Apartment Life

Who would have thunk that I would be in an apartment? Back to the crammed, crowded space with no back yard, little privacy and lots of noise? Well, it isn't all that. It is amazing. I love our apartment living experience since selling our home back in August. It was a means to an end for us. For us to prepare in the mindset of missionary living, to downsize in our mind and our pocket book and to prepare for Cali. It has been awesome and I wish we would have done it sooner. Shocked? well, i was. But friends, there is a ministry here, and we are thankful for the life God landed us to, here in our little 1150 square foot apartment. We gave the girls the master bedroom since they were to share (and there was no way to get their beds in the second bedroom)- and while they miss their own rooms, there has been something magical with their relationship that has been borne out of the pain of living in tight quarters for the past few months. They are growing closer. Yes, there was a lot of fighting at first-for months- and growing pains that had no where to grow but to each other. and I am so thankful. I want to share 2 other stories about our experience...Al- and Laura-
Both of these friends we made here have been divine appointments for divine reasons. And I pray we are friends for eternity.
Al-. He moved here from Manhattan about a year ago with his wife of 20 years. They moved here to be close to his wife's son and family. Al and Doreen never obtained a driver's licence because in NY, NY there was no real need because they walked to work, walked to the grocery store across the street, walked to the bank. So we became friends with them as soon as we moved in. The Friday before Thanksgiving, Doreen went in to the hospital for surgery. To this day, she is in a coma- as she began having seizures after recovery. I am blessed to drive him to the hospital/acute rehab hospital to visit daily. We have had some amazing conversations about a lot of things. Living in New York, Christ, the church and the culture shock of Texas. We pray daily for Doreen, and if you get a chance, please lift her up in your prayers. She has a long way to go before she can come home.
And Laura. We met her 2 weeks after moving in.
We prayed for these 2 sweet friends before we moved in to the apartment complex, by just praying that God would allow us to meet our neighbors and be shining light for Him. Here is the verse my friend Karen made for us and sat at our front door- Matthew 5:16- We pray God shines brightly here.

Laura is a single mom with 3 boys. We did not know any of our neighbors at this time- but one morning I had a flat tire and Mike hadn't gotten very far on his commute to work, turned around and came home to get me a new tire. My friend Kim was meeting me about noon with a stand up scooter for my broken foot so i could glide around instead of hobbling. We all happened out in the parking lot around noon by coincidence. All 3 of us stood there talking when we heard a shout, "Help Me!" I saw a lady standing by her car, and thought she needed help carrying something in, so I shouted my wifely duty of instruction to my husband to go and help this lady. We soon found out she was having a stroke and couldn't get out of her car and quickly began losing use of her right side. Mike was holding her up, I was shouting to Kim to call 911 and I used the scooter for her to sit on as she couldn't walk. Mike didn't go back to work that day. He followed the ambulance to the hospital and sat with her till her family from Tyler, TX could come to be with her. And God was at work in that ER. Mike and Laura had divine conversations as her speech began to come back and the Dr.'s ran tests. Mike's sacrifice of staying with a complete stranger and missing work resonated with her. She had not personally experienced this kind of kindness before. Mike kept telling her it was because of his relationship with Christ that we are to love our neighbors as our self. She saw something different, it was Jesus. Glory!
I stayed behind to find rides home from school for her boys and a place for them to stay and to call her family. And we have been fast friends since. We found out that Laura grew up in a toxic religious cult. She ran away at age 18 and has been leery of religion ever since. But through our friendship, she has found a church home that is comfortable to her. She is seeking a relationship with the Lord, not religion and her life is changed. God is at work at this apartment complex. Greater things are still to be done here. We love her family so much and consider her family. We visit nightly with hugs and conversation.
Apartment ministry is amazing. There is actually a HUGE need. See  this apartment life ministry. It will take sacrifice, denial of self, and living out the greatest command, love your neighbor as yourself.
God is at work! He can use anyone. He is just looking for someone to obey and love. Go God!