BY: JORDYN FERRARO and MEGAN DRAKE
There is no other way to start this post than simply to say
WE HAVE AN APARTMENT!
After a week (or two) of debating pros and cons, searching airfare, & calculating budgets we decided to come back to Ireland a few days earlier than originally planned. A mixture of wanting a place to call home and the debate of a 16 hour train ride for a three day trip led us back to Ireland, sad to be ending our Eurail time but beyond excited for this next step (and to be back in the land of English). Even when the adventure felt like it had ended, we were reminded that really – the next adventure is just beginning. This will definitely be a different kind of adventure in living abroad for the next year, but already God has provided so much and, thankfully, given us a place to call home.
We had spent months praying for this, praying for an apartment in Ireland that we could rent smoothly (& affordably) but then as we began looking at the apartments available, we learned we could not only afford a two bedroom but there were also some three bedrooms available in our price range. So, being the dreamers we are, that became the new prayer. Dreaming of a place where friends or family could stay with us in the extra room or using it as a place to rent through AirBnB, made us both so excited and looking forward to a place to be hospitable. So began the specific and bold prayer for a three bedroom, and this wasn’t something we were quiet about either. Asking friends around the world to pray with us, knowing fully the power of the Lord and His provisions. At this time too, Habakkuk 3:17-19 seemed to be popping up all over the place (I think the Lord was trying to get our attention), which states:
“Though the fig tree should not blossom,
Nor fruit be on the vines,
The produce of the olive fail
And the fields yield no food,
The flock be cut off from the fold
And there be no herd in the stalls,
Yet, I will rejoice in the Lord;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.”
Well, the answer came back no. The doors we hoped to open and step into were closed clearly in our path. In the time between looking online and physically being in Ireland to apartment hunt, it seemed as though all the three bedrooms had disappeared with none to fill the void. But, with far more ease than we ever expected, an apartment came & the Lord provided exactly what we needed. A place with space to unpack our tiny suitcases, a place to call home. It may not have been the big dream and prayers answered in the way we hoped, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t answered & that the desire to be hospitable has to change with the number of rooms.
The lesson we’re both learning in the midst of moving & creating a new home is that sometimes God says no. He said no many times about going on our Eurail adventure before the yes came (it was a dream that grew underground for years before it came to fruition), he said no to our dream of a 3 bedroom, and yet He still gives us exactly what we need. The yeses come at exactly the right time, but for now, in the midst of a no, we will continue to sing of how good God is. We are placed in a great location with plenty of opportunities to get involved in the small quaint community. Our new home is exactly what we need with a good walk into the city to balance out the creme and scones even if our dream of being hospitable with an extra bedroom has to change. Because, truly, we are still able to be hospitable & we still so deeply desire friends and family to come visit us, it just may look different than our other expectations. We are confident if we were able to host people in our shoebox in Glendora, we will be able to here. If there is anything you remember from this post, it’s first, you now have a place to stay in Ireland if you want to visit & secondly, and most importantly, we can sum up the last few months and weeks to this : God is the ultimate provider, He provides exactly what we need & even if the answer is no or a different kind of yes, He is to be praised.