We are calling on all our intercessors to pray.
Well, we have been in Scotland for two weeks today. So much has already happened! We've bought a car, sorted our customs declaration for our belongings coming by container ship, made innumerable phone calls regarding having moved here, and seen three houses. The last of these items is what we need our prayer warriors to engage Heaven for on our behalf.
Before leaving Canada, we had been looking at many houses online, in preparation for 'hitting the ground running.' One in particular had caught our eye especially, and quickly moved to the top of our list. It was a small farm in Banff, Aberdeenshire, with 7.5 acres, a beautiful house, and numerous outbuildings, which we could envision converting into places to be used for ministry and some side income. I (Karyn) liked the house so much that for the first time I did a search of churches in the area, knowing that finding a church similar to our home church in Canada might prove difficult in Scotland. Amazingly I found one called River Church in Banff, and actually said to Daniel that if we bought that house, I'd already found our new church.
Fast forward a couple of days (still in Canada) and we decided to make an appointment to view the house. The viewing we were able to obtain was the day after we arrived in Scotland. We weren't keen in the timing (Banff being 3 hours away from where we were staying in Edinburgh) but accepted the time slot. We arrived in Scotland on Friday the 9th of September. Once with our friends in their home, one of them suggested she contact a friend in the Banff area and see if we could stay the night. That seemed like a good idea. Her friend couldn't accommodate us, but she contacted a friend, who also wasn't able to house us for the night. She contacted someone else and they said they'd take us - perfect strangers - in. A little overwhelmed at the generosity, we accepted. I spoke with the husband of this family on the phone on that Friday afternoon and thanked him for letting us stay on the Saturday, as there was a church we were interested in visiting the next morning. He asked what the church was, and when I said River Church, he said that this was their congregation. Amazing!
We drove up the next day and saw the house and property and absolutely loved it. It seemed insane to put an offer on the first house we had seen in person, and when we were going to bed that night, I couldn't sleep. Instead, I prayed, and asked God to really show us - give us a sign - if this was the house we were meant to offer on.
We attended the church the next morning and it immediately felt like home. Everyone was welcoming and the worship music and message were anointed. After the service, a gal sitting behind Daniel asked us our story. When we started to tell her about the house we had seen, she asked, "7.5 acres? Bunch of outbuildings? £350,000?" Shocked, we then heard what really felt like the sign for which I was asking. It turns out that after attending a wedding the day before, she had gone home exhausted, and as she was about to turn out her light at 11:03pm, God told her to go shopping for houses. Thankfully, she obediently opened her computer and searched for houses in Banff. About four down the list she saw the farmhouse and immediately felt that it was special - that she would buy it if she was in the market. She actually layed hands on her computer and prayed for whoever would buy this house - that it would be blessed and a blessing.
And then we sat in front of her the next morning at church.
To say we were stunned would be an understatement! After some more conversation she then prayed over us, asking God that the house would be a place of peace and healing and restoration to all who would come there. We hadn't said a word about what we felt God call us to do there, so this felt like more confirmation. We talked with a group of people about all of this until they were closing the church building. In the quiet of our car afterwards, we asked the Lord if this was our sign, and we felt that He said it was.
And just as an added bonus, the wife of the family with whom we had stayed texted me later in the day. Apparently her mother, whom we had briefly met the night before, uncharacteristically said, "I think they should buy that house!" If we didn't have a sign before, that would have clinched it for us.
So, we made an offer on the house the next week. We knew there was a lot of interested, so we offered well over the asking price. We heard last Friday that we didn't get the house. We were outbid by five other people.
Obviously, there were a lot of emotions - grief, confusion, regret that we didn't offer higher when we could have. We weren't quite sure what to make of it. Then on Tuesday of this week I was FaceTiming with a close, prophetic friend, and she encouraged me not to give up on the house, especially after all God had said and done. Rather, we should ask God if we were meant to contend for the house. So we did this - we asked if we were meant to contend for it - and felt that God said yes.
So, we have been contending. We weren't 100% sure what that entailed or how it was different to persisting in prayer, so we very spiritually....did a Google search. The first article I popped open was an article about contending for a house that was under offer to someone else. (The article is here for anyone interested in reading it: https://www.prayerleader.com/contending-in-prayer/)
So, we began to pray. Every chance we've had since Tuesday night, we've prayed for God to give us this house, regardless of the circumstances. I spent the day in the flat yesterday praying. We prayed in the evening together. I had already messaged some people who knew about the house to join us in prayer. But last night as Daniel and I were praying, I felt that I was being too careful regarding whom I asked to pray, too guarded lest God should choose not to move on our behalf in this area and we would look like fools. I know that though I believe God is a God of miracles, there is something of a fear in me that He won't do them for me. So my sending out this email is my stepping out in faith and in boldness, putting everything out on the table as an act of faith and contention for this house. Our house. The house that God will give us to His great glory and fame, since it could not have been won by natural means.
Please, intercessors, pray with us. Contend with us for this house in Banff, Aberdeenshire. We believe God has called us to ask for it. And we are calling on you to stand with us and shift things in the spiritual that will then shift things in the natural. We have boldly asked God to do this in three days.
I will include the link to the house's listing, so those who wish can see it as they pray. If any of you feel God has spoken something to you, we welcome you to pass it along to us by replying to this email address.
And when things have shifted and changed, I promise you'll know straightaway.
Link to the house listing: https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/126589295#/?channel=RES_BUY
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