"It's impossible. We might as well go back home." But we know that God loves the word impossible. So we prayed, to build Lydia's faith and to provide what she needed that day. Merle had stayed in Atlanta an extra day to move her into her first apartment, borrowed the trailer from Jeff loaded with all her meager furniture, and had driven the hour and a quarter to move her in, though it was raining on and off all day after a heavy morning rain.
We were prepared to move her into a complex, a low-priced option, but when Merle and I saw it, we were not impressed and felt Lydia would be vulnerable in such a place. So we went to lunch to calmly discuss our options, which were unlikely at best, and nil in her vision. We tried for wisdom from many counselors - the waitress from lunch who had lived in this town all her life, and of course, searched online. No one seemed to be home, like Mary and Joseph searching for a place to stay. Or at least, they were full to capacity.
"Lord, we need to find a leasing office that is open, someone to show us an apartment, and be able to move into a one-bedroom place today!" Was that too much to ask?
After trying to leave messages, going to several places where the leasing offices were locked and dark, or seeing three police cars pull out of the apartment complex we were entering to check out, we were feeling stuck. Again, we looked online. One place stated that they had one one-bedroom available. That's all we needed. We couldn't get a live person to answer the phone, so we drove there.
This had a much nicer entrance, a boulevard style, with nicer looking buildings, and a higher price tag on the apartments. The leasing office was lite up and there were cars in front of it! Answer number one. Ooo, they have a pool! We went in and waited, while someone else was speaking to the leasing manager. The maintenance man happened to come in and after we gave him a quick rundown of our desires, he asked us to wait and poked his head into the office. We didn't know it at the time, but she told Anthony to tell us there was nothing available and we should leave. Instead, he asked us if we wanted to see an apartment. Yes! Answer number two!
It was a two-bedroom model, but looked good to us. Now we just needed an available one-bedroom! Back to the leasing office. We explained that Lydia had started working at Tanner Medical as a new RN, and the other aspects of the dilemma we found ourselves in. I'm not sure why, except for God's intervention, but Susie decided that the one-bedroom apartment she had been holding for someone else for almost a month was long enough. She offered it to Lydia! Answer number three! But it was still $300 more per month than the first place. Merle suggested that she could get a taser or something for self-defense with the difference if she chose the cheaper option (jokingly, but serious, too!). After checking it out, nicer, larger, dishwasher, lots of closets, she decided to go for it! From darkness to light!
As we were moving her furniture in as the darkness increased after two hours of paperwork, we saw the maintenance man again and he was shocked! "I have never seen anyone move in that fast!" Yes, that is my Lord. He loves the word impossible.
Just like for the amazing story of our Savior's birth, nothing is impossible for God. Luke 1:37