The House that God Built

"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.’ Matt 7:24

In my opinion it was a farfetched idea that grew without intention for a while, a mere ‘one day’ kind of idea, the sort that you often throw about with friends.  After all we were not totally sure of where we would both be in the country, let alone the world, and chatting with friends about living together is banded around a lot, most of the time to no avail.

When we knew we would still be around Woking, we started chatting about what this space should be like, how we should live, putting the world to rights at times, but mostly getting excited at the prospect of being community, living as God had intended without reservation or hesitation when it came to helping, sharing, praying, worshipping, being.

We decided it would be awesome to live in Maybury, with its closeness to ChristChurch and the growing number of the church community living in and around it, it seemed like a great place.  Not to mention the great shops that would deliver refuge for my pining of Asian foods and culture.

We were complacent about our search with a few stumbles along the way.  One fine day we decided to meet and pray, listening to God for what this home would be like, where it would be and how he wanted us to live in it for want of a better phrase.

God spoke to us so much about what the house would look like and showed us in pictures and with words what it would be and how we should use it.  Her are just a few:

• It will be a house, not a flat... this blew our minds as we had definitely not budgeted for that!
• The colour white, with a sense God was saying it would be a place of purity and peace.
• It would have a garden with a fence
• Ashley had a picture of one end of a main road, I had a picture of the other end, we were bamboozled by this for sometime.
• It would be a place of refuge and retreat for people who entered.

After praying we went for a walk down Walton Road to see what we could find, scout out the area and spot a house that looked just like the pictures God had given us.  We saw one house down a side road almost in the middle of Walton Road.  We both would probably say that this house did not stand out really, it intrigued us and that was about it. We continued on our merry way discussing the possibilities of the house and delving into the pictures and ideas God had given us.  

That same day, we walked into the estate agent and were welcomed by a friendly chap called Nigel, who showed us their only property in the area, you guessed it, the house that we paid no real attention too, in fact I’m pretty sure we couldn’t even remember whether we had looked at that house or not.  Blazé about the whole thing, we booked a viewing.  It was exactly as God had told us, white inside (being painted as we looked around), garden, fence, and it was in a side road, off the middle of the road we had opposite end pictures about.  It was as though it could have been anywhere down that road and the pictures God had given us were to mark the area.

We were excited.  Then reality hit and I realised that to live in this house we would need a substantial amount of money, which I didn’t have.  I was challenged, after living with Martin & Beena in Goa, who, day-by-day, taught me about living by faith, it was thrown in my face as a reality.  I find it difficult to trust when all around there are means by which we don't have to, materially, emotionally, we are driven to be independent and trust only in ourselves and self provision. In Goa, I was taught the difference, the difference between real trust, and comfortable trust.  Trust is not comfortable.  Trust is risky.  Trust feels almost dangerous.  Trust requires letting go and relinquishing control.  I am not good at that.  

Moving was no longer really an option, when I was honest about it.  It just was not possible.  We felt like it was of God, and if it was of God, however long it took, we knew we had to trust Him.  We sat and prayed.  We listened again to what God had for us, what he wanted us to do.  He spoke to us that He is unlimited; there is not one thing that is an obstacle for our Creator. Right then, as He was speaking to us, God provided what we needed, right in the midst of our doubt, and confusion, and our attempts to trust Him and give it all to Him, He provided.  I do not think that it is solely because God loves to provide for us, I think He was teaching us about abandon and trust in Him.  God wants in on every detail of our lives and He doesn’t just want it because we ‘feel we should’ or that it’s the ‘right thing to do’  but because we are compelled, almost propelled from such a fountain of His love that we want nothing more than for Him to be our everything. 

A week later, we moved into our house, built on the Rock.

We have now been in our house for over five months.  God has challenged us, and used the house as a refuge and retreat and just a place of great joy.  We have not always been responsive and at times have been lazy and selfish about the space, but God always reminds us what it is for, not for us, but for His Kingdom. 
It is a joy to share with you God’s pictures and provision for our lives, but I think its important you know it is not by our efforts, no, it is not because we prayed, nor because we listened, but because we fixed our heart on Jesus and desired to follow in His footsteps despite how much we stumble along the way, and the very nature of Jesus is that despite ourselves, His extravagant love for us is enough.  Fix your heart on Jesus and walk with Him, you never know where He will lead you.  For us, He led us to to this house and I pray that we will make ourselves available to be tools in the hands of the master builder in this place.