Moving is not something we ever planned to do, but soon after our marriage, we started realizing that moving away from everything we ever knew, was in God’s big plan for us.
This is our story of how God led us to move and how He guides us through the whole process. Everything from quitting our corporate jobs (April 2018), to moving hundreds of miles away from friends and family (June 2018), to the purchase of our tiny house on wheels (August 2018); God has been leading and guiding us through every single detail. As we step out in faith, according to what God puts on hearts to do, He established our footsteps into His Plan.
Moving, all started off as a joke to live in an RV, but it soon became reality in a tiny house on wheels!
As you read these journal entries, we become an open book to you on our feelings, our struggles, our strengths and weaknesses throughout this process.
This is “part one” of the story, that portrays how God has been building our faith in Him through us stepping out in faith.
This serves as a great example of how God can lead and guide you in your own journey in life, whatever you might be walking through.
May 2, 2017 - Missions and Moving
Backstory:
Before reading this journal entry its important to understand a little bit of the back story to the number 2487. This number is the Strong’s concordance number meaning “step”. It is a special number to us because this is a number God encouraged us with, to start “taking steps” to get engaged.
God continues to use this number to encourage us to start “taking steps” in regards to walking into the next season of our lives — moving.
You will see Him use this number throughout our journal entries to get our attention and encourage us, as He establishes our plans throughout this transition.
Kristin's Entry
I was listening to a sermon this morning. I scrolled through YouTube and I didn’t know which video to listen to, that came up on my feed. I scrolled back up to the top and reluctantly listened to the one about missions. I enjoyed this message very much, but I also thought there was something peculiar about this message. The teacher talked about God being a spiritual tornado and yesterday we had a tornado warning…which I think is rare in PA because of the many hills. He was talking about how God blesses you to be a blessing to others and how sometimes that requires moving.
After I arrived at work I saw that someone sent me a screen shot picture of their phone. The screenshot showed the amount of pictures they had on their phone, which was 2,487! I couldn’t believe it. I looked up in Strongs Concordance, the number 2487. The Greek word for 2487 is ‘step’ but The Hebrew word for 2487 is ‘change’. I clicked on a random book of the Bible where ‘2487’ occurs. It happen to be Job 14:14!
Job14:14 NASBS
“If a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my struggle I will wait Until my change comes.
What’s also interesting is that verse 16 talks about how God numbers our “steps”.
Job 14:16 NASBS
“For now You number my steps, You do not observe my sin.
This is the same verse God lead J to, the first time we got the number 2487!
When I think of change I think of moving, because that is a very big change!! It’s funny that “2487” was sent to me because of my friend showing me a picture of her new puppy, because this will be a BIG change for her and her husband. Its similar to the fact that moving would be a BIG change for me. I feel like God gave me this 2487 emphasize that change is coming for me and Jared.
Kristin’s commentary:
Its crazy to look back at this journal entry and look back at all the miracles God really did do through all of these changes! God provided for us so many times through this transition period. He extended our finances, by providing for us through other people and he gave us a home when we had no home! He secured and arranged a little piece of land to put our house in such a unique way, which shows that it was God who did this!
July 27, 2017 - Am I moving?
Kristin's Entry:
It was just announced that my company is being bought over by another company. I can’t help but wonder if I will still have a job as this transition takes place. It wont bother me to be let go, because I think this would confirm all the more that we are definitely moving.
Later on in the day I read one of my devotionals that I happen to read at the perfect time, because it was about moving! The devotional referred to Ruth 1:16-17 MSG But Ruth said, “Don’t force me to leave you; don’t make me go home. Where you go, I go; and where you live, I’ll live. Your people are my people, your God is my god; where you die, I’ll die, and that’s where I’ll be buried, so help me GOD-not even death itself is going to come between us!”
As I kept reading, the writer reminisces back to the times she made a huge transition with leaving home!
This scripture of Ruth is so very special to me because this is the exact scripture I wrote in my wedding vows!
The very next day I listened to a sermon that was entitled, “An immigrants Courage”. Based on the title I wondered what this can possibly be about from a biblical perspective. I ended up clicking on it and it was about moving! The teacher even talked about the book of Ruth!
August 17, 2017 - Keeping in Step with the Spirit
Kristin's Entry
Back Story: As God revealed to us about moving, I would constantly see Texas license plates everywhere I went. Keep in mind, Jared and I worked in Pennsylvania, but lived in West Virginia. These states are far from the state of Texas, yet we would see cars from there all.the.time.
