#TheDarkRoom is a collaborative with blog series purposegirlpower.com that highlights the lives of people who are answering God's call to minister.
My husband and I, like most people, wanted to be financially stable. Before we got married, we set our minds on a course to achieve that goal. During the early years of our marriage, we had been a part of many businesses, which gave little to no returns on our investment.
We didn’t give up hope. We decided to get into real-estate investing. We ordered info on how to get started, believing God would work on our behalf to make our dreams a reality.
We also met with people who were doing the same thing. By year 5 of our marriage we owned two properties, even though we still rented where we lived. Our goal was to hold on to them for a year or two, flip them for a profit, and buy our own home.
Uh oh...
Excited that we were on our way to financial freedom when all of a sudden, we started having problems. One of the properties had a lot of potential buyers but was having a hard time getting a mortgage secured.
On the other property the tenants late rent turned into partial rent and then finally to no rent. Did I forget to mention that I was a stay at home wife and mother of two boys at the time.
That’s what God told me to do, but that’s a whole other story.
We were in much prayer about our dire situation, asking God why our dream was turning into a nightmare. God woke me up at three in the morning and told me we were going to lose it all. Little did I know the foreclosures would not be the only test for our marriage.
Shortly after, we were served with court papers to pay back the investment loans we had used for various transactions. We were in trouble financially and did not know how we would repay the loans, fix our credit, and get out of dept.
We decided that we would pray and fast once a week asking God to fix this, believing that He would take these debts and give us a clean slate.
When it rains, it pours...
Nothing changed for three years. Then I found out I was pregnant with my third child, and my husband’s father died suddenly. Our faith was being stretched on so many levels. It seemed to be a dark season in our marriage.
I recognized I had no other choice but to trust God. I trusted Him to finish the good work He had begun in me. Even though our lives were being affected by the choices we had made I knew God was more than able to turn it around.
I also wanted to learn the lesson that God had for me in this dark room I found myself in. Remaining faithful took everything I had. I asked God to fight our battle. It was just too much!
Two weeks after bringing our daughter home my husband’s job went on strike, which coincided with one of the creditors freezing our account. After getting a judge to rescind the matter, they began garnishing my husband’s wages.
We remained faithful with our tithes and offerings and praises to God. My situation on paper made no sense…but God!
Won't He do it?!
God used unexpected people to bless us. We gained the victory and won our court cases with prejudice, meaning it is dismissed permanently!
Over and done with, once and for all, and can’t be brought back to court!
God did that for us. Our dark room experience was over. We had our good name back. Our debts were erased from our credit history as if they never existed.
Our dark room experience didn’t end a week or month after praying and fasting. It took a couple of years. And yes, God could have relieved us much sooner but we had some lessons to learn just like the children of Israel in the wilderness.
Moses said in Deuteronomy 8:2, “And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments.” (KJV)
God was always with us, and He is with you, pruning you so you are fit for his kingdom. When you get out of the #darkroom, and you will get out, be careful to remember all the way your God has led you, to humble you, to prove what is in your heart, whether you will follow Him unflinchingly… or not.
.png)