J.E. Solinski
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Books
  • About
  • Contact
  • Resources
  • My Favs!

Timing . . .

10/29/2022

9 Comments

 
Picture
I’d like to share a story. A story of God’s goodness, provision, and . . . timing.


Most of the time when I think of God’s timing, I think of it as miles behind my timing. I want things now, and God usually (at least in my mind) is saying wait. Well . . .





My father passed away almost three years ago, leaving Mom alone in the large home they built in 1967 for a family of six and on a property of about 2/3 of an acre with twelve orange trees, lots of flowers, and way too much grass.


Then the pandemic hit, and for two years Mom waited and thought about her future and what she wanted to do. Mom is not the quickest decision maker and God obviously knew that (duh) because what happened next was definitely a “God thing.” I will try and write this as fast as it all happened.


Mom finally decided that she was ready to move, so we started looking at 55+ communities. (Mom being the +) All were full, so Mom started putting her name on lists at the places that she liked from the outside since she couldn’t actually see the insides because all were occupied.


In the meantime, she decided to take out about three orange trees to make the current property more manageable. My brother was visiting at the time, and on the day the tree cutter was supposed to come (the last day of my brother’s visit), the cutter called and cancelled. Now what? 


Well, my brother, immediately went on his phone to look at options for the day, found one more 55+ community that looked good. He called . . . and guess what . . . they had a unit they could show Mom. A one bedroom. 


Mom saw it, liked it, but said she would be interested in a two bedroom when available. Well . . . he had one she could see. She loved it, BUT would like one with the two car garage when it came available. Well . . . he had one she could see. Mom liked it and asked to be put on the waiting list. Well . . . there was no waiting list. She WAS the list. This was around the 12th of August. He said the one she was looking at was "spoken for" but that he might have one come open in September. Okay. Thirty day notice by occupant, so we all mentally calculated a possible October move.


Okay now. Hold onto your hats.


August 22nd. The call. The place would be ready September 6. Was she ready to move? Could she come in tomorrow to sign papers. She hangs up just as the doorbell rings. Her brother (retired real estate broker) and his wife come to visit. They go the next day with Mom as she signs the papers. Retired real estate broker is very pleased with everything!


Labor Day weekend: My sister visits Mom and starts photo-streaming items from Mom’s house for granddaughters to say “yeah” or “nay” to and then starts making piles. (This was an arduous task. Thanks Pam.)


Monday, September 12: I go to Fresno. 


Tuesday, September 13, morning: We sign up our realtor and are told Mom’s house is in a unique area and interest rates are going up and sales are slowing. We agree on a price but are told to be flexible. Buyer must really want that area, so be prepared for a potential long wait.


Tuesday, September 13, evening. Neighbor calls and asks about selling the house to her brother-in-law. We give her realtor’s number. 


Wednesday, September 14. Mom, friend, and I move all pantry and kitchen items to new home. 

Wednesday, September 14 evening: My sister arrives and places items/furniture on Craig’s list and Facebook Marketplace and the craziness begins.


Thursday, September 15: My brother arrives from Colorado. 


Saturday, September 17, morning: The movers come, Pam and Doug stay to sell more items and supervise movers while Mom and I go to new place and wait for movers to arrive. Realtor and potential buyers are looking at the house. People are buying pots and lamps and furniture.


Saturday, September 17, afternoon: Potential buyers put in offer above Mom’s asking price.


September 19-October 21: Buyers waive all inspections, all contingencies, and the house sale closes on the 21st.


Phew! What a ride. And what an amazing example of God’s goodness. We were told to expect a long wait on the sale because of the economy, the time of year, and the location of Mom’s house, but none of those factors confined God and His plans. 


There were some other smaller things that occurred as well that made everything smoother, and were just as amazing, that I won’t include here, but will definitely write down to remember.


Non-believers might stand amazed at how everything “fell into place”,  “turned out”, “happened.” But as a good friend of mine realized after recently becoming a believer, “There are no coincidences.” 


No, there are not. God is always in control.

9 Comments

Perfect . . .

9/4/2021

5 Comments

 
Picture
I was reminded once again that God makes no mistakes and that His timing is perfect.

Last week I scheduled my blog post incorrectly. Not sure how I did that exactly as I do the same thing every week, but I did. Instead of having it post at 12 a.m. Saturday morning to my website, I inadvertently selected 12 p.m., which meant that when anyone went to follow the link via FaceBook or email Saturday morning, it reverted to the previous week’s blog.