I have a friend who was originally from Texas. She has always been proud and outspoken about being a Texan. I knew that if anyone noticed Texas license plates in Pennsylvania all the time, it would be her! So I asked her a question, which you will see in the below journal entry.
I asked Erika if she ever noticed Texas license plates when she lived in Pittsburgh. She said almost never.
Me and J see them all the time! We have been wondering if this is God showing us about moving to Texas. Erika asked me why I was wondering because she knew it had to do with God. I was hesitant with saying anything, but I did.
As I was typing my text message to tell her about seeing the number 2487, I paused for a second and thought of how it makes me think of Galatians 5:25. I stopped and wondered should I tell her about this because this is a big thing that I don’t have clarification about . In that moment, J texts me Galatians 5:25! I got that text and then decided to press “send” with my explanation to her and how it relates to moving. She then texts me this!
Later on in the day I came across two more scriptures in regards to taking steps! One from Michael’s book. He referred to scripture Psalm 37:25. I looked up this scripture in my bible and continued to read the surrounding scriptures to get more context, which lead me to Psalm 37:23 NASB – The steps of a man are established by the LORD, And He delights in his way.
Then I was reading a small bible study in an app about Job, which lead me to Job 14:16! Another “step” scripture. Does moving in step with the spirt involve moving!?
August 22, 2017 - Taking Moving Seriously
Kristin's Entry
Tonight I felt reluctant to read my bible because I felt unsure what to read. Usually I will read on my phone, but I saw the hard copy of my NIV bible sitting out. What’s funny is, I don’t remember ever putting out. I couldn’t remember the last time I read the actual Bible, rather than my app. I decided to read in Acts 17 where I left off.
As I was reading, I came to verse 26 and I was completely amazed at what it said.
After reading this verse in the actual bible, I then read this exact same verse in my NIV bible app. Even though the app is also NIV, the wording of this verse is different than the book itself! The app says:
Acts 17:26 NIV
From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.
The hard copy of the bible reads this:
Acts 17:26
From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhibit the whole earth; and He determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.
To me personally, the book itself spoke to my heart like this, “I guide your steps and I will tell you where to live.”
Wow! I’m starting to take this moving-thing more seriously. This is why He led me to read the actual book…The way it was worded in this translation popped out at me.
August 24, 2017 - Taking Moving More Seriously - Part 2
Kristin's Entry
God confirmed that he wanted me to read my actual NIV bible and that he did lead me to that scripture! The next day the verse of the day for my bible app was the exact same scripture he lead me to the other night about moving! There are 30,000 scriptures and that is the one that was the verse of the day!? This cannot be a coincidence.
September 23, 2017 - The Jesus Truck
Kristin's Entry
J and I have been getting some bigger confirmations about moving. I haven’t really prayed about moving in a while, but I finally did the other day. On the way home from work I was thinking how it’s so crazy that the house was going to be sold from under our feet because of J not being aware he needed to pay his taxes. This matter was so serious that they were going to sell our house and not even tell us about it. Meanwhile, these past 3 months or so we have been throwing the idea around and praying about moving. I told God that I figured that one of us would lose our job and then we would know that God is telling us to move on and move out. But maybe it is this tax thing that God is using to get our attention. I asked God to make this so obvious about if it’s Him telling us to move.
After praying by myself about all this on the way back from work, J meets me at a restaurant. He walks into the restaurant unbelievingly excited and in shock. He begins to tell me that Michael just sent him a recording about moving into a tiny home on wheels. He found this to be so crazy because me and J have been very loosely discussing the idea of moving into an RV. We’ve talked/joked about different ideas in regards to the RV. Apparently Michael has been feeling God move on his heart to actually go through with doing this. I was amazed. J then tells me that after he got off the phone he prayed about this and also asked God to confirm this was from Him. As soon as he prays, this huge truck passes him with BIG letters printed on the side of the truck, “JESUS”. The letters were so gigantic that you couldn’t miss them. I was so amazed because I just prayed for God to make it so “obvious'”….and there it was, God making it so obvious….J seeing that truck can only be God’s perfect timing.
I can only wonder exactly what time my praying took place compared to J seeing the Jesus sign. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was happening the exact same time as my prayers.
