When Life Seems to be Crashing Around You

Today's guest blogger is Miralee Ferrell. Miralee is jubilant lately, and why shouldn't she be? Her first book (The Other Daughter) is being published by Kregel, and will be out in October. When asked about perseverance, however, Miralee had an incredible story to tell. It's not writing-related, but it is about waiting upon the Lord, and His faithfulness, so it fits right in. Here's Miralee:

My husband Allen and I were in trouble and we knew it, but nothing seemed to be working. We’d hit a lot of financial hurdles in the past few years, but this one brought its own truck load of stress and it felt like we were about to be buried under it.

We’d had our house on the market three different times over the past four years, with no success and this time nothing appeared to have changed. We weren’t sure we could hold on much longer as our business was struggling in an economy that had flattened. Housing sales were beginning to strengthen, but ours hadn’t attracted much attention, even with the major renovations to the house and the fact that it sat on thirty acres of beautiful horse country and boasted a year round trout stream running through it.

I was nearing desperation and made the commitment to pray until I sensed a break-through in my spirit. Allen and I also decided to give a generous “break-through” offering that we couldn’t afford, following the scriptural principal of giving over and above our tithes, and asking that the windows of heaven would be opened for us. We prayed about our gift and felt the Lord directing us in the amount as well as the recipient.

Two weeks passed and we continued to press into the Lord, asking Him to provide a buyer. One evening I hit a low, something very unusual for my upbeat personality, and began to cry out to Him, asking for mercy and that He give me a sense of hope.

I began to praise Him and then settled into a time of listening with my spirit….then heard, very softly the following words… “It’ll be sold in one week”… What? Could I have heard the Lord? I’d heard His voice many times in the past, but this seemed too good to be true. One week? We didn’t even have anyone looking. Maybe He meant that within a week, someone would come view it, and we’d start the process…Maybe…a ton of scenarios flooded my mind but that voice persisted…One week.

Two days later a friend called. Their relatives were flying in and looking for a house…he believed our place in the country was just what they wanted, could they come in two days? Of course, I replied…and come they did. Husband and wife, semi-retired, spent several hours walking the property and talking, then returned for another visit the following day. That evening, they called with an offer and the next day we had signed earnest money papers in hand. A total of six days had passed from the time the Lord told me one week! Our long wait had finally ended, our place moved forward and closed on schedule, and God opened doors of possibility from that sale that we’d never imagined….but that’s an entirely new story!

Miralee Ferrell
Author of The Other Daughter, Releasing in October
http://w3.gorge.net/miralee/Author.html to read the opening scene
Blog: http://www.miraleesdesk.blogspot.com/