I
was in, but only just. As I said, it took a year to fully unpack and for the first few
months it was all I could do to get through a day without falling asleep. Bianca-Rose was
not quite three and I remember accidentally falling asleep one day, only to have her wake
me up with a "sorry, Mummy". I was instantly awake. What was she sorry
for?? She had eaten an indeterminate number of children's vitamins, "because
they were yummy". A call to the poisons hotline reassured me that she would live...
One day a friend
called in and we decided to pray together. I was concerned at my inability to pray since
moving in and we wanted to ask God for help. In hindsight I can see that I was too tired
to pray. I fell asleep in my clothes nearly every night.
While we were
praying, I started laughing. I'm not sure why - I know I often cry when God speaks
to me, but this time I laughed. I told my friend that God had told me I was going to live
in this house two years. That was about it really, and my friend must have wondered
about me, but she was too kind to say!
To do this story
justice we have to go back to 1975. If you have managed to read right through up to
this point you may recall that 1975 saw me having a baby at the tender age of 15.
That child was born on August 6th. In 1994, I moved into the house at Grace Street
on August 6th. A meaningless coincidence, unless of course you believe that God sometimes
uses dates to make a point about something. I happen to believe He does, simply because He
has done it so many times in such deeply meaningful ways. This is one of those
times. I felt He was saying to me that He was doing a special work of restoration in
my life.
Come with me now
to 1996. A lot has happened. I have just remarried and it is nearly two years since I
moved into Grace Street. The girls are staying in the house with my Mum and
Dad. Grant and I are both sick with the flu and staying in Grant's house pretending
to have a honeymoon, but really quietly dying!!
It soon becomes
evident that we are not going to have the strength to move out of the Grace Street house
before another fortnightly rent payment is due.
We went to see the
ladies at the women's shelter to make a payment and explain the situation, and were met
with deep sympathy and understanding. Arrangements were still being made for them to
buy some of my furniture and they wouldn't be moving anyone else in immediately, so they
kindly waived any further rent payments and told us to take as much time as we needed. Oh
and by the way, here's your final receipt.
And the closing
date on that receipt?
August 6th.
Two years to the day from when I moved in. God is amazingly accurate.
And He hasn't
finished with August 6th yet!
|
