Visions from God

Do you ever experience visions from God? I do.

I guess I never really thought about it as being that unique or special until last weekend at MOMcon when Jennie Allen spoke of the vision she had when praying about her keynote speech. It felt a little odd to hear that she had a vision about us – the women in the room eagerly hanging on to each and every word she was saying. But the more I thought about it, the more I recalled recent visions from God.

You see, I am a picture is worth a thousand words kinda girl. Well, that’s not really true because in person I could talk your ear off about the picture. Where exactly I was standing when I took the picture, hat I ate for breakfast that day, the thoughts that were swirling in my head before, during and after the photo was taken. See, I remember moments in photos. When I recall a memory I see the picture in my head and describe what I see.

In school when I would study for tests I made flashcards and read them over and over again. Then when taking a test I could simply recall the picture in my mind and read the answer from the photo. So, it only makes sense that the Lord would speak to me through visions. It’s as sure fire a way as any to help me remember what he is saying. The only problem with this plan is that the distractions of this world can get in the way of my focus on the visions that I receive. Goodness, this is getting complicated, isn’t it?

So, today as I thought about moments in time brought up by Jennie Allen’s book, Restless, I was caught by the visions God has given me. Sometimes there is a very long wait to see visions fulfilled, but when you step into the moment when the dream is realized it’s pretty spectacular.

I was given the vision of our current home long ago. I can remember being a little girl and dreaming of a home with red maple trees in the fall. A weeping willow billowing over sweeping grass. A lake, nature, space.

This reality was moving to fruition many years ago, starting with my parents’ decision to move to St. Paul from rural southern Minnesota. My mom getting a job in the city in which my family now lives. My parents selling their home in the city and moving to the suburbs when I was the tender age of 13. I despised the suburbs. I wanted nothing to do with them. I longed to move back to the city; to be near my friends and our church community.

Now, here I am living in the suburbs, after desperately fighting God for years to keep living in the city. God had to open Allan’s and my eyes and push us so hard to have the life he planned for us that I almost lost my husband, was robbed at gunpoint, lived next door to a drug house and the list goes on and on. Yikes. If that isn’t a kick in the correct direction, I don’t know what is.

At our house in South Minneapolis, we had access to nature, could bike almost anywhere in the city that we wanted. Could visit the farmer’s market, the lakes, the creek, bike trails and organic restaurants at a moment’s notice. We loved city living, Allan really identified with being a city boy. However, after almost loosing Allan, we toyed with the idea of moving to the suburbs and building a home. But we didn’t have the budget to build our forever home. Plus I wanted to quit my job in advertising to stay home with Matthew.

Around that same time, my friend Melissa had a heart to heart with me that I vividly remember and was a game changer for me in the home selections process. She felt that building a new house in the suburbs was contradictory to everything that Allan and I stood for. She envisioned our family buying a home that needed love, restoring it to its original splendor using environmentally friendly practices and making it a well loved home again.

After two failed attempts at selling our home, we tabled the discussion and fixed the few things that were keeping us from being content in our home. Then Luke, our bearer of light, was born, and we felt a tug at our hearts to sell our home, even though we were planning to stay. We fought the feeling for almost a year and on a whim we decided to list our home during a historically bad time of the year to sell a home. Our house sold in one weekend with multiple offers for $10,000 above our asking price. We were floored with God’s response to our diligence.

Although, even through all of that, we still questioned whether we were supposed to move to the suburbs. However, we were honestly given the perfect opportunity to live in our dream house. We were able to provide a clean slate for a home that desperately needed someone to love it.

Our current house has a beautiful kitchen in which I spend most of my days (as if that’s some sort of surprise to anyone reading this). There is a room for everything we’ve ever dreamed of and then some, the space to throw large dinner parties and host holidays with the whole family, an open floor plan that is the uniquelayout that I so desired. We have a slice of a pine forest, a cul-de-sac, a park down the street with an amazing playground, a lake with walking paths and a hill filled with red switch grass. But most importantly four red leafed maple trees and a mature weeping willow. Pinch me because I have to be dreaming.

Now, I’m not telling you all of this to boast in what we have. However, it is to boast in the amazing thoughtfulness and follow-through of God. He knew the desires of our family’s hearts, which were in line with his, and he made this home a reality for us long before the house was even built. He set it aside for us, even though we felt it was not the right time for us to move. How crazy is that?

How has God worked in your life to surprise and amaze you with your heart’s desire when you least expected it?