October 7, 2024 • 19 mins
After a whirlwind year filled with challenges and divine interventions, I'm thrilled to share my journey of faith and resilience on this episode of the Milk and Honey podcast. Picture this: a hurricane barreling toward our home and a year-long house hunt filled with doubt and divine nudges. Yet, through it all, my family and I emerged with minimal damage and a new home, thanks to a seamless VA loan process that seemed almost too good to be true. Join me, Lemon Price, as I recount these experiences and reveal how we transformed our trials into blessings. This episode is a heartfelt tribute to the power of preparedness, gratitude, and spiritual alignment.
But that's not all—discover the profound impact of responding to God's whispers, even when they defy logic. From a rapid home purchase to the improved lives of my children, the blessings have been abundant.
I extend a warm invitation to connect further at our upcoming book launch party in San Diego. As you listen, you'll find encouragement to trust in divine promptings and give a wholehearted 'yes' to the callings that come your way. Let's celebrate the journey of spiritual growth and leadership together. See you next Monday for more inspiring stories and insights!
Enjoy the episode, everyone!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Hey, I'm Lemon.
I am just like you, sisterfriend.
Talk about stepping into thatoverflow that God has for us by
becoming those ultimate Proverbs31 women.
Hey, I'm Lemon.
I am just like you, sisterfriend.
I knew God had something morein store for me, but I couldn't
see a way out of the laundrypiles and, frankly, I resented
that.
Proverbs 31 woman.
How was I going to live up tothe hype?
(00:39):
That is until I found out howto really step into becoming
this Proverbs 31 woman throughleadership development.
In this podcast you're going tofind financial freedom,
leadership, growth andmotivation so you'll be able to
do all the things God has calledyou to do with ease and really
step into that land of milk andhoney.
Welcome back to the Milk andHoney podcast.
(01:00):
I'm your host, lemon Price, andI'm excited to be here.
So, first and foremost, I'mgoing to tell you that if I
sound funny, it's because I havepneumonia.
I'm not contagious, I promise.
So if anybody from KingdomAlliance is listening and you're
like, oh my gosh, lemon, I'mliterally going to see you in a
couple of days, don't worry, I'mnot contagious, it's just an
(01:21):
ongoing cough that I have for aminute.
So just bear with me.
But I felt like this was reallyimportant because, I don't know
, we just have a.
I've had a weird couple ofweeks in like a good way, in
like a really beautiful good way.
So I want to talk aboutobedience and I want to talk
about this hurricane that justhit my area.
(01:42):
So, if you guys are not fromthe United States or haven't
seen the news, we had a massivehurricane hit Florida, georgia,
north Carolina, tennessee, southCarolina, and nobody in our
area was necessarily preparedfor this hurricane.
The hurricane was supposed tooriginally, it was supposed to
(02:02):
turn in the Gulf and it wasn'tsupposed to hit our area.
It was supposed to hit moreNorth Georgia, not South Georgia
, and it was supposed to be acategory one.
We were preparing for atropical storm and ended up
being a category four Big storm.
It sounded like a tornadoblowing through our house and
I'm going to talk about this ina little bit.
(02:23):
Thank God, we had very minimaldamage to our home.
We got power back on Sunday.
They told us it wouldn't beuntil the 3rd of October and we
got it back on Sunday.
Thank God for that.
But I want to talk about thishouse, this hurricane and
obedience, and I know thatprobably sounds like really
crazy and I really want to besensitive too, because I
(02:44):
understand that we got verylucky and I'm going to talk
about that too.
But I recognize like we havefriends who live in Western
North Carolina who aredevastated right now.
I have friends who have losteverything, and Glenn and I know
a lot of people who've lost alot in this storm.
I don't want anybody to feellike I'm being insensitive
toward that, but I also have aresponsibility to give God the
(03:09):
glory in the situation that hejust brought us through.
So let me backtrack this story,because this story is like a
year in the making.
So last summer I, glenn and Iwere, we were traveling.
We love, we're beach people,but we also really love the
mountains, and so wecontemplated buying a house up
in the mountains.
You know, got a pre-approval.
(03:30):
We were literally up there forjust like we can get away when
our pre-approval came in and Iwas literally sitting poolside
up at the mountains and got thispre-approval letter and that
was, you know, summer of 2023.
So we went.
We looked at a couple houses.
We found one that we were likeyou know, this house is fine,
it's, you know, it's big enough.
(03:51):
It had a beautiful mountainview.
