Monday, February 27, 2012

Surprise!

Little surprises and wonderful blessings go hand in hand with spring. It's Feb. 24 and I stepped outside in my sundress and flip flops. I love South Carolina!!!  As stood on the patio and observed little green shoots poking up through the mulch in my townhouse sized garden I remembered that I had planted those ugly, seemingly lifeless bulbs last fall when it was cold and dreary outside.

Last Nov. when I planted them I could envision the warm sun of springtime and gentle coastal breezes coaxing my little bulbs to life. What a miracle that such beauty can come from such an ugly bulb!

Time went by and the busyness of life snatched the vision of my hopes and dreams of spring flowers from my memory....until this morning. And there they are as I had hoped (and the instructions on the bulb package had promised) my springtime has come and my flowers are days away from being a reality instead of just a hope. 

This morning I am sitting at my kitchen table in awe and amazement at the beauty of the fruit of my hopes and dreams as God promised. Last spring our Jubilee Market corporate office relocated from CT (bur-r-r-r-r) to SC. My husbands job with Southwest Airlines moved us here with the opening of the new Charleston station. God gave me a promise that He would help us to relocate and would expand The Jubilee Market growth and add to our team through the move.

God has faithfully brought new volunteers and team members to assist in our cause and purpose. But I have not been able to find an affordable place for our team to work. My husband came home from work one day a couple of weeks ago to find me and my team huddled around the kitchen table with Jubilee Market strewn from one end to the other.

Needless to say the obvious....we need a place of our own to work. Not that we have not looked, and prayed and inquired. We simply could not find a place that we could afford. My prayer had been, "Lord, please send a place for us to work that is free with no utilities to pay." That is a bold prayer, but I believe the Lord put it in my heart to pray that prayer in faith because He had wanted to bless us with the fulfillment of our dreams, affirm our work, and build faith in the hearts of myself and our team.

The next morning as my husband left for work, I walked out the door behind him with my purse on my shoulder. He asked where I was going.

"I don't know.  I'm going to find a place for the Jubilee Market to work and I am not coming home till I find one. Today is the day."  Both faith and desperation were crying out to God to help us.

I drove a few minutes up the road and pulled into the parking lot of a huge warehouse that had a "for sale" sign in front. I called the realtor (no answer) and left a message....sat in my car....wrote in my journal....and prayed.

I drove back toward my house and on a whim pulled into an upholstery shop. I went inside and asked the owner if he might happen to have any space that he could let us use for our non-profit organization.

He said that his shop was packed from back to front and didn't have anything but the warehouse across the parking lot. The 2,000 square feet upstairs was empty and available and yes, he would let us use it for free.

45 minutes from the time I left the house to find a place for the Jubilee Market, I pulled back into my garage weeping because of the fulfillment of our hopes and dreams. God answered our specific prayers and located our new facility 5 minutes from my home. I could not have planned it better if I had tried!

Do you have dreams that the Lord has given you yet unfulfilled? Be patient with the growth process. As the season of cold and darkness work miracles in the bulb, so the Lord has a season for your miracle to come to maturity. And on the morning that you wake up with the "knowing" that today is the day for your miracle, step out in faith and "ask, knock, seek...." and don't come home until you have received the fulfillment of your promise.

"Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."  Hebrews 11:1  Build your faith by reading the chapter and believing that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Liz Glover




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