God’s Pre-Planned Move Just Two Houses Down

My daughter and I were getting groceries in Walmart. Nearly finished, we started walking toward the check outs. Suddenly a woman who once lived near me was walking toward us. Delighted, we stopped to talk with her.

She proceeded to tell me about her new apartment in a building just two houses down from where I live. She strongly urged me to move over just two houses down to the place where she now lives. I noted the urgency in her voice and how she repeated a few more times that I should join her at the new place.

Well …I was happy where I was living, and saw no need to change. Besides, I’m getting up there in years and wasn’t anxious to go through the trouble of moving. Whew! But …I DID run it by the Lord in case this might be him behind it.

So …After praying, I felt a green light inside, so I went over to the new place and applied for an apartment. It would be a wait of over a year. That was fine with me, because as I said, I was content where I was living and didn’t see a reason to change. But …I prayed about it several more times. No answer, but a green light inside.

Months later, I received a call and was told there was an apartment ready if I wanted to move. Hmmm …My two daughters and I went over to see it. There were several good points about it that I really liked. Still aware of that inner green light, we went again to take measurements. Everything fit. So then, …scratching my head, I moved in.

I liked the place, but I really wondered why the Lord would have me move there. The apartments were new, but that didn’t seem to be reason enough to move. I thanked the Lord for the new place, but couldn’t see why HE did that.

Later, my two daughters and I booked a vacation trip overseas and we were just so excited! We began packing. When we arrived, the hotel we were staying at had Wifi, so we went online. I went to my local newspaper from home which I always read in the morning. And I got the shock of my life. There on the screen was a photo of my former apartment building. Fire. The building was covered in smoke. They had to evacuate all the residents and find places for them to live until the damage was taken care of. If I had been still living there, I would have been evacuated. Where would I have gone? And that’s not all. When there’s a big fire in a building all the residents’ belongings are full of smoke and it’s almost impossible to get that smell off even with cleaning. I got lightheaded when I thought of all my clothes and belongings that would have been pretty much ruined had I still lived there.

So here I was, overseas and suddenly realizing why the Lord moved me. We gathered around and brought such praise and thanksgiving to our God at the very thought of what he had to do to protect me, even as I sat in a hotel overseas and saw what would have been the case had I been still living there.

My mind went back to that day at Walmart when my path crossed the path of my friend who started this whole thing. Had I been in that spot at Walmart five minutes earlier, or five minutes later I would not have seen my friend and I would have stayed at the former place and would have had to endure all that took place after that fire.