Faith

Today's post is a little different from any other post I've written. My high school friend Stefanie blogs about God at work in her life a lot, and I always enjoy reading what she has to say. I've never directly posted about faith before, but I always post about important things happening in our lives, and this certainly fits the bill.

As many of you know by now, we have been thinking and praying about the possibility of moving to Ohio for months now. The long-term financial and emotional implications made the move seem like the right choice, but there is some major risk involved--we would have to sell our house in a really crappy housing market without going broke and Tom would have to try to find a job in Ohio. After months of prayer, discussion and entirely too much spreadsheet-making (on my part), we decided to go for it and we put our house on the market.

Our realtor warned us that we were priced high and that average days on market around here was over 40. We braced ourselves for the worst, but I followed Catholic tradition and bought a "sell your house kit" St. Jospeh statue off of eBay (you really can buy anything on there) and we buried it upside down in the front yard. On the advice of my grandmother, Tom and I both said a novena (9 days of prayer to St. Joseph). By day 14 of our house being on the market, we had an offer. When people asked us, "How did you sell your house so quickly?! What's your secret?," we had no other explanation than that it was God's doing.

While we took the quick sale of our house as a "sign" that we were making the right choice, we still had concerns--now the pressure was really on for Tom to find a job in Ohio. We kept telling ourselves and each other that God would take care of us because we were making this choice for good and honest and unselfish reasons. Still, I have had my moments of panic and stress. Which leads me to this morning...

First some background info: Two weeks ago, when we were in Ohio, I was able to meet up with my dear friend Jen for lunch. I hadn't seen her in over a year and it was great catching up. During our conversation, I saw her looking out her window at a cardinal in the tree in her yard. I was confused, thinking "Wow, I didn't know Jen was so into birds..." but right as I was about to leave, she started telling me some stories about how God has made His presence known to her through cardinals. Her stories were powerful, and I understood why she had been so excited about the cardinal she saw during our lunch, but part of me was thinking, "Cool, Jen, but what does that have to do with me?"

Fast forward to this morning: I was getting dressed and was stressing about Tom finding a job. I was having a moment of panic and was thinking to myself, "Are we really doing the right thing? Is this too risky? I wish there were some way I could know this was right choice...Who could I ask for advice?" At that exact moment, I looked up and there, sitting in the tree outside our bedroom window, staring right at me, was a bright red cardinal. I have never seen a cardinal anywhere in our yard, much less in that tree. I knew immediately why it was there.

I know that not everyone will interpret my experience the way I did, and it won't carry the same meaning for others as it did for me. My hope in sharing this is that others will be encouraged to look to God and for God in their lives. Tom and I know that the road ahead may not be easy, but we are encouraged and confident that our faith will carry us through.