Though I fixed it…and sent out an apology…one blog comment showed me that while I thought I had messed things up through my mistake, God hadn’t. That blog (about Tim Challies) and its link to “I Miss My Son Today” needed to show up again that morning, because it was that morning that a friend of mine who had lost her son eight years ago on that day, decided to click the link and read the post. In fact, I imagine she thought she was going to be reading about “Practicing and Playing,” but instead was sent to the blog about Tim Challis, which she had missed the week before.  If my post for that day had run on schedule as planned, she would have missed it again, and God wasn’t going to let that happen. He wanted her to see Tim’s words.

So He allowed a little time to pass—just enough to let my friend read last week’s blog--then had my mother contact me to let me know of the problem.  Within minutes, the link was fixed, but not until it had reached the one person God wanted it to reach.

Yes, God is in the whispers––and "mistakes."



5 Comments

Timing . . .

4/18/2020

6 Comments

 
Picture

The hopes and expectations I had that 2020 would be a better year than 2019 didn’t materialize . . . at least not yet. Instead they seem to have imploded. However, as my family has talked about what is happening and what has happened, we still know that God is in control and has not abandoned us (any of us). We personally have felt his hand of protection because of some recent timing of events. My brother was the one who brought these to our attention.

1) Dad passed on January 20. The first case of coronavirus in the US was on January 21.

2) To help my mother through this time, my brother invited her to travel with my niece and join up with him and my sister-in-law in Milan, Italy, for a weeklong trip north. They were to leave March 23. In God’s grace not only did he close that door early, he took all guess work out of it completely, by naming the one city they were to fly into! 

3) Prior to Italy, my brother, sister-in-law, and another other niece, her husband, and their six children were going to travel through Israel. That door was shut just a few days later.

As a family we have looked at the grace of God’s timing in all of these situations. How difficult it would have been to deal with dad’s condition with these added stresses. How we had time between Dad's passing and the "shelter in place" order to get all of Mom's financial and legal concerns taken care of. How awful it would have been had the family already been traveling when the outbreak occurred. 

We know there are still some uncertain times ahead, and every family will feel the effects of this sinister virus in one way or another, that there will still be hardships and heartbreaks, but we also know that God is good. Satan isn’t, and he is wreaking havoc right now and trying to pin it on God, but God’s light, and grace, and protection, and love  are still shining through.

And though we don’t know what the future holds, we do know that God will be with us through it all, for he promised to He will "never leave [us] or forsake [us]."  So it is at times like this, when we do feel his protection that we should take a moment where we are, and remember God's providence and protection at this point as Samuel did when he memorialized God’s intervention on behalf of the Israelites against an overwhelming Philistinian attack. He placed a stone of remembrance and said: "Thus far the LORD has helped us” (I Samuel 7:12). And then let that "stone" be a constant reminder that He is still near.

6 Comments

    Author

    Jody Eileen Solinski spent her career teaching in the California public school system where she enjoyed helping young adults take their place in society. A native Californian, she enjoys the outdoors and so loves living in Northern California where she can enjoy the beauty of God’s creation up close.

    Picture
    Subscribe

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015

    Categories

    All
    Anger
    Appreciation
    Art
    Attitude
    Beauty
    Belief
    Books
    Bravery
    Calm
    Change
    Christian Bloggers
    Christian Living
    Christmas
    Cleansing
    Conflict
    Consistency
    Coronavirus
    Costs
    Demands
    Disappointment
    Discontent
    End Times
    Evil
    Faith
    Fatigue
    Fear
    Fires
    Focus
    Foolishness
    Forgiveness
    Frustration
    God's Protection
    God's Sovereignty
    God's Timing
    Good Intentions
    Grace
    Grief
    Healing
    Hell
    Holy Spirit
    Hopes
    Hymns
    Hypocrisy
    Ingenuity
    Isolation
    Jesus
    Legacies
    Listening
    Love
    Memories
    Money
    Mornings
    Mothers
    Music
    New Years
    Opportunities
    Order
    Pain
    Patience
    Peace
    Perfection
    Perseverance
    Perspective
    Prayer
    Pressure
    Promises
    Purpose
    Readiness
    Reading
    Reduction
    Refreshed
    Relationship
    Relief
    Remembering
    Renewed
    Reset
    Rest
    Sacrifice
    Science
    Seeing
    Self-Centeredness
    Service
    Sin
    Sleep
    Spiritual Diet
    Spiritual Life
    Storms
    Strength
    Suffering
    Summer
    Talents
    Temptation
    Thanksgiving
    The Bible
    The Tongue
    Troubles
    Trust
    Truth
    Unity
    Water
    Weaknesses
    Wise Counsel
    Worry
    Writing
    Youth

J.E. Solinski ©2015