September 23, 2017 - Today Michael told me the news
Jared's Entry
He and Persis are looking into building and moving into a Tiny House!
I was shocked and amazed at this since K and I have joked about buying an RV and quitting our jobs and living smaller.
On the way home I felt in my heart that this was the direction he wanted for us. I prayed out loud with excitement “Lord if this is from You please show me!!” Seconds later I passed a truck like this! Lol, this is just impossible.
October 10, 2017 - Cherubim on wheels!?
Kristin's Entry
Today I read Ezekiel 1 and when I got to verse 11 I couldn’t help but think of a tiny house on wheels!
11] As they moved, they would go in any one of the four directions the cherubim faced; the wheels did not turn about as the cherubim went. The cherubim went in whatever direction the head faced, without turning as they went. [12] Their entire bodies, including their backs, their hands and their wings, were completely full of eyes, as were their four wheels. [13] I heard the wheels being called “the whirling wheels.”
Jesus is our head, and where He leads, we will go.
Also, on this same day we came across a new number: 5265.
We were driving down the road and 2 cars right next to each other had the same exact license plate numbers! What are the chances that they would be driving right next to each other and we would see it?!
When I looked up the Strongs Concordance number, it means to pull up the tent stakes; to start on a journey.
This is Impossible - October 13, 2017
Kristin's Entry
At the beginning of a sermon, a pastor was talking about how God wanted Abraham to move. I thought this was crazy because of how we feel led to move. As the video kept playing, I started thinking of our friend David and what he said last night at the Bible study. It made me sad that we would not be fellowshipping anymore. I paused the video and said a prayer about this.
I Was praying about David saying how important we are to him and him to us. This made me wonder if we should stay because God has brought us great fellowship with him. It made me a little sad that we would be losing that with him. I asked God to confirm the tiny house again.
I then continued to play the video and and the pastor starts talking about something very very specific to me! This made think that this video was specifically for me, and that God is definitely calling us to move.
Prayed specifically about tiny house and moving
Jared's Journal
We asked that Father would move on Michael’s heart to invite us to live with him as we work on our homes together. This was something already on K’s heart and then a similar thought was on my heart after reading chapter 5 of George Mueller’s autobiography where he lived with brother Craik.
October 19, 2017 - Impatience to Quit our Job
Kristin's Entry
J and I were getting really impatient with moving. Previously, when thinking of moving, I realized that I was a little bit sad with missing out on enjoying my brother’s new born baby. But after some time, by the grace of God, I have fully let go of missing out on these family events. Seeing God answer my prayers and the way He has been talking to J about getting rid of his things, has made me eager to move forward, so that we will see God’s plan unfold.
I have gone from second-guessing if this is what I really want to do, into being fully and completely desiring to move forward with this. So much so, that me and J have taken a serious look at our finances and calculating how we are going to go-about paying for this tiny house. We see many different avenues we can take to pay for the tiny house. Looking very closely at the tiny house gets me very antsy with moving forward. We most likely have the finances for the house soon so that we can move forward. However, I know God hasn’t showed us on how to move forward just yet, with the money for the tiny house. We should stay right where we are at, and we both know it.
Wondering how God will provide in this area makes me antsy because I just don’t know what to expect. However, I know that I don’t need to know. I just need to be patient and wait on Him to lead. We need to not worry about tomorrow, because each day has enough worry of its own (Matthew 6:34).
What really is amazing is how God showed us to wait on the day we probably got the most impatient about moving yet. Here’s the story:
After talking about the frustrating day J was having at work, I got more excited and impatient with moving. When I got back from lunch I saw 2 new emails in my inbox. One was from Andy. The email he sent over was entitled Patience and Perseverance in the subject. The next one after that was from T-dawg, it looked like she left me a VM. I listened to it and it seemed like she sent me a VM by mistake. It wasn’t even her. It was this weird recoded voice and all it said was “YOUR PATIENCE”. How crazy!! Two things about patience in a row right after we got extremely impatient about moving. This can only be God! As much as I didn’t want to hear “be patient” I was extremely excited to know that God is hearing our prayers and giving us direct instruction. Be patient!!! Praise the lord!! I’m more excited to hear from God on this than I am about just seeing this plan fulfilled. Its easy to start to put the plan ahead of God, but we must keep humbling ourselves to God in order to see the plan fulfilled exactly how HE wants it fulfilled.
