Sarah Nyhan

About three weeks ago I received notice that I needed to move from where I was staying. I checked the classified ads day in and day out. Nothing was working out. 

I was thinking, “Two weeks out; that’s a great time to have a place and plan to move”. Two weeks passes. Nothing.

“Ok, one week, Lord; I can do one week.” No. Um, ok.

“I guess one weekend. Surely I’ll find a place the weekend before I need to move.” Nope. Nothing was working out.

But this has happened so many times before that I just had a feeling it was God closing the doors. I’m in real estate; surely if anyone is capable at finding a place, it’s me.

So, this past Monday rolls around and I’m supposed to move on Wednesday. I still don’t have a place, but I schedule the movers anyway.

I’m thinking, “This is insane.” But I keep remembering the Israelites during the Exodus. I have prayed for years that I would be like Joshua and Caleb. It felt like God was saying, “Now is your time.” So I kept repeating to myself, “I know He didn’t bring me this far just to let me die in the desert.”

Now, please don’t picture me being calm. Internally it felt like I was a palm tree in a category five hurricane! I would have anxiety hit me so hard that I felt like I might pass out.

But God is so good. When I taught the little kids at church, I only ever and always taught them one story – about Jesus helping Peter when he started to sink on the ocean. “What do you say when you are scared?” And then I would have each child repeat back to me, “Jesus, help me!”

Well, God brought that back to my mind over and over again. So many times I would literally fall on my knees in front of my chair and just sit there praying to God over and over, “I can’t do this, Lord. I can’t do this. I want to be strong but I’m not strong. Please help!”

I would just hear the Lord reminding me over and over of Exodus 14 and 2 Chronicles 20: “Be still, Sarah. Be still and see the salvation of the Lord.”

I would literally just sit there on my knees or bowing my head in my car. I would just try to quiet my soul. God would remind me of all the times He had provided for me in the past. I would turn on the worship music and picture myself as the people in 2 Chronicles 20. Praising God as they marched toward the enemy. Not having a clue as to what was going to happen.

So I’m thinking, “Ok, haha, Lord. I passed the test, right? It’s the day before I need to move. Surely today is the day You will show me where I am going to move. I mean, logically, right?”

People are calling and asking me for updates. I feel completely insane not having an answer. Not having a plan.

I feverishly work all day the day before I am set to move. Looking around. Calling. Emailing.

Finally one person returns my call. I go see the place and it was awful! “Lord?” I felt like He was speaking to my spirit that it would be settling if I took it just to have a sense of “security”.

So I turned the place down with less than 24 hours before I needed to move. I felt completely crazy!

How do you communicate to others the things you feel God is speaking to your heart that don’t make any sense?

So I drove to check out a different apartment complex. I stopped by an office building on my way. It was completely sunny before I entered the office building. While I was inside, all of a sudden a horrendous storm started outside. The wind was so bad that the rain was blowing sideways and the security guard was reinforcing the entrance doors so they wouldn’t blow open. He was already cleaning up water that was flooding in. I didn’t have an umbrella and I didn’t want to show up at the apartment complex completely soaked. So I decided to wait a few minutes in the lobby for the rain to pass. But it kept getting worse.

By now a crowd had gathered in the lobby. I kept hearing people say “random” things like, “it wasn’t even supposed to rain” and “so-and-so called me and said they had to pull over because they couldn’t see to drive”, etc.

Finally, I surrendered.

I sat there in the lobby and gave up.

“Ok, Lord. I think you are closing another door.”

I waited until the rain let up a bit and by that time it is 4:45pm. All the apartment offices were going to be closed in a few minutes. Not to mention rush-hour traffic with the water on the roads was going to make it impossible for me to get to any apartment complex before they closed.

So now it’s the end of the day before I need to move. And I have movers scheduled. With nowhere to go.

But I kept holding onto: God didn’t bring me out into the desert to die.

I laughed at the “craziness” of God’s timing and went to schedule the moving van and enjoy my dinner meal.

I felt completely insane, but I kept feeling like God was saying, “Keep moving. Keep marching forward. As if everything is going to work out.”

So I went back to the house and packed my remaining items. And I cleaned the remaining things to clean. Everything was ready with nowhere to go.

I felt like God was speaking heavy to my heart to just be faithful in doing what I needed to do while I was waiting for the answer. Versus sitting down and melting into a paralyzed panic.

I listened to worship music, prayed, read, and tried to get some sleep.

Then all of a sudden at 11pm I get an idea of where to move to the next day.

So in the morning, three hours before the movers are supposed to arrive, one and a half hours before I’m supposed to pick up the moving van, I wake up. I shoot up in bed and everything in me is SCREAMING, “Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!” FULL BLOWN PANIC! I felt so much anxiety. I felt like I was going to throw up.

But I prayed and God calmed me.

I probably had to pray every five minutes that morning! And when I wasn’t praying, I was trying to sing along to worship music. I kept repeating to myself, “God didn’t bring me this far to let me die in the desert.”

I was almost literally shaking as I went to pick up the moving van at 8:00am. It was raining so I called the movers and asked if they could come at 10am. That gave me an hour to find a place. Haha!

I went to an apartment complex nearby but they didn’t have any openings until July.

Then God reminded me of the place I felt like He put on my mind at 11pm the night before. “But God, how is that going to work? They don’t even open until 10am – when the movers are supposed to arrive.”

“Just trust Me. Just go.”

So I drove halfway across town to the apartments. I arrived at 9:00am. The office is closed. But suddenly the office manger walks up. He’s not even supposed to open for another hour.

I ask him if he has any available apartments.

“Only one for $800+”.

That’s way outside my budget.

“Lord?”

The manager tells me to follow him as he goes to look at his computer. I’m thinking, “Why? I can’t even afford the apartment.” But I follow him anyway.

He sits down and says, “Wait! We do have one unit that is not remodeled that we are renting for $695.”

I go look at the apartment right away and tell him that I’ll take it! He starts to run my application while I go to get a money order.

When I return, he tells me that my application is denied due to a class C misdemeanor on my record from seventeen years ago! This doesn’t even make sense because I was approved and lived in these same apartments the previous year.

“Lord?!?”

The manager calls for approval from someone higher up – and receives it!

Then he tells me he needs me to get a utility account number and rental insurance before he can give me the keys. I tell him I’ll meet the movers and call for those things while I’m with the movers. He agrees and I drive back to meet my movers. I am able to get everything I need as the movers load the moving van.

Long story short, everything worked out. Smooth as butter. All completed in 30 minutes! Thirty minutes before the movers showed up! Talk about a “Red Sea” with “Pharaoh’s army” on my heels!!!

Calm and no stress after that. Even with extra time to spare. Just like God.

Plus, the manager gave me $350 off the first month’s rent and didn’t charge me the $50 application fee or the $100 admin fee.

It was an incredible, wild, crazy adventure. But God really showed up!

My timing was NOT His timing.

I was actually ok with it even if He didn’t provide a place. I knew I would be ok either way. But whew, what a lesson in trust!

He didn’t bring us this far to leave us in the desert.

“I just can’t give up now.
I come too far from where I started from.
Nobody told me the road would be easy,
But I don’t believe He brought me this far to leave me.”

Jesus loves us.