Alaska Part II: Alaska is in the air

If you missed yesterdays post Intro to Alaska I shared a little bit about how Alaska first came into the picture. I ended the post yesterday sharing the story about the house we were SUPPOSED to buy and were even living in, just waiting on closing day. I don't know if I shared this before but way back in the beginning when we were first looking for houses I think Zac and I both knew that we weren't supposed to buy a house (especially after time and time again the door was shut) but our desire for our own place was so strong that it out weighed the leading of the Holy Spirit (not a good thing). We had even discussed after every closed door that maybe the Lord wanted us mobile for some reason, as in able to pick up and go with nothing hindering or tying us down. But, even that did not stop our hunt for a house. Only God's divine hand protected us from that which we could not see. Because even though we were blinded by our desire for a house the Lord knew our hearts, that we truly did want to please Him and be where He had destined us to be.

So after learning the terrible news about the house and hearing that it was not safe to be in, we decided to go to Shelby, NC where Zac's family lives. We had already planned the trip and now it was an escape from this shocking news. When I got up on saturday I found Zac at the computer looking at houses on the internet. He was trying to provide for the family, he was desperate, he knew we needed a place to live and he was tired of renting, he wanted a place of our own. I sat down beside him and out of frustration again (out of no where because we had not even visited the idea since avery was born) said "well, why don't we just move to Alaska". Of course I wasn't serious, I had totally forgotten all the previous confirmations. We had Avery now. God wouldn't want us to move now that we had Avery...right? I'll just be blunt...when I said "lets move to Alaska" to Zac he said "shut up" not in a mean way but in a don't even joke about it way, because his heart longed to go, longed for adventure, longed for some sort of "answer" to everything that had happened. Little did I know but after that moment Zac started asking the Lord to bring 2 or 3 more confirmations if this was something we were to pursue.

We were staying at Zac's sisters at the time, and later in the afternoon when Zac went upstairs to the room we were staying in he bumped into a stand holding a bunch of DVDs and the only one sticking out was a DVD called ALASKA. Ok I admit that could be pushing it a little bit and seem cheesy but when you hear the rest of the story it doesn't seem so cheesy. The next day at church Zac was speaking to his cousin who he hadn't talked to in probably two years. They were just shooting the breeze when out of no where his cousin says "yeah I lost alot of weight when I lived in Alaska". Now remember Zac had prayed for confirmations but had not told anyone he had done so, nor had he mentioned Alaska to anyone. He did not even tell me about praying until we were driving home. As he started sharing with me about what he had prayed and the two encounters he had, a car drives by with ALASKA tags. We were a little shocked to say the least. So, at this point we decided to seriously pray about and consider that the Lord was speaking to us about Alaska. Three days later Zac was moving the rest of the stuff out of the house with my dad when my dad just randomly starts saying "You know Zac, when Melinda and I moved to Alaska we learned how to deal with adversity, and I sense you are going through a lot of adversity". We still had not mentioned Alaska to a single person and Zac was a little taken off guard that my dad brought it up...to him more confirmation. Also as I was praying and seeking direction the Lord led me to read back through my journal. I found two dreams that I had written down each about Alaska. He also lead me to the scripture in Isaiah 45:2-3 in the message bible

"I will go ahead of you clearing and paving the road, I will break down bronze city gates, smash padlocks and kick down barred entrances. I'll lead you to buried treasures, secret caches of valuables. Confirmations that is is in fact I God, the God of Israel who calls you by name."

I was just encouraged by the scripture, but Zac likes to seek out scripture and dig deeper into the meaning. He decided to look up the definition of cache (found in scripture above) at dictionary.com The 3rd meaning said Alaska or Northern Canada. a small shed elevated on poles above the reach of animals and used for storing food, equipment. Now the actual definition is not as significant but the fact that it mentioned Alaska was like a blinking light going off on the page...just plain strange. Now his heart is really stirred and excitement building so he decides to fast and pray. Again during his lunch break he goes to Lowe's and sits in the parking lot, only this time he parks where he cannot see any other cars pulling into the lot. God has a way around things. Although Zac thought he had parked to seclude himself from all other cars, down the hill was the State Employees Credit Union. As he was sitting there praying, reading, and listening for the Lord to speak a white truck pulls into SECU with Alaska tags front and back. COME ON!

So, on July 1st Zac and I went for a walk on the greenway. At this point I knew the Lord was speaking to us about Alaska. I shared with Zac a teaching I had just listened to about destiny and being in the place God has ordained you to be and that being where the abundance flows. It bore witness with me and with him and we decided at that moment that we would actively consider/pursue moving to Alaska. But don't you know doubt and fear will creep in at any given opportunity...yes there's more