When you stepped out onto theporch you could directly see the
mountains.
Like it was beautiful, and sowe were ready to put an offer in
, like we had.
We were on the phone.
Something in both of our spiritwas, like this isn't the house.
Like, do not do this.
(04:12):
So we still had thispre-approval letter and we
couldn't find anything that wewere in love with.
So we let our pre-approvalletter expire.
We kept looking and I'm justnot seeing something.
For me, summer rolls aroundagain, which is the best time to
buy, right, if you're a parentlike you want to move during the
summer so that way you're notdisrupting school.
And end of summer rolls aroundand in Georgia kids go back to
(04:32):
school August 1st it was likemid-July, and Glenn and I were
talking about it.
We're like, okay, if it's toolate for us to buy a house now,
why don't we just wait untilJanuary and February?
Rates are going to go downanyway.
Let's just wait till January orFebruary and then we'll go.
There should be more on themarket.
You know all those kind ofthings.
And we were both in agreement,like we were good, we were fine.
(04:57):
And then the last Friday in July.
I wake up and I'm like I'msupposed to text our mortgage
lender this morning and he waslike okay, it was like the kids
literally go back to school onTuesday.
I'm like I know, but I'msupposed to text our mortgage
(05:17):
lender today.
And he was like okay, so I texther, shout out to Ivy, text her
at 7.30 in the morning on aFriday.
And I was like how do you feelabout us buying a house again
right now?
And she was like, okay, youknow, just send me updated pay
stubs and tax return, whateveryou know all the things you have
to do to buy a house.
And so I sent them over and acouple hours later she was like
okay, like how much you guyswant to spend on a house?
(05:38):
And I was like, oh my gosh, wehaven't even looked.
I actually have no idea.
Let's like check out the areaGlenworks near Savannah.
We go to church near Savannah,and so we were driving like 45
minutes to an hour every day towork in church and I was like
this is crazy.
So I'm like we, you know, wewant to be closer.
We don't want an HOA.
Like you know, there arecertain things we wanted.
(05:58):
I personally wanted to be onthe ocean, but that just did not
happen for me, which is fine,and so, anyway, we're like,
let's just, you know, startperusing.
And so we start looking andfind something that we're like,
you know, we settled on like aradius, and so we text our real
estate agent.
And this is how, you know, welive in a small town.
Our real estate agent was alsothe kid's bus driver, and that's
(06:22):
a whole other story about justwhat a blessing that man is.
So we text him.
We're like, hey, we're good togo.
Ivy emailed our pre-approval andI, like our mortgage lender
that we use because they're likea small local thing and they
don't farm out your loan afteryou close they do all of their
(06:43):
underwriting up front.
So, like between Friday andlike Monday, we had gone through
all of underwriting, like itwas done.
Everything was like good to go.
So like minus, like inspectionand stuff like that, like our
loan documents were done.
We talked to a real estateagent and you know, we found a
couple of things.
There was only two houses thatwe were actually like interested
(07:05):
in looking at, both in greatareas, fantastic schools, the
whole kit and caboodle, and thatwas the other thing too.
We're like, okay, this is likea little bit stressful because
schools already started.
Now, like school started, so ifwe're going to make this move
like, we have to do it likeright now.
And so we found we found a house, the first house we saw.
(07:26):
I know it sounds so crazy.
Of course we didn't tell themthat we love this house, but we
went and looked at the other oneand hated it.
It was awful, I hated it.
Everything about it I hated.
We sat in the second house thatwe saw and mapped out what our
offer was going to be called.
This agent said we were puttingin a verbal whatever.
So that was on a Wednesday,thursday.
We signed the official likeoffer letter and that was at 9am
(07:50):
and by one o'clock in theafternoon our real estate agent
had called and saidCongratulations, you guys are.
You know they accepted.
And so by Friday morning wewere under contract and then we
closed three weeks later, whichis completely unheard of, if
anybody has ever used one ofthese, like we.
Glenn was in the military, so weused a VA loan and usually
(08:12):
there's a lot of requirements,there's a lot of things that
kind of have to happen.
They're really picky aboutcertain things on the house and
the inspection and all thosekinds of things.
We most VA loans it's more like45 to 60 days that you're
closing on and the seller and Iknow her because we live in a
small town she didn't want towork with anybody who had a VA
(08:35):
loan or like a USDA or anythinglike that, and because we had
done underwriting upfront andall these beautiful things, she
was like, okay, I'm actuallyfine with it because I know this
loan is going to fund.
