In all of this we have been amazed at the peace God has given along the way. Sure, there were times when we were anxious and disappointed.

But, when these feelings came up we would pray for strength and His peace would be restored in our hearts. To watch how He directs is both an honor and a mystery. An honor, because it reveals how intimately acquainted He is with our lives. A mystery, because “how” and “why” He does such things is beyond our understanding. Oh, how wonderful to have a personal friend in Jesus!

So, we remain in Texas with a new appreciation of GO, BE, DO! God said, “GO nowhere.” However, our prayer continues to be, “Lord, what would you have us BE and DO?”