November 15, 2017 - My stuff won't sell
Kristin's Entry
Because we are greatly downsizing, J has been selling a lot of his stuff on eBay. Before getting married I moved from place to place since late 2015, so I don’t have a whole lot. However, I knew that I had way too many purses. God has helped me to not be attached to these things anymore, so I decided I’d sell most of them.
I was sad that all of J’s stuff was selling on eBay, but mine wasn’t. Me and Jared were talking about this and I said to him, “Well, maybe God doesn’t want me to get rid of my purses. And I should just keep them” As SOON as I said that, one of my purses sold on eBay!! OK, so maybe God does want me to get rid of my stuff too! LOL!
December 5, 2017 - Michael's offer
Kristin's Entry
Backstory: There was a lot of communication going back and forth between Michael and Jared, in regards to the builder we were mutually interested in using. The builder was located near Michael, which was far-far away from West Virginia. Being that Michael only lived 30 minutes away from the builder, he had already met the builder and began to move forward in the building process.
Jared and I still had not met the builder. We talked only amongst ourselves, questioning if we would remain in West Virginia while our house was being built in Alabama. It was important to us to be able to monitor the progress, but how would we do that from West Virginia?
Journal Entry:
At work I saw a 2487 while listening to a message Michael sent to Jared. The message was about coming down and visiting, so we can check on our tinyhouse progressions.
Perhaps, God is opening up a door for us to use the builder that we like in Alabama!
December 22, 2017 - Truck from Texas
Kristin's entry
We bought a used truck, in faith, of eventually having a tiny house. As we pulled into work, we noticed that the previous oil change sticker is from Texas!!
Also, four days after this happening, a lady who I have never met or heard of in my whole life, “friends” me on YouVerison Bible app.
Jared told His Dad - December 31, 2017
Kristin's entry
J told his dad today about moving. While he was on the phone, I read a devotion entitled “The Richest Poor Man in Texas“
It referred to the scripture Luke 8:21, which reads, Jesus replied, “My mother and brothers are all those who hear God’s word and obey it.”
January 5, 2018 - To RV or to Tiny House?
Kristin's Entry
Last night we had the talk with Thom. J, started fretting about the tiny house and started entertaining the idea of getting and RV instead. He thought this would be much easier then building a tiny house since its already thought out and put together. I agreed to a point, but I knew that God had already showed us in our hearts that the tiny house is the way to go.
In the middle of the night I woke up with lots of thoughts about the tiny house. I really don’t even remember exactly what I was thinking — it was all a blur, but it lead me into prayer and I was thankful to be lead to pray. I told God that I knew we are supposed to be moving and be “mobile”. He confirmed with a devotion to be mobile, specially in a tiny house.
The devotion was about Solomon building Gods temple.
Chapter 5 is about the preparation for building.
Chapter 6 of kings, talks about the detail of building. Example scriptures of the detail God goes into: 1 Kings 6:4-6,12,17-18,38 NIV
[4] He made narrow windows high up in the temple walls. [5] Against the walls of the main hall and inner sanctuary he built a structure around the building, in which there were side rooms. [6] The lowest floor was five cubits wide, the middle floor six cubits and the third floor seven. He made offset ledges around the outside of the temple so that nothing would be inserted into the temple walls.
12 As for this temple you are building, if you follow my decrees, observe my laws and keep all my commands and obey them, I will fulfill through you the promise I gave to David your father.
[17] The main hall in front of this room was forty cubits long. [18] The inside of the temple was cedar, carved with gourds and open flowers. Everything was cedar; no stone was to be seen. [38] In the eleventh year in the month of Bul, the eighth month, the temple was finished in all its details according to its specifications. He had spent seven years building it.
Reading this reminds me of the level of detail that goes into building a tiny house. God wants us to build, not buy an RV.
Coincidence I happen to read 1 kings 5 the next day after taking our very first step in the process of preparing to build our house? No definitely not. This is definitely an answer to prayer.
January 16, 2018 - 2487
Kristin's entry
Today I was working on a contract for a company that has 55 different accounts. One of the accounts was invoiced incorrectly. When researching what the correct amount should be, I noticed that the correct amount this particular account should be invoiced is $2,487! Out of all those accounts it was the one that had a 2487 associated with it.
March 3, 2018 - Tentmakers | A Biblical Couple Serving God
Kristin's Entry
I’ve been pondering on Acts 18:2
2 And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. And he went to see them, 3 and because he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade.