And so we were like, okay,great, so we ended up closing
within three weeks.
It was so fast.
We weren't supposed to closeuntil after Labor Day and things
just kept getting moved, whichwas great for us.
(08:57):
We had a bunch of people herefor the actual Labor Day.
It was wonderful.
And so you're like, okay, whatdoes that have to do with
obedience and this hurricane andall those things we have?
Now only, it's only been amonth, right, labor Day weekend
was only a month ago and we havenot been here that long.
And so this hurricane hit and itwas a devastating hurricane,
(09:19):
absolutely devastating.
We lost power, you know, like Isaid, like for days we had no
power and everything.
And so thankfully we have apickup truck and cell service
was down.
We have Verizon and I'm sure alot of you last week remember
Verizon was down nationally, butVerizon was down for us days
before it was down for everybodyelse.
(09:40):
There was no cell phonereception either in our area.
So we were like, okay, we aregoing to drive around and check
on our friends.
And so we did.
We were able to drive around,check on a lot of people, make
sure people were okay, and wedrove by our old house and so
thankfully nobody had moved intoour old house.
Our landlord hadn't even beenover there yet.
We drove by to check on themand check on our old neighbors
(10:03):
and the devastation that I saw.
I was in complete tears.
It was the most heartbreakingthing I've ever seen.
Our house that we lived in, atree landed on the roof and one
went through a couple of windows.
If we'd still been there wewould have lost everything.
The house is completelyuninhabitable now.
We wouldn't have a home.
Our neighbor on the other sidethankfully they had already
(10:26):
moved out and they actually onlylive like next door.
They ended up buying a housenext door to where they were
living.
Nobody had moved into their oldhouse either.
A tree went and split theirhouse in half.
It landed on the roof and justcompletely went through the dead
center of this house Ourneighbors on the other side of
us.
Thankfully they had left intime, but a tree took off a
(10:49):
whole bedroom of the house andso one whole side of the house
was gone and Glenn and I werelooking at where we parked our
vehicles and everything liketrees were down and like
150-year-old oaks were downwhere our cars would have been.
We would have lost our house.
We would have lost our vehicles.
One neighbor lost their home.
(11:09):
The other two neighbors wouldhave lost our house.
We would have lost our vehicles.
One neighbor lost their home,the other two neighbors we have
in that neighborhood.
There was damage but it waslivable.
When Glenn and I left it was sohard to watch the amount of
tears I shed and just thegratitude I had for God there
was such protection and I wastalking to my friend Debbie.
(11:32):
She's been on the podcast andwe were just talking about it.
I'm like because it didn't makesense for me to text my
mortgage lender when I did.
It just didn't.
We weren't, glenn and I werenot prepared to buy Like we just
we were not.
I mean we had done you know,like we were okay, mean we had
done you know, finding like wewere okay, but we weren't
planning on doing that untilJanuary or February, with the
(11:55):
idea that if we bought somethingin February we'd probably close
like March or April and thenthe kids get out of school in
May.
So we were like we can makethis slow move and all these
things like that was like ourearthly plan as a unit.
That was our earthly plan as aunit.
That was our plan.
And then it was.
I mean, very obviously it wasGod telling me to reach out to
(12:16):
that mortgage lender andeverything moved so fast.
The attorney when we closedbecause you need an attorney to
close here in Georgia and allthree real estate agents because
the seller had two, it was ateam.
All three real estate agents,because the seller had two, it
was a team.
All three of them said they'venever seen a home close this
fast with a VA loan, that a lotof the times they get pushed
(12:37):
back because something doesn'tmeet this regulation and there's
all kinds of things.
We're just so insanelyfortunate and looking around I'm
like, oh my gosh like Godreally spared us from this
situation.
And so it's not just this is myencouragement, this is not to
(12:57):
come in here and brag about whatGod has done, but it's like
twofold when I think about thissituation.
First of all, I had to be I hadto be in tune with the spirit.
I had to know that it was Godtelling me to reach out to that
mortgage lender, because it didnot make logical sense for me to
(13:19):
do that.
None of that made sense.
I'll tell you too.
It's the funniest thing.
It's always okay, you'reconditionally approved.
And of course, I so nervous,you know, I like didn't sleep
when they said that.
And they were like oh, you know, it's a conditional approval.
And they were like we'll callyou the next day.
I didn't sleep, I was sonervous.
