May 12, 2021

I can now say, as I guess many of us can, there is nothing quite like a pandemic to bring things to a screeching halt (or did it?). The world was shutting down; unprecedented times, fear, panic, the list of descriptors goes on and on, but for me 2020 would prove to be a year of peace, presence, and prayer. Amid the storms God would choose to draw us close to Him, to hold us in His embrace, and to strengthen our walk. 2020 will likely forever be remembered as the year of COVID, but for us it was also the year of watching one of our own battle cancer at the young age of 22, the year that a young man whom we love like a son would suffer a near fatal gunshot wound, the year that many who are near to us suffered great loss in varying capacities, the year when we stepped out of comfort zones in more areas than one, the year when life came as life does and did so even during a pandemic. More importantly however, it was a year in which God reminded, revealed, restored, and revitalized. It was a year of dreams and visions, a year of still small voices and presence so magnificent that I felt I should fall on my face. A year of wonder working, a year of intimacy with the savior, and a year of establishing a firmer foundation anchored deeper in the Rock of Ages. It was a season of be still not idle.

In late 2020, somewhere around October or November, Lee and I knew that it was time for us to take a posture of obedience and start the process of putting our house on the market. I “randomly” searched on google for a local finance company to check into preapproval. God led us to People’s Home and specifically to Chris and Grant. They told us when we were ready to begin searching, they could help us find a realtor. A short time later we reached out and they arranged for a local realtor from Team Wilson to call us. The night before he was to call God basically said, “Lay it all out for him – tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.” In typical me fashion I said something to the tune of, “You mean like the whole God gave me a vision and now He said sell it and go, but I don’t know where, or what, or how type thing?” He said, “Yep, tell him that.” Ok I thought/said, here we go again, this guy is either gonna get revelation or think I’m crazy in which case I guess he’s not our man.

When Bryan called the next morning I laid it out and after a split second of silence he said(paraphrased), “Now, my turn to share something on a personal note” he then proceeded to share that he surrendered his life to Christ a few years earlier and that he was indeed our guy. Whew, speechless once again. Almost instantly we had that family of God bond that has only grown throughout our journey to the Drove, and I feel sure will continue to grow. In fact, it quickly became evident that Team Wilson was not a real estate company but a real estate ministry; built upon the firm foundation of Jesus, and that this was a Holy Spirit appointment that was far more than just real estate business. During this leg of the journey Jesus introduced us to Bryan, Summer, Joseph, and Whitney and he even threw in Autumn, the parent of a former student! There were so many faith building moments and so many thank you for sending these folks to minister to my spirit moments. In fact, I wish I had running video of all of the OG moments, because I am sure the retell isn’t as incredible as the experience, and it will take many future blogs to share all the details. My faith has grown exponentially over the past two years and thinking about the degree to which the creator of the universe has been mindful of me takes my breath away. My point is that God was, and is, alive and active and at work. He is always doing amazing things around us and sometimes we are overwhelmed with awe and wonder when the Holy Spirit opens our eyes and allows us a glimpse.

And then Holy Spirit said, “Watch this…”

~ Jen