Bible application for 18:2, 3:
Each Jewish boy learned a trade and tried to earn his living with it. Paul and Aquila had been trained in tentmaking, cutting and sewing the woven cloth of goats’ hair into tents. Tents were used to house soldiers, so these tents may have been sold to the Roman army. As a tentmaker, Paul was able to go wherever God led him, carrying his livelihood with him. The word tentmaker in Greek was also used to describe a leatherworker.
I cant help but think of a tiny house like a modern day tent, that allows us to go and live anywhere that God calls us to go.
Also, upon more research of this couple, it is said that they ministered behind the scenes and had more person-to-person interaction. Is this the kind of life God has for us? To move and minister to people we meet along the way?
Our Tiny house Plan
March 12, 2018 - Visit to Michael's in Alabama
Kristin's Entry
Today we met up with our favorite tiny house builder, who happens to be located right by Michael’s house. Michael will be using this same builder and we hope to also use him to build the tiny house design that we created. It seems like everything is coming together to build our house.
When we were at Michael’s we looked at potential land for our future tiny houses. The address for one of the pieces of land had 182 on the mail box. This number reminded me of Acts 18:2, which is the scripture I have been pondering about.
March 16, 2018 - God Pushes Us Out of Our Jobs
Kristin's Entry
Jared got called into the boss of his boss’s office today. I was thinking that they were maybe going to tell Jared that he needs to be more committed to the company at this time because of all the high priority work that needs to get done. I know that to everyone else he probably seems the most uncommitted because he knows that his hope is not in the world or in his job. I was wondering if people were starting to get irritated with his lack of motivation.
He went in there and it was complete the opposite. They actually wanted to promote him! He didn’t say much other than he would think about it. When we talked he knew he obviously couldn’t accept it and he would need to resign. To go forward and make them think he is committing more of himself to this company would be a misleading to his boss and to the company.
Praise the Lord he began to feel like this! After my review I felt so convicted about telling my boss my “yearly goals”. I felt like I lied to her. Yes, if I was planning on staying, those would be my goals, but my goal was to get out of there. I realized that staying at this company was causing me to tell lies. I praise God he put us on the same page!
This promotion forced us out! We had some ideas about me staying, but once I remembered how convicted I felt after my review, I knew for a fact that God leading us to put in our 2 week notice at the exact same time. Also, if we didn’t put in our notice in at the exact same time, this would cause the other person to have to lie about why they are leaving. We want to be able to tell everyone the truth, that we are leaving because we feel lead by God to move. How can one of us put in the notice without giving it away that the other person will be leaving too.
We felt beyond excited to get the approval to quit our jobs! I was so excited I screamed at the top of my lungs in the car.
I do think that maybe we should have quit sooner. I really did hate being put in the situation of lying about my goals to my boss. I was praying the end of last year that we would be out before reviews came up. Glory is all yours Lord! You are the only one who could push him out.
March 18, 2018 - The Day Before Our 2 Week Notice
Kristin's Entry
Tomorrow will be Monday and we will be putting in our 2 week notice. In my journal, one year ago to the day, I wrote about Erika quitting her job. This is amazing timing because I’m about to go quit tomorrow!
March 19, 2018 - The day we Quit
Kristin's Entry
We planned on stepping out in faith regardless if God would confirm it again. Of course we also prayed that if He wanted us to wait that we would wait! But if He didn’t show us to wait and He didn’t give yet another confirmation, we felt we should keep stepping forward in faith.
I was praying without ceasing most of the day Sunday about asking for His help for quitting and also, turning us back if that was His will (to wait).
Most of the time God kept me at peace. I didn’t think I would have trouble sleeping, but I did. I think I got a total of 2 hours.
I was disappointed in myself that I was having so much anxiety that I couldn’t sleep. My anxiety was evidence that I wasn’t fully trusting God. I thought I did good all day about praying and thought I was at peace. I tried not to think too much and instead tried turning any thoughts I did have, into more prayer.
Jared ended up getting up around 3 a.m. and his devotion was Hebrews 11:8! (Hebrews 11:8 – By faith Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going.) Praise God! He confirmed it again! This is the scripture J got on January 1, 2018. He felt that God was showing him this, because J prayed to know every detail of this move, but God was telling him that it would be unclear. Jared and I would have to step out in faith!