I'm like I don't know what, ifthere's some weird secret debt I
don't know about or I don'tknow who knows.
(13:42):
And she called to verify thatGlenn is a junior and not a
senior, and not one senior, thatwas it.
She was like I just need toconfirm that he's a junior, not
a senior.
And like the house that hisparents own in texas is not his
house.
And I'm like, yeah, that's it,that was it.
It was so fast and you couldtell the lord was really on it.
(14:03):
And I'm sitting here thinkingabout this.
I had to be in tune with thespirit.
I didn't know that it was god,but then I had to respond, even
though it didn't make any sense.
Moving did not make any sensefor us and we moved so quick,
like it wasn't weird for thekids starting new school.
They're in a better situation,they're happy, they have friends
Like they're hanging out withtheir buddies all the time.
(14:24):
They're so much happieracademically, they're doing
better at the school which iscrazy because it's only been a
month.
But I say all that to say wereally have been so fortunate.
That's my encouragement for you.
Like I need you to be so intune with the spirit.
I need you to know it's God,but then respond.
Respond even when it doesn'tmake sense.
(14:45):
Respond when you're likethere's no way this could work
out unless it's the Lord.
I need you to respond because Iwas sitting here and I was
looking at this house that wasdestroyed.
I've never even thought to getrenter's insurance, which is
probably bad, obviously.
So if you're renting, getrenter's insurance.
I didn't so, glenn and Iliterally would have lost
(15:06):
everything.
We would have absolutelynothing and we would have no
home to go to.
If I hadn't responded, if Ihadn't texted the lender, if I
didn't have all my ducks in arow, if I wasn't organized and
had the documents that themortgage lender needed and all
those things, then we wouldn'tbe here.
We wouldn't be here.
And so that's my encouragementfor you is to listen and respond
(15:29):
, because my obedience is thereason my family is safe.
My obedience is a reason likewe're okay and we have a roof
over our head and our home issafe.
If I hadn't, if I had blown itoff, if I had thought to myself
you know what that's crazy, I'mnot doing that we would have
lost everything.
(15:49):
Crazy I'm not doing that.
We would have lost everything isto not only listen to the Lord,
but then respond the way thathe's asking you to respond, even
when it doesn't make sense.
I want to encourage you torespond to what he has for you,
because all I could tell youfrom this experience is the Lord
really does go before us and heknows what's best for us.
The Lord really is looking outfor you specifically and he
(16:10):
knows what's best for us.
The Lord really is looking outfor you specifically and he
knows exactly what you need ifyou are willing and able to
listen to what he has for you.
Again, I'm just praying foreverybody who still doesn't have
power and have the resources,the people who've lost loved
ones like I'm praying for them.
But also I have to give so muchglory and gratitude back to the
Lord because of my ability torespond, and this is not because
(16:33):
I did it out of my own strength, but because I was willing to
be humble enough to hear andthen obey him.
And now I have this story toshare.
And now I can tell you I don'tthink I will ever be.
I mean, I can't say that I'llever be in a place where I'm
like is that really the dog?
Is that him you know?
Like where I'm like questioning?
(16:54):
But I'll tell you I willrespond a lot faster.
I promise I will respond a lotfaster.
That's just the encouragementthat I have for you this week is
to listen and respond, evenwhen it doesn't make sense, my
friend.
So that's it.
That's what I have for you.
Be ready, because the nextcouple of weeks are going to be
(17:14):
jam-packed.
I'm leaving for California onThursday.
If you want to come to SanDiego, shoot me a message on
Instagram because I'm having aparty for the book launch.
Yeah, you're welcome to comeand I would love to meet you in
person.
So if you're in the area, shootme a message.
(17:34):
I'll send you the details.
There's a lot of like reallyexciting announcements and
speakers and fun things.
I have planned for the podcastfor the rest of the year.
This is the last kind of likevery chill week that I have for
the rest of the year, but I'm soexcited, I'm so grateful and I
just want to encourage youlisten and then respond.
Grateful, and I just want toencourage you listen and then
respond.
So if there's something the Lordis asking you to do and you're
(17:55):
like this doesn't make sense, Iwant to encourage you to go do
it this week, Finish the episode, leave a review on Apple if you
haven't done that already andthen go and do it.
Go and respond with your wholeheart and give God your yes,
like your full yes, a full trustthat he is going before you and
that he is doing things and heis prompting you because it's in
(18:17):
your best interest, and Ipromise he will glorify himself
in that process when you listenand respond.
