HOUSE STORIES
So, as I’ve looked back into the dis-
tant past, through life’s struggles,
I’ve seen God’s grace as plentiful
and sufficient. As I look at my
current situation I find that God’s
grace is overwhelmingly present
and good. And even though there
are still questions, moments of fear,
I look forward to the future with
hopeful anticipation and expecta-
tion of His goodness, sovereignty,
and grace in my life, and in my
kids’ lives. He is trustworthy and
He alone deserves our honor and
praise.
sale. Our idea at the time was that
God would certainly move us to
a new home in time for the baby
to be born. After all, we had been
praying for over a year by now. Jo-
siah was born on October 8, 2015
while Calvary was having the last
year in the old Sanctuary.
Michael &
Andrea Reiffer
When Elleanna was born about
four years ago, we started to pray
a daily prayer as a family: “Lord,
tell us what you want our family
to look like and where we should
live.” Our prayer began in seeking
direction about whether we should
have any more biological children
and if we should move, and to
where. We prayed the prayer daily
with our kids and looked forward
to God’s answer.
YEAR ONE
We prayed daily, but had no real
direction and spent that year
finishing house projects to get
the home sell-worthy, but that
was about it. Grace Beyond wise,
this was parallel with the church
approving the project and then
preparing for the build.
YEAR TWO
We began to wonder how long we
would have to pray and when any
sort of reply would come from the
Lord. I (Mike) moved to manag-
ing a different clinic for Pine Rest
and that felt like a direct leading,
and we got pregnant with Josiah.
So, as those two amazing answers
to prayer began to happen, we felt
like we should list our home for
By this time, it is important to note
that we really felt like God would
sell our house before he was born
and really nothing happened with
our listing for a long time. It was
grueling for Andrea to facilitate
showings and keep the house
immaculate while being late-term
pregnant and caring for four
other children. It got worse! After
Josiah was born, we kept having
open houses, now with a newborn
and still no responses. We actually
paused the listing for the winter
months so we could adjust to a
newborn. That winter, our identi-
ties were stolen and tax season was
a nightmare. We began to wonder
what God was doing and if we were
wrong about moving.
YEAR THREE
By this time, we are still praying
daily “Lord, tell us where you
want us to live.” We activated the
listing for the house in the spring
and again cultivated hope that
the Lord would sell it quickly and
move us right to a new home. We
heard many encouraging words
about the real estate market and
had spent the winter culling the
online listings. But, again, no bites.
Nothing.
HOUSE ANSWERS BEGIN
In April, Andrea was a guest speak-
er at a MOPS group and spoke
about body image and sourcing
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