Sure enough, the day we quit was the day he got another devotion with THIS scripture. Of all the days and of all the scriptures! We are stepping out in faith not knowing where we would be as far as finding work.
Here is the devotion Jared opened up in his email, by Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest
Living a life of faith means never knowing where you are being led. But it does mean loving and knowing the One who is leading. It is literally a life of faith, not of understanding and reason— a life of knowing Him who calls us to go. Faith is rooted in the knowledge of a Person, and one of the biggest traps we fall into is the belief that if we have faith, God will surely lead us to success in the world.
The final stage in the life of faith is the attainment of character, and we encounter many changes in the process. We feel the presence of God around us when we pray, yet we are only momentarily changed. We tend to keep going back to our everyday ways and the glory vanishes. A life of faith is not a life of one glorious mountaintop experience after another, like soaring on eagles’ wings, but is a life of day-in and day-out consistency; a life of walking without fainting (see Isaiah 40:31). It is not even a question of the holiness of sanctification, but of something which comes much farther down the road. It is a faith that has been tried and proved and has withstood the test. Abraham is not a type or an example of the holiness of sanctification, but a type of the life of faith— a faith, tested and true, built on the true God. “Abraham believed God…” (Romans 4:3).
Also on the way to work we got behind a 118 car 
Jared's Text message
March 23, 2018 - Amazing
Kristin's Entry
J just listened to a recording from Michael that was sent a week ago. And he quotes this exact scripture that David quoted to him this morning:
Exodus 23:20-23 NIV
“See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared. [21] Pay attention to him and listen to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive your rebellion, since my Name is in him. [22] If you listen carefully to what he says and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and will oppose those who oppose you. [23] My angel will go ahead of you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out.
Also, the exact same day that we decided to go buy bins, so we can pack for moving, my friend offered to us free bins from when she moved! She placed the bins by my car, in the parking lot at work.
This is no coincidence! This is God!
March 29, 2018 - My Name Tag is Down for the Count
Kristin's Entry
Today is my second to last day at work. There can’t be any coincidence in this: My name tag fell off again.
The last time it fell was when I came back from my wedding/ honeymoon in Costa Rica. I found it funny because name tag had my Maidan name, so I obviously no longer needed that nametag anymore. I would need a new nametag with my new married name on it — Kristin Taibi.
Now my nametag is no longer needed because I will no longer be an employee. The timing of my falling nametag is not just a coincidence.
Matthew 10:29-30 NIV
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
He knows every detail and has control over what seems to be, the most insignificant details, of our lives.
April 2, 2018 - Last Day of Work
Kristin's Entry
God created a wonderful day! I had my exit interview with HR and she randomly tells me that because I worked one day in April, that I get benefits for the rest of the month. This was incredible that she brought this up because I thought that I already knew the answer to this question. I thought that today would be the last day I would be covered by insurance. What’s crazy is that J was praying for God to provide insurance and sure enough He did!!
Also what’s also amazing is that Jared got to download Microsoft Office’s latest version which is usually $500. He got it for $10 because our company uses Microsoft office. Because of this, we got a huge discount! He got it on my very last day! Since it was my last day I was able to use my work email to get the same deal as him! How incredible!! God saved us so much money!! This was one of our small concerns, because we would need Microsoft Word to update our resumes. J would especially need it if he ever did any contract work in the future.
Then, to top it all off, I found my employment welcome letter on the very last day on the job. How ironic.
I had no idea, but the the start date that is listed on my paperwork was May 28, 2012. This is the day of Jared’s birthday! It’s like the whole reason why I was brought to this company was to meet Jared. And now, together we leave this company, as we see God’s plan unfold…
April 10, 2018 - Divine Appointment with a Financial Advisor
Kristin's Entry
Today is J’s first day of no longer being employed at a job he worked at for 10 years!
We ate breakfast together and then decided to sit down and look at the pictures I took, to put the house up for sale. While we were sitting down I started thinking about how we have not finished our health care application for the Christian Healthcare Ministries. About 5 mins later, I got a call from a random number. I never pick up these random numbers. When I’m by myself I always reject the call. Since I was with J, he decided to pick up the phone call. The call was a recording of a man who was asking about health insurance. J was pressing 0 several times to try to speak to an actual person. This did not work and the phone call was ended.
About 10mins later, the Christian Healthcare Ministries called Jared! (What a “coincidence”!) They notified us that our application is accepted and that we still have a few more forms to fill out. Once we get that done, everything will be good to go. Praise the Lord, there will not be a break in our insurance!
