The Power of Your "Yes" to God

My husband, Bryan, bought this picture in the fall of 2022. Little did I know how prophetic it would be. That little heart is right over his hometown of Girard, Pennesylvania.

About the same time, I was sensing that a change or transition was coming to our family. Bryan and I began praying into it, and we had a few thoughts of what it might be, but no clear direction.

To be honest, I was getting a little frustrated, because all the Lord kept telling me was "I'm ahead of you. Just keep following Me." I finally realized He would tell us what we needed to know when we needed to know it. Of course, like always, His timing and wisdom are impeccable. I honestly would not have been ready for the change He wanted to bring at that time.

Then January came and a long and with it, Selah. Our church takes 21 days to fast and pray at the beginning of the year. Bryan was out of town in New York helping Rachel and Josh, our daughter and son-in-love paint and get his house ready to sell. Then he went "home" to Girard, Pennsyvania to visit family and friends for a week. While he was away, I was fasting and praying. I started to ask the Lord again, "Lord, what is our next step? Anything You want, You have my yes!" Then I clearly heard in my spirit, "Even moving to Pennsylvania?" I was definitely not expecting that.

The Lord began to show me Bryan's heart for his hometown, family and friends. I had never fully understood why he was always drawn back there. Bryan has wanted to move back for a long time, but I was always resistant. There were several reasons why I had objected, but now God was calling us there. All these months the Lord had been preparing, softening and shifting my heart, so when the call came, I was finally ready.

This particular yes would be very costly, though. It meant leaving all of my adult children who are truly my friends, our precious grandchildren, our incredible church and our home which we were almost finished renovating. We also would be uprooting our 16 year old twins, Zach and Zoey. They would have to leave their friends and school and adjust to a new town and a new school for their junior year. I completely understood how challenging this would be because my family had moved before my senior year. Nevertheless, I knew in my heart that this was God, so by the next morning I gave Him my yes.

When Bryan returned home to say he was surprised by what had happened would be a huge understatement. We began praying for confirmations, and the Lord was faithful to give them to us. Then the faith walk truly began.

Once we decided to move, we began looking for housing. We wanted to rent at first and then look to buy after we had time to see where God would want us to put down roots in the area. The rental market was terrible. There were several 2 bedroom options, but we needed 3 bedrooms because of the twins.

We were still finishing up the renovations on our kitchen. Yes, I finally had my dream kitchen, but we felt God was asking us to take a leap of faith and put the house on the market even before we had a place to land in Pennsylvania. We did, and incredibly, we had a full price offer in 3 hours under a "Coming Soon" listing. Our realtor hadn't even uploaded the new pictures. The buyer saw the old pictures, drove by the house and put in a full price offer! Now that's confirmation!

We continued to look for housing and we thought we had found something. Bryan and I took a trip up to look at it. Sadly, it was not what we had expected. It was in pretty rough shape and extremely small. My heart sank. Bryan and I went to the car and I couldn't help but cry. I was trying to understand how this could be God's plan. We prayed about and decided to wait for something else. This meant we had no place to land.

We closed on our house and God provided a temporary place for us with some dear friends in town. They graciously opened their home to all four of us and said we could stay with them for the whole summer if needed.

God was certainly stretching our faith. It was a daily battle. We had our ups and downs while we waited, but we encouraged each other to keep our faith strong and keep trusting in our loving Father to provide for us. It's beautiful how God uses our spouses to lift us up when we're down. I would be strong one day and encourage Bryan, and then another day I would be down and he would encourage me.

After a couple of weeks a double-wide opened up and we went to look at it. When we drove up, I saw a sign in the window saying "This house is protected by Psalm 91" and the door knocker had a verse on it "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." I was very excited to see the inside. When we opened the door we knew we were home. We found out that a pastor and his wife had lived there the last 15 years. They had just moved to live with their children in Texas. God was moving us into a very strategic home in the neighborhood.

We moved in a week later. It's been a tremendous blessing to all of us, and we're so grateful to God for how He provided for us first through our friends and now this house.

That yes has led to other yeses, most recently, a yes to the assignment to write my first book, Army of God Arise. I never would have imagined that God would want me to write a book, but that's the power of your yes. It allows God to do things in and through you that you would never do on your own. It allows Him to take your "natural"and add His "super" to it.

So what has He been asking you to do? Are you ready to trust Him and step out in faith? I know it can be scary, but it is so worth it. Give Him your yes, take His hand and let Him lead you into your next great adventure. You won't regret it.