Niko and I do not own the house we live in. 

And I love to talk about it because, this house that I wake up in every day is a reminder that God really does hear us.

 

There was a time in my life where I may have considered the pride of owning my own home to be of utmost importance. 

 

But, many experiences in our lives recently have pulled me away from aspiring towards material pride.

 

Right now in our lives, my husband is the breadwinner while I stay home with our two little ones. He is finishing his seminary degree, while we think the most important thing for me to do is be home with our children (this is what we feel is important for our family right now, we do not believe it is right for everyone always). 

Because of this, having a home with our names on the deed, may not be a thing for a while.

 

So, if you’re interested, let me tell you about the miracle that landed us in the beautiful home we live in.

 

I was born and raised Catholic and my family went to mass every Sunday. I am forever grateful for the foundation that my parents gave me.

 

As for many young adults, my faith became my own as I got older and I started wanting to know God deeper, 

I read books about what it meant to hear from/have a relationship with God

 

Hearing people’s testimonies was so interesting to me

 

Especially hearing people talk about, “hearing from, God”

 

Were they crazy, maybe, but something in the stories had such sincereness in them. It sounded like something I really wanted in my life.

 

God could get me through hard things and help me make decisions?….sign me up.

 

What I was learning led me largely to prayer. What is prayer? Well to make it very simple, I talk to God. Practically, I do this in my head (thoughts) and in journals.

Adding prayer into my life looked like; instead of just thinking about something I was worried about, I thought “Lord, I’m really worried about, blank, please help me.”

 

And funny enough, the more I did it, the more I had a sense of peace in times of trouble.

 

I know….crazy… but give it a shot, seriously.

 

Instead of getting ticked off with life for some stupid reason, I tried stopping and saying, “Lord, I might explode right now, please help me.” 

And oddly enough, I would experience a calmness, or I was suddenly reminded, “hey is this really worth your anger right now.”

 

Instead of looking at the sunset (one of my favorite pastimes) and just taking a photo,

I tried thinking, “Thank you, God”

 

These simple prayers grew my attention to the presence of God. 

For someone with some anxiety, feeling peace during a moment of true stress was out of the norm for me. So I grew to believe and know there was power to this whole prayer thing.

 

A few years into our marriage, I had the opportunity to change jobs and jump into a role in ministry. 

This was terrifying for me, especially because I hadn’t even read through the whole bible myself yet, AND I would have to fundraise for my salary. 

 

I turned to prayer, “God do I really need to take this job?” 

 

I certainly didn’t have a “parting of the clouds,” moment. God didn’t come down and tell me, “take the job.” 

I can only describe it as a gut feeling. But deeper than a gut feeling, combined with a sense of peace….that, yes, I did need to take the job. 

 

And what a fun, amazing, and rewarding ride that job was.

 

Like any relationship in life, experiences like this grew my faith and trust in God.

 

I started trusting him with every other thing in my life. Praying about more and more, and just experiencing so much joy and help through it all.

 

Scripture talks about God being a good father. 

And that God will give us the desires of our hearts.

 

Of course, this shouldn’t be misinterpreted as, “he will give us whatever WE want.” 

 

It means that he will give us desires, and dreams, and great plans (it should be noted that great does not always mean easy) for our lives, as long as we are close enough to listen to him. 

 

As frivolous as this example is, 3 years ago, Niko and I were living in an apartment expecting our first born. We had a 2 bedroom with plenty of room for a family of 3. But my dreamer heart wanted a house.

 

I just loved the idea of hosting, having people over for fun and food and games. I grew up in a house full of people, and I wanted the same for my family.

 

Around this time, I started writing my prayers, so I wrote about wanting a house someday. 

It seemed like a pipe dream. Largely because Niko and I were both working in full-time youth ministry positions. We made enough to be comfortable, but not enough to plan on a house at the time. We made the decision while working in ministry that making a lot of money would never really be a goal for us. If we were going to work in ministry, it would be dangerous for that to be on our minds in the first place. I spent a lot of time praying for contentment. 

 

We had PLENTY, but in a world of social media and MORE MORE MORE, it can be easy to get side tracked. 

 

It was almost a daily prayer. Not necessarily because it was such a visceral struggle, but because I wanted to go into every day content, and not wanting more. I wanted peace in my bones instead of wondering what our next trip would be or how I “needed,” to update my wardrobe. Contentment came, but I couldn't shake this picture of us in a house. 

 

During my prayer time and just during my days, I got a feeling. 

That, “deeper than a gut feeling.” The thought kept popping in my head, “God is going to put us in a house in the craziest way.” 

“That seems audacious.” I thought.

 

But I wrote it down, and I went about my business.

 

I continued praying for contentment, and I continued to have that gut feeling.

 

I tried to focus on using the current home we had. We started inviting youth leaders over, having some of the teens over, and of course friends and family. 

 

I figured, if I don’t start using my home, no matter the size, I won’t know how to use a house if we were to get one.

 

Time passed, and so did many sweet gatherings in our 3 bedroom apartment. 

 

One day, my mom mentioned that my God Mother was looking for an investment property.

 

A place she can stay whenever they are quickly visiting the US while they spend most of their time traveling abroad. A space they may retire in someday, or for one of my cousins.

 

She wanted someone to live in it full-time that she knew would take good care of the place. Luckily, she thought of me. 

 

I was floored.

 

Could this be what God meant?

 

It seemed too good to be true.

 

But it wasn’t long until my Aunt was signing for the house and we were moving into a house that we could have only dreamed of.

 

It has perfect space for hosting, bedrooms to grow our family, a yard for gardening, and a beautiful neighborhood. 

 

Our incredible family and friends helped us move in while we were expecting our second born.

 

Recently, I looked back at my journal entries and notes that I had written about the exact answered prayer that I am living in today. 

 

Prayer can be hard, because it isn’t a very tangible thing. It’s thoughts and words, and sometimes answers are slow and not exactly what we expected. 

 

Sometimes while praying, and feeling those gut feelings, it is so easy to talk ourselves out of it. Is God really listening? Is God truly telling me something? Is this prayer too audacious in the first place?

 

And yet, every day, I now wake up in a house, that yes, maybe we couldn’t own it ourselves right now, but it is a reminder that God hears our prayers. Even the frivolous ones that seem crazy, or impossible, or undeserved. And like a good father, he gives us what we need, and many times in ways above and beyond what we could ask, think or imagine.

 

-Thank you Nina <3

 

P.S.

I do not write this to say, “pray and you will be given a house.”

Long before we were in this house I discovered the beautiful gift that prayer and a true relationship with our creator is. 

That’s worth more than any house.

If you’ve experienced it, you know what I mean.

If not, I’d highly recommend giving this prayer thing a shot.

Even something as simple as, “show me you’re real, God.”