After, Jared ended up calling the company where we have our 401k from work, in regards to his account information, because he wasn’t sure what his user name was. Jared proceeded to elaborate about how we have been contemplating about what to do with our 401K’s. The girl then offered us to talk to financial advisor. Jared decided to go along, and the call was transferred.
We were forwarded to a man named Steve who I truly believe was seriously sent by God! The beginning of the call was strictly business until Steve directly asked Jared why we are trying to gather all this information, as far as, what to do with our 401k’s and possibly taking money out of them. Jared told him about how God is leading us to downsize and leave everything behind. Steve said that he got the chills from this testimony. He mentioned how he is “uniquely qualified” to finically advise us because he did the exact same thing! The more information he enclosed about himself, the more we kept seeing that our stories were very much in-line with each other. He even had about the same amount of money saved in his bank account as we do, when he set out to do this.
He mentioned that at the time when he decided to do this, him and his wife were living in San Diego and owned a half a million dollar house. His job at that time was a Compliance Manager, which sounded like he had a high salary income. They quit their jobs and left everything behind and headed to Texas! After living in Texas for several years, they ended up in South Carolina, which is where he currently lives. He was saying that he has never heard of anyone else doing what we did. He also mentioned that his wife and him also contemplated about building a tiny house, but he didn’t feel that he could do it.
I am just amazed on how God guided Jared to talk to this man! There are not many people who do something like this, and we just so happen to talk to a financial adviser who did this exact same thing!
May 10, 2018 - Wait
Kristin's Entry
This is peculiar. Just a few days ago, J and I went to lunch with my mom. We ended up getting Chinese; and at the end of the meal we opened up our fortune cookies. J’s said “to wait”. At the time we didn’t think anything of this. Then today me and J went to eat Chinese in Steubenville at a completely other restaurant. At the end of the meal we ate our fortune cookies. This time I’m the one who got the word wait! We really think this is about Doug building our tiny house.
We know that Jesus is Lord, and we would usually take these fortunes cookies to mean nothing. However, we know that God can use ANYTHING to speak to us because He is sovereign over everything. The fact that this happened twice, greatly stood out to us.
May 17, 2018 - A New Builder for our Home
Kristin's Entry
We believe God is leading us to a new tiny house builder. It will take Doug about a year before he can start building the shell of our house. Because of the amount of time it will take him, we’re thinking that maybe we shouldn’t go with Doug. I realize that God never really confirmed Doug for us like he did with Michael.
J found another tiny house builder in Alabama who happens to be located at Mount of Olives, AL. After realizing this, that same night, J came across a devotion that talks about Mount of Olives.
Also, in my brown bible app, I read a devotion that referred to John 8:1, which reads, but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Jared remained watchful to see if he would see the number 81 for God to confirm this for us. He was saying, it actually takes him more faith to believe God is talking to us through a 2 digit number instead of a 4 digit number. I completely agree, so I prayed for God to give us an 8181 because I needed more them a two digit number. Sure enough by the end of the day I opened up my mail and there was an 8181!
Will this be our new builder, who also happens to be in Alabama?
Conclusion
We did not end up going with another builder. The builder in Mount of Olives, Alabama never called us back. Instead, God redirected us to purchase a tiny house that was already built.
We will be working on another section that includes the details of moving from Alabama to Texas. And furthermore, how we found our tiny house!
For the video version of this story, check out our YouTube Channel!!
In this video Kristin talks about the highlights of our moving story from West Virginia to Alabama; and briefly touches on how God led us to quit our jobs! The struggle was real, but God held our hands through it all!
How God guided us out of our jobs
Let’s be honest, quitting our jobs wasn’t easy by any means. It was hard and scary! In this video, Kristin talks more about that. By the grace of God, we were able to step into the unknown of what felt impossible to do.
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Thank you for sharing your story
Thanks for reading it!
God Bless You,
Kristin
This is really helping me in the walk i’m on, God has been using numbers with me for about a decade. Sometimes I really struggle with the faith to believe and trust. Thank you for sharing, it really helps me ❤️
Thanks for sharing! That is amazing to hear how God speaks to you. It is easy to doubt at times for us too. That’s why I love journaling. It helps to go back and re-read it, and remember what God did and how He did it! Don’t give in to doubt, sister. Fight back with faith!