Life Highlights: I'm Not Homeless!!

View from my new apartment

"Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.  Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart." -Psalm 37:3-4

A major New York move update today - I'm not homeless!! I have officially secured a place to live in New York City right in the middle of Manhattan!

I want to thank every single one of my friends and family who have prayed for me and kept me in your thoughts.  You guys really are the best, and I know this move wouldn't be happening without the Good Lord and your encouragement.  And I really feel like I've hit the jackpot with this place.  It's affordable, safe, spacious, and has a gorgeous waterfront view along with a great new roommate who seems extremely easy-going and friendly.  I really, truly, honestly believe this great blessing is a God thing, and I want to give credit where credit is most definitely due!

I'll be honest, I've been looking for places since April and had a few tentative leads at best.  After many frustrating and stressful weeks, I finally came to the realisation last week that although I had been saying I was moving to New York to "find God", I wasn't really putting that faith into action.  A lot of places I had looked at, I was looking at for "me" rather than "Him".  By this, I mean that I was looking for places I would like to live (usually close to a "Certain Person's" - Bowie's - apartment) and hoping that God would just grant me the place like a genie (see: Current Contemplation: Prayer post).

But what Dr. Wright helpfully reminded me of a few weeks ago, I finally started to understand last week - that to presume I know the desires of my own heart better than My Creator is pretty much just plain arrogant (and wrong).  God in His infinite Wisdom created me (me!) and therefore only He knows my true desires.  Even better, He alone understands how best to fulfil my heart's true desires for His ultimate Glorification (which is basically the best outcome for everyone involved - especially me).

Best of all, God delights in saving me when I stumble and fall (Psalms 37 was Dr. Wright's excellent suggestion for a passage to meditate on), like in this apartment situation where even when I was trying to walk in His steps I still managed to screw it up.  Because I was inadvertently praying that I wanted God to "be on my team", when in reality what I should have been praying is for me to be on HIS team.  And I had forgotten all of these simple Sunday school lessons in the midst of moving and working and feeling exhausted by the end of the day (every day).

So after weeks of trying to faithfully understand if moving was even the "right" decision for me, this is the first tangible evidence I've been blessed to receive.  A dwelling provided for me both in the Lord and in Manhattan is pretty dang amazing.  And to top it all off, I don't normally don't get "Spirit vibes" like some Christians, who can feel the Spirit "move" within them (and situations), but for this particular place, I got some crazy good vibes - Spiritually Good Vibes.

Although I didn't get any "vibes" from my new roommate's initial advertisement, I definitely liked the feel of her from the first response I received - it was quick, friendly, professional, and informative.  I had received this message only a few days after the third housing disappointment I received earlier in the week.  I knew I really wanted to chat with her, so we set up an appointment.

When I was FaceTiming with her I instantly felt a great chemistry and connection - we were talking like friends catching up instead of like what we really were - strangers asking about a room to rent from opposite ends of the country.  Better yet when I thanked her for taking the time to FaceTime me, she told me she had never done something like this before, but she figured why not (or something to that affect).  As soon as she said it, I instantly felt chills - as if I knew the Spirit had directed her to say yes to my inquiry.

However, I had to wait four days to hear back from her - she was showing the room to another person before going away for the weekend.  So with much anxiety and prayer, I finally waited until today when she said I had the room!

Again, I can't begin to describe to you how much this prayer being answered takes an entire weight off my shoulders (that I really shouldn't have had to begin with, since God is always faithful).  But I know that I wanted to write a longer update to let all of you (who have been following me on this journey) know! And to say that, oh yeah, in case you forgot, God always comes in clutch.

In celebration, here's a few more pictures of the view from my new digs: