Walking on parted waters – A testimony

In September 2018, my husband and I along with our precious 5-month-old Avi, moved into our purpose built dream home. Shane had taken such pains to build me what I wanted. I was ecstatic and used to wander around my house feeling so grateful and proud. But as life unravelled, we realised that whilst we both loved our house, the location wasn’t very conducive to our current situation. We were always struggling in our constant travel and it was adding a lot of stress that felt unnecessary.

One day I came across a comment from a leading worship leader that there are some struggles that we get ourselves into that are not from God. Furthermore that if we find ourselves in such a struggle then the most sensible thing was to remove ourselves from that situation. This really spoke to me and after taking this to God in prayer we felt that He was giving us the freedom to move to Stanhope Gardens. It was a hard decision because we both loved the house we lived in - we were so attached to it. We wanted to move to reduce our travel – but God showed us that He wanted us to move to increase our serving through the CRL. Shane’s commitment to serving through the CRL was only increasing and we decided that we wanted to take a step towards supporting and growing that serving. God really wanted to take away any excuse I may be tempted to come up with to say no.

When we decided to start looking at houses in Stanhope Gardens, I was just coming back to part time work after being on maternity leave. Our finances were not excellent. One day during my prayer time, I was given a promise that I would be walking on dry land – that the waters would part as I step out. I took this as a promise towards us buying a house even though financially, it didn’t make any sense. When we went to our broker and tried to apply for a loan, we were told that we would only be able to get a loan for $500 000. We were told to wait a few months until our finances would improve. I was disappointed but there was such a peace with our decision that we decided to just wait on God.

In the meantime, my parents were very excited about us moving to Stanhope Gardens as we would be significantly closer to them. There was an open home, very close to my parents’ house. My parents went for it, they loved it and wanted us to go have a look at it as well. On paper, this house was not what either of us wanted. We looked at the ad on realestate.com and were not very keen. It had white tiled floors, something I definitely did not want. It had no garden and we were adamant on our kids having a garden to run around in. All of the upstairs was carpeted and we hated carpet! But when we went to see the house, both of us individually fell in love with it. Best of all, it was right opposite my parent’s house. But the asking price was 1.3 million. Not at all what we could afford at that stage. But I kept remembering my promise - that I would walk on parted waters. That the waters would part as I stepped out. I realised that this meant I wouldn’t get to see the entire solution right at the onset.

Out of nowhere, my dad called Shane and asked if we liked the house. We told him we loved it. Then he offered to buy it as an investment with the idea that in a few years we could buy it off him. It was just the most ridiculous and crazy idea! It was just the kind of outrageous and extravagant idea that only my father could come up with. I refused. It just seemed too ridiculous. My parents have a darling habit of always going out on a limb for us, complicating their life, just so ours would be easier. I was adamant that I wanted to refuse this very generous but also ridiculous offer. What 30-year-old woman could expect this from her father? Especially when they have already done so much for us?!
I refused because it seemed too much. I did not feel worthy of something so huge. I did not even want to consider this as an option.

I didn’t even go to God – it just seemed so extraordinary! But God came to me with it during my prayers. He was not happy with my answer to my dad. He showed me that He had given me an earthly father who is very extravagant and sacrificial in the way that he loves me. God showed me that a father has every right to love his child as lavishly, as extravagantly, as all consumingly as he wants to. Papa’s extravagant love for me is a mere shadow of the extravagant, all consuming love that God has for me. And He made me realise that there have been many blessings that I have missed out on simply because I rejected that extravagant love of God. When I said ‘its too much’, I was saying that I am not worthy. When I said, ‘I’ll figure it out’, I am still trying to be in control.

I had to learn humility. I had to learn dependency. I had to learn how to receive. I never realised that I did not know how to receive. I still had the very broken and very human need to earn affection and love and I had blindly shut so many doors of opportunity on my life. I almost missed my miracle because I thought I had to earn it.

God showed me that as the Israelites faced the red sea, they could never have imagined God parting the waters. It is just not an option that would ever occur to a sane human being. But that is just what God did. As I faced my own financial situation, I could have never, even in a million years, imagined this solution. But that’s what God did. I did walk in parted waters. And the waters parted as I stepped out.

With the most humbled and grateful hearts we said yes to our parent’s amazing offer. We had no hurdles to jump through. All the paperwork was sorted by papa and Ammi. They dealt with the bank; they signed the loans. We got to move in with so much ease. Within days of us moving out, new tenants moved into our house. Our girls have settled into the new house as if they were always living there. All those tick boxes and lists we had seem so trivial now.

Right at the outset of us moving into the new house, Shane and I decided that we would make this move all about serving God. We want to give this beautiful, spacious house for God to use for His purposes. I love where I live now but I am also acutely conscious that this was given to us by God for a purpose and we wait for Him to unravel that to us. The house was purpose built by another family for their own needs but now having moved in, it feels like God built it just for us and was keeping it for us all this time. It sounds ridiculous, maybe even a bit boastful but I am coming to know that this is the heart of the Father to Whom I belong. And the outrageous kindness and extravagant love of my darling human parents are just a shadow of the love and kindness that God the Father has for me.

This is our testimony. This is my testimony of how I walked through parted waters. I hope this blesses you and that what God did for me, He will do in greater measure for you. We belong to the most extravagant, the kindest, the most perfect Father ever. It is such a joy and a privilege to belong to Him, to be His responsibility.