Vision Fulfilled

When Justin and I visited our now current home for the first time, we did not see eye to eye.

We visited on an overcast day, which in fairness, did not set the house up for success.

It was gross.

I’ve talked about it before, but just to give you a quick refresher, I don’t know if the toilets had been scrubbed in their 30 years of existence. The carpet was original to the house and scattered on the counters and the corners were mouse traps and roach motels.

Yeah, that kind of gross.

Through my eyes, this place was depressing. The property was beautiful, but the house...

When we climbed back in the car, Justin enthusiastically asked, “What do you think?”

“Ummm…you first.” (Because clearly he had a different opinion than mine.)

“It’s incredible…Wait, did you not see it?”

“Uh…no. That was the grossest, saddest house I’ve ever seen.’”

“Yes, but couldn’t you see it?”

“See what?!?!”

Justin went on to share the vision God gave him of this house without walls, full of people talking about Jesus.

Sounds cool, but God clearly did not give me that vision.

But…I trusted Justin and I trusted a prophetic word we were given months prior.

I knew that if this was the house, things would unfold as easily as if we were floating down a river.

And that’s exactly what happened.

Within no time, the house was ours and the hard work began.

Justin worked on the nuts and bolts of making this home livable. After many long hours, this house, once inhabited by a single man and his ailing mom, became a home inhabited by our large family.

But we weren’t done.

A warm and welcoming home was not the vision Justin was given.

The house was not meant just for our family

The house was to be used for others.

This house was to be full of people talking about Jesus.

It’s “easy” to repaint walls and lay new flooring, but where do you find people to fill your house with and have them all talking about Jesus?

We didn’t intentionally set out to fulfill this part of the vision, but just like the purchase of the property, it just happened.

We’ve had gatherings at our home, but this season, we began officially hosting one of our church’s co groups (a small group).

This too just happened.

Our old co group leaders needed to take a break and asked us if we’d be willing to lead. And we said yes, not really thinking about what we were saying yes to. (I mean, yes, we did know what it meant to lead, but we didn’t think about it in terms of Justin’s vision.)

This past co group, Justin and I sat in our living room in awe at what we were witnessing.

Right in front of our very eyes, God’s vision that He had given Justin years before was being fulfilled in real time.

Here we were, a group of 50 something adults and kids, circled up talking about Jesus.

Over this season, we’ve witnessed people praying over one another, speaking prophetically, and sharing words of encouragement. We’ve shared our struggles and seen breakthroughs. We’ve prayed for healing, both physically and relationally. We’ve celebrated the birth of new babies and are anxiously awaiting two more due this winter. We are doing life together and it’s a beautiful thing to experience.

This house, our home, without walls, full of people talking about Jesus.

It might have taken fours years, but that’s nothing in God’s timing.

And here we sit, getting to bask in God’s goodness and faithfulness, reaping the benefits, and experiencing His vision fulfilled.