(18:41):
So I love you and I will seeyou all next week.
Bye, friend, to their purposeand calling.
Also, if you could spare amoment to leave a review, it
would mean the world to me.
I really appreciate yourfeedback and it really helps our
community grow.
Remember, the road todiscovering God's call for you
isn't one you have to walk alone.
So join me again next Mondayfor another episode where we'll
(19:02):
continue to explore the depthsof leadership and the heights of
our heavenly calling.
Until then, keep seeking, keepgrowing and keep trusting in his
plan.
Hey, I'm Lemon.
I am just like you, sisterfriend.
Talk about stepping into thatoverflow that God has for us by
becoming those ultimate Proverbs31 women.
Hey, I'm Lemon.
I am just like you, sisterfriend.
I knew God had something morein store for me, but I couldn't
see a way out of the laundrypiles and, frankly, I resented
that.
Proverbs 31 woman.
How was I going to live up tothe hype?
(00:39):
That is until I found out howto really step into becoming
this Proverbs 31 woman throughleadership development.
In this podcast you're going tofind financial freedom,
leadership, growth andmotivation so you'll be able to
do all the things God has calledyou to do with ease and really
step into that land of milk andhoney.
Welcome back to the Milk andHoney podcast.
(01:00):
I'm your host, lemon Price, andI'm excited to be here.
So, first and foremost, I'mgoing to tell you that if I
sound funny, it's because I havepneumonia.
I'm not contagious, I promise.
So if anybody from KingdomAlliance is listening and you're
like, oh my gosh, lemon, I'mliterally going to see you in a
couple of days, don't worry, I'mnot contagious, it's just an
(01:21):
ongoing cough that I have for aminute.
So just bear with me.
But I felt like this was reallyimportant because, I don't know
, we just have a.
I've had a weird couple ofweeks in like a good way, in
like a really beautiful good way.
So I want to talk aboutobedience and I want to talk
about this hurricane that justhit my area.
(01:42):
So, if you guys are not fromthe United States or haven't
seen the news, we had a massivehurricane hit Florida, georgia,
north Carolina, tennessee, southCarolina, and nobody in our
area was necessarily preparedfor this hurricane.
The hurricane was supposed tooriginally, it was supposed to
(02:02):
turn in the Gulf and it wasn'tsupposed to hit our area.
It was supposed to hit moreNorth Georgia, not South Georgia
, and it was supposed to be acategory one.
We were preparing for atropical storm and ended up
being a category four Big storm.
It sounded like a tornadoblowing through our house and
I'm going to talk about this ina little bit.
(02:23):
Thank God, we had very minimaldamage to our home.
We got power back on Sunday.
They told us it wouldn't beuntil the 3rd of October and we
got it back on Sunday.
Thank God for that.
But I want to talk about thishouse, this hurricane and
obedience, and I know thatprobably sounds like really
crazy and I really want to besensitive too, because I
(02:44):
understand that we got verylucky and I'm going to talk
about that too.
But I recognize like we havefriends who live in Western
North Carolina who aredevastated right now.
I have friends who have losteverything, and Glenn and I know
a lot of people who've lost alot in this storm.
I don't want anybody to feellike I'm being insensitive
toward that, but I also have aresponsibility to give God the
(03:09):
glory in the situation that hejust brought us through.
So let me backtrack this story,because this story is like a
year in the making.
So last summer I, glenn and Iwere, we were traveling.
We love, we're beach people,but we also really love the
mountains, and so wecontemplated buying a house up
in the mountains.
You know, got a pre-approval.
(03:30):
We were literally up there forjust like we can get away when
our pre-approval came in and Iwas literally sitting poolside
up at the mountains and got thispre-approval letter and that
was, you know, summer of 2023.
So we went.
We looked at a couple houses.
We found one that we were likeyou know, this house is fine,
it's, you know, it's big enough.
(03:51):
It had a beautiful mountainview.
When you stepped out onto theporch you could directly see the
mountains.
Like it was beautiful, and sowe were ready to put an offer in
, like we had.
We were on the phone.
Something in both of our spiritwas, like this isn't the house.
Like, do not do this.
(04:12):
So we still had thispre-approval letter and we
couldn't find anything that wewere in love with.
So we let our pre-approvalletter expire.
We kept looking and I'm justnot seeing something.
For me, summer rolls aroundagain, which is the best time to
buy, right, if you're a parentlike you want to move during the
summer so that way you're notdisrupting school.
