God's Provisions

We thank God for the recent provision of both a van and a home to live in.

After being in contact with the owners of this van for about a month, we purchased the 2002 Chrysler Voyager just one week after Zacharie’s birth. We find it a bit humorous that we are driving an American car in France. There are not very many of those around here. However, I doubt there many manual-transmission, diesel-engine Voyagers in the States. It has very low mileage for its age, and we bought it from the original owners. It is only the second vehicle we have purchased in our married life and the first big purchase we have made in France.

We have learned a lot and spent a lot of time in lines and with people, switching the car papers into our name, getting new tags for the van (you are given the number and you have to go pay to have them made in a shop), getting insurance, and getting our South Carolina drivers’ licenses switched over. We are very thankful that we did not have to retake the driver’s test here in France. However, we did have to give up our S.C. licenses since we are not allowed to keep both. After four trips into the region’s “Prefecture,” I’m hoping that only one more trip will be needed (to pick the licenses up next month).

God has also provided us with a house. We have looked at more than a dozen houses or apartments. The one God gave us is only about 500 yards from the church and my parents’ home. The house is the end house in a row of houses, 968 square feet (not an American dream home) and costs around $1300/month (depending on the rate of the dollar--sometimes more, sometimes less), not exactly a dream price. However, it is ideally suited to our situation, being so close to the church that we can walk, in the same school district that the children are already in, and near to public transportation via bus and tram. We are even already acquainted with the family across the street because they have children that go to the same school as our children.

The way the Lord provided the house is an amazing story in itself. We first saw the house on the internet on December 1 and made an appointment to visit it the same week. We received a call the day before the scheduled visit to tell us that the house had already been rented and so the visit was canceled. We were disappointed. The next week, however, the agent called us back to say the family had backed out and it was again available for rent. We went and saw it and really liked it. It was the cheapest three-bedroom house we had seen and so well situated. (For the curious, you can see pictures here.) However, as a couple we have a mutual agreement that we will not make major financial decisions on the spot. (That saved me from buying a Kirby vacuum cleaner once!) We told the realtor that we were very interested, and would call her back the next day. We did, but only to find out that the family that had visited it after us had reserved it. Once again, the house had “died.” And once again we were (really) disappointed. We talked about how God was a sovereign and good God—even over the details --and that He was deliberately controling these events for our good. For the next three weeks nothing happened. (To the house, that is. We had a baby during that time so we were rather taken up with other things.) The house was still up on the website as for rent, but the couple of times I called, the agent told me that it was already rented and that she was just waiting for paperwork to go through before taking it off the Internet. We began to wonder if she was fibbing because she didn’t want to rent it to us. I had, after all, told her exactly who we were, what church we were associated with and why we were in France. Perhaps we were being persecuted for the Gospel! Unfortunately for us, that didn’t give us any Biblical alternative but to rejoice. I was felt so strongly about this possibility that I even shared my suspicions with several in the church. They agreed it might be possible. Then I worked up the nerve to call her again. How could I remind her we were still looking without making her angry because we were hounding her? I decided to call about another house the agency had for rent, ask for details, and while on the phone “casually” ask about the house we had already visited. She said, “Oh yes, the family that had taken was not transferred by their job as they expected to be. They’ve backed out of the contract.” By this time, we had had plenty of time to consider our options and we were ready to rent the house. The suspense had not completely ended yet, as it was still was more than a week before we heard that our paperwork had been approved by the agency’s insurance company and we were finally able to rent the house. God does all things well, in His perfect time.

We get the keys to the house tomorrow.

posted by TimBix