hope restored

First off, let me start by officially saying, Blake and I are moving to Fort Collins, Colorado at the end of July. We're excited, thrilled, nervous, and scared (mostly that would be me) all at the same time. Since getting hitched 26 days ago, mentally preparing for our move has been somewhat stressful. I, being the least adventurous in the family, have been in a long struggle with the Lord as to really how willing I am to completely trust Him for our provision. Yet, in moments of great doubt, the Lord always manages to show up, and disprove my slightly hesitant heart.
As soon as we confirmed we were in fact moving, I wasted no time and immediately started the house hunting process. We're a complicated family, that is, only when you include our spoiled puppy dog- Tallulah. She's so high maintenance it's unbelievable. But, looking back on this process, if she wasn't the way she is, we probably would've settled on a place sooner, just to get that task off our list, and on to less stressful things. Blake and I both had a 'wish list' of what our new home would offer. Knowing that we probably wouldn't get everything on our wish lists, our excitement looking for a home, quickly faded into a big struggle. No one really wanted to help out the newly-wed, out-of-towners looking for anything other than an apartment. That is, until two weeks ago, after months of searching.. we found a landlord renting a home in the charming area (on my wish list) of Old Town, right in the heart of the city. We called the landlord to find out more information about the place, only to be informed we were third from the top of the list, and more than likely, one of the two ahead of us would probably rent the place, since they "really loved it". He would know for certain by Tuesday (at this point in time, we'd have to anxiously wait through the weekend), and if we didn't hear from him by Tuesday, the place was taken.
Feeling completely discouraged and letdown, again, we couldn't get our hopes up. Although, it was hard not to, just looking at the super cute pictures of this newly renovated little home. It fit us perfectly. I was especially in awe with the granite countertops and updated kitchen. Oh, how I've longed for a pleasant place for cooking! Yet, even though odds were against us, something in my spirit felt prompted to pray- and not just once, or twice, but constantly, all day-into the weekend and into Tuesday. Something in my spirit felt prompted to claim Christ is bigger than the whole situation, and it didn't matter if two people were ahead of us on some list... if the home was meant for us, it would be. That's that. The weekend went by super slow- but full of good moments spent in solitude with the Lord. My not so dependant upon the Lord heart was moving into a place of total dependency- even though we hadn't heard from the landlord. And even in the unknown, I was filled with an overwhelming sense of peace, yet, Tuesday was slighly unbearable, and I probably looked at my phone at least a hundred times awaiting to see if a 970 area code would show up on the screen... and sure enough, around 3:30 tuesday afternoon it did! I couldn't contain my excitement when I heard the landlord's voice on the other end of my "hello". The place was available, and though the two people were still ahead of us, somehow, the Lord granted us favor in the eyes of this landlord. He liked us. Our "young professional status" and Blake's job seemed to appeal to him- though we were 3rd in the list of phone calls, we were his "favorite" probable tenants.
As of two days ago, we mailed in our deposit to secure the home as ours. And we are ecstatic! Looking back on this journey the last two weeks, I can honestly say because of it, walls of doubt and hopelessness have been stripped from my heart. Literally stripped! I can see the Lord relentlessly working ahead of us, on our behalf, and solidifying things before we even step into them! My fears and hesitancy in moving are completely gone! I'm thrilled to get out there and make Colorado our home. This journey was just a tiny glimpse of even greater things the Lord has in store for us in Fort Collins. It's been a good start to our transition already- He's refining me, and stirring up this adventureous side in me that I knew was in there somewhere! Praise the Lord!