And end of summer rolls aroundand in Georgia kids go back to
(04:32):
school August 1st it was likemid-July, and Glenn and I were
talking about it.
We're like, okay, if it's toolate for us to buy a house now,
why don't we just wait untilJanuary and February?
Rates are going to go downanyway.
Let's just wait till January orFebruary and then we'll go.
There should be more on themarket.
You know all those kind ofthings.
And we were both in agreement,like we were good, we were fine.
(04:57):
And then the last Friday in July.
I wake up and I'm like I'msupposed to text our mortgage
lender this morning and he waslike okay, it was like the kids
literally go back to school onTuesday.
I'm like I know, but I'msupposed to text our mortgage
(05:17):
lender today.
And he was like okay, so I texther, shout out to Ivy, text her
at 7.30 in the morning on aFriday.
And I was like how do you feelabout us buying a house again
right now?
And she was like, okay, youknow, just send me updated pay
stubs and tax return, whateveryou know all the things you have
to do to buy a house.
And so I sent them over and acouple hours later she was like
okay, like how much you guyswant to spend on a house?
(05:38):
And I was like, oh my gosh, wehaven't even looked.
I actually have no idea.
Let's like check out the areaGlenworks near Savannah.
We go to church near Savannah,and so we were driving like 45
minutes to an hour every day towork in church and I was like
this is crazy.
So I'm like we, you know, wewant to be closer.
We don't want an HOA.
Like you know, there arecertain things we wanted.
(05:58):
I personally wanted to be onthe ocean, but that just did not
happen for me, which is fine,and so, anyway, we're like,
let's just, you know, startperusing.
And so we start looking andfind something that we're like,
you know, we settled on like aradius, and so we text our real
estate agent.
And this is how, you know, welive in a small town.
Our real estate agent was alsothe kid's bus driver, and that's
(06:22):
a whole other story about justwhat a blessing that man is.
So we text him.
We're like, hey, we're good togo.
Ivy emailed our pre-approval andI, like our mortgage lender
that we use because they're likea small local thing and they
don't farm out your loan afteryou close they do all of their
(06:43):
underwriting up front.
So, like between Friday andlike Monday, we had gone through
all of underwriting, like itwas done.
Everything was like good to go.
So like minus, like inspectionand stuff like that, like our
loan documents were done.
We talked to a real estateagent and you know, we found a
couple of things.
There was only two houses thatwe were actually like interested
(07:05):
in looking at, both in greatareas, fantastic schools, the
whole kit and caboodle, and thatwas the other thing too.
We're like, okay, this is likea little bit stressful because
schools already started.
Now, like school started, so ifwe're going to make this move
like, we have to do it likeright now.
And so we found we found a house, the first house we saw.
(07:26):
I know it sounds so crazy.
Of course we didn't tell themthat we love this house, but we
went and looked at the other oneand hated it.
It was awful, I hated it.
Everything about it I hated.
We sat in the second house thatwe saw and mapped out what our
offer was going to be called.
This agent said we were puttingin a verbal whatever.
So that was on a Wednesday,thursday.
We signed the official likeoffer letter and that was at 9am
(07:50):
and by one o'clock in theafternoon our real estate agent
had called and saidCongratulations, you guys are.
You know they accepted.
And so by Friday morning wewere under contract and then we
closed three weeks later, whichis completely unheard of, if
anybody has ever used one ofthese, like we.
Glenn was in the military, so weused a VA loan and usually
(08:12):
there's a lot of requirements,there's a lot of things that
kind of have to happen.
They're really picky aboutcertain things on the house and
the inspection and all thosekinds of things.
We most VA loans it's more like45 to 60 days that you're
closing on and the seller and Iknow her because we live in a
small town she didn't want towork with anybody who had a VA
(08:35):
loan or like a USDA or anythinglike that, and because we had
done underwriting upfront andall these beautiful things, she
was like, okay, I'm actuallyfine with it because I know this
loan is going to fund.
And so we were like, okay,great, so we ended up closing
within three weeks.
It was so fast.
We weren't supposed to closeuntil after Labor Day and things
just kept getting moved, whichwas great for us.
(08:57):
We had a bunch of people herefor the actual Labor Day.
It was wonderful.
And so you're like, okay, whatdoes that have to do with
obedience and this hurricane andall those things we have?
Now only, it's only been amonth, right, labor Day weekend
was only a month ago and we havenot been here that long.
And so this hurricane hit and itwas a devastating hurricane,
(09:19):
absolutely devastating.
We lost power, you know, like Isaid, like for days we had no
power and everything.
And so thankfully we have apickup truck and cell service
was down.
We have Verizon and I'm sure alot of you last week remember
Verizon was down nationally, butVerizon was down for us days
before it was down for everybodyelse.
(09:40):
There was no cell phonereception either in our area.
So we were like, okay, we aregoing to drive around and check
on our friends.
And so we did.
We were able to drive around,check on a lot of people, make
sure people were okay, and wedrove by our old house and so
thankfully nobody had moved intoour old house.
Our landlord hadn't even beenover there yet.
We drove by to check on themand check on our old neighbors
(10:03):
and the devastation that I saw.
I was in complete tears.
It was the most heartbreakingthing I've ever seen.
Our house that we lived in, atree landed on the roof and one
went through a couple of windows.
If we'd still been there wewould have lost everything.
The house is completelyuninhabitable now.
We wouldn't have a home.
Our neighbor on the other sidethankfully they had already
(10:26):
moved out and they actually onlylive like next door.
They ended up buying a housenext door to where they were
living.
Nobody had moved into their oldhouse either.
A tree went and split theirhouse in half.
It landed on the roof and justcompletely went through the dead
center of this house Ourneighbors on the other side of
us.
Thankfully they had left intime, but a tree took off a
(10:49):
whole bedroom of the house andso one whole side of the house
was gone and Glenn and I werelooking at where we parked our
vehicles and everything liketrees were down and like
150-year-old oaks were downwhere our cars would have been.
We would have lost our house.
We would have lost our vehicles.
One neighbor lost their home.
(11:09):
The other two neighbors wouldhave lost our house.
We would have lost our vehicles.
One neighbor lost their home,the other two neighbors we have
in that neighborhood.
There was damage but it waslivable.
When Glenn and I left it was sohard to watch the amount of
tears I shed and just thegratitude I had for God there
was such protection and I wastalking to my friend Debbie.
(11:32):
She's been on the podcast andwe were just talking about it.
I'm like because it didn't makesense for me to text my
mortgage lender when I did.
It just didn't.
We weren't, glenn and I werenot prepared to buy Like we just
we were not.
I mean we had done you know,like we were okay, mean we had
done you know, finding like wewere okay, but we weren't
planning on doing that untilJanuary or February, with the
(11:55):
idea that if we bought somethingin February we'd probably close
like March or April and thenthe kids get out of school in
May.
So we were like we can makethis slow move and all these
things like that was like ourearthly plan as a unit.
That was our earthly plan as aunit.
That was our plan.
And then it was.
I mean, very obviously it wasGod telling me to reach out to
(12:16):
that mortgage lender andeverything moved so fast.
The attorney when we closedbecause you need an attorney to
close here in Georgia and allthree real estate agents because
the seller had two, it was ateam.
All three real estate agents,because the seller had two, it
was a team.
All three of them said they'venever seen a home close this
fast with a VA loan, that a lotof the times they get pushed
(12:37):
back because something doesn'tmeet this regulation and there's
all kinds of things.
We're just so insanelyfortunate and looking around I'm
like, oh my gosh like Godreally spared us from this
situation.
And so it's not just this is myencouragement, this is not to
(12:57):
come in here and brag about whatGod has done, but it's like
twofold when I think about thissituation.
First of all, I had to be I hadto be in tune with the spirit.
I had to know that it was Godtelling me to reach out to that
mortgage lender, because it didnot make logical sense for me to
(13:19):
do that.
None of that made sense.
I'll tell you too.
It's the funniest thing.
It's always okay, you'reconditionally approved.
And of course, I so nervous,you know, I like didn't sleep
when they said that.
And they were like oh, you know, it's a conditional approval.
And they were like we'll callyou the next day.
I didn't sleep, I was sonervous.
I'm like I don't know what, ifthere's some weird secret debt I
don't know about or I don'tknow who knows.
(13:42):
And she called to verify thatGlenn is a junior and not a
senior, and not one senior, thatwas it.
She was like I just need toconfirm that he's a junior, not
a senior.
And like the house that hisparents own in texas is not his
house.
And I'm like, yeah, that's it,that was it.
It was so fast and you couldtell the lord was really on it.
(14:03):
And I'm sitting here thinkingabout this.
I had to be in tune with thespirit.
I didn't know that it was god,but then I had to respond, even
though it didn't make any sense.
Moving did not make any sensefor us and we moved so quick,
like it wasn't weird for thekids starting new school.
They're in a better situation,they're happy, they have friends
Like they're hanging out withtheir buddies all the time.
(14:24):
They're so much happieracademically, they're doing
better at the school which iscrazy because it's only been a
month.
But I say all that to say wereally have been so fortunate.
That's my encouragement for you.
Like I need you to be so intune with the spirit.
I need you to know it's God,but then respond.
Respond even when it doesn'tmake sense.
(14:45):
Respond when you're likethere's no way this could work
out unless it's the Lord.
I need you to respond because Iwas sitting here and I was
looking at this house that wasdestroyed.
I've never even thought to getrenter's insurance, which is
probably bad, obviously.
So if you're renting, getrenter's insurance.
I didn't so, glenn and Iliterally would have lost
(15:06):
everything.
We would have absolutelynothing and we would have no
home to go to.
If I hadn't responded, if Ihadn't texted the lender, if I
didn't have all my ducks in arow, if I wasn't organized and
had the documents that themortgage lender needed and all
those things, then we wouldn'tbe here.
We wouldn't be here.
And so that's my encouragementfor you is to listen and respond
(15:29):
, because my obedience is thereason my family is safe.
My obedience is a reason likewe're okay and we have a roof
over our head and our home issafe.
If I hadn't, if I had blown itoff, if I had thought to myself
you know what that's crazy, I'mnot doing that we would have
lost everything.
(15:49):
Crazy I'm not doing that.
We would have lost everything isto not only listen to the Lord,
but then respond the way thathe's asking you to respond, even
when it doesn't make sense.
I want to encourage you torespond to what he has for you,
because all I could tell youfrom this experience is the Lord
really does go before us and heknows what's best for us.
The Lord really is looking outfor you specifically and he
(16:10):
knows what's best for us.
The Lord really is looking outfor you specifically and he
knows exactly what you need ifyou are willing and able to
listen to what he has for you.
Again, I'm just praying foreverybody who still doesn't have
power and have the resources,the people who've lost loved
ones like I'm praying for them.
But also I have to give so muchglory and gratitude back to the
Lord because of my ability torespond, and this is not because
(16:33):
I did it out of my own strength, but because I was willing to
be humble enough to hear andthen obey him.
And now I have this story toshare.
And now I can tell you I don'tthink I will ever be.
I mean, I can't say that I'llever be in a place where I'm
like is that really the dog?
Is that him you know?
Like where I'm like questioning?
(16:54):
But I'll tell you I willrespond a lot faster.
I promise I will respond a lotfaster.
That's just the encouragementthat I have for you this week is
to listen and respond, evenwhen it doesn't make sense, my
friend.
So that's it.
That's what I have for you.
Be ready, because the nextcouple of weeks are going to be
(17:14):
jam-packed.
I'm leaving for California onThursday.
If you want to come to SanDiego, shoot me a message on
Instagram because I'm having aparty for the book launch.
Yeah, you're welcome to comeand I would love to meet you in
person.
So if you're in the area, shootme a message.
(17:34):
I'll send you the details.
There's a lot of like reallyexciting announcements and
speakers and fun things.
I have planned for the podcastfor the rest of the year.
This is the last kind of likevery chill week that I have for
the rest of the year, but I'm soexcited, I'm so grateful and I
just want to encourage youlisten and then respond.
Grateful, and I just want toencourage you listen and then
respond.
So if there's something the Lordis asking you to do and you're
(17:55):
like this doesn't make sense, Iwant to encourage you to go do
it this week, Finish the episode, leave a review on Apple if you
haven't done that already andthen go and do it.
Go and respond with your wholeheart and give God your yes,
like your full yes, a full trustthat he is going before you and
that he is doing things and heis prompting you because it's in
(18:17):
your best interest, and Ipromise he will glorify himself
in that process when you listenand respond.
(18:41):
So I love you and I will seeyou all next week.
Bye, friend, to their purposeand calling.
Also, if you could spare amoment to leave a review, it
would mean the world to me.
I really appreciate yourfeedback and it really helps our
community grow.
Remember, the road todiscovering God's call for you
isn't one you have to walk alone.
So join me again next Mondayfor another episode where we'll
(19:02):
continue to explore the depthsof leadership and the heights of
our heavenly calling.
Until then, keep seeking, keepgrowing and keep trusting in his
plan.
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