"How I Became a Protestant Nun" - to now

The third and final installment of my review:

"And we needed women to move into the house. I was the first woman to move in after the transition, and Leah made two. But we needed eight women, and it is hard to disciple women if no one is living in the ministry house. So began what has been a five month test of faith as we struggled to pay bills, find women to live in the house, convince the investor to continue his support and ultimately to trust the Lord to provide the means and women to fill the house if it was his desire for this ministry to continue. I cannot deny that there were times when we were faced with the possibility that Maison de la Vie might close. Brittney was the first woman to move in, and then came Addy. And there were four of us. Not long after came Lindsey, who works at the Jefferson Street Baptist Center. Until a couple of weeks ago there were five of us.

Here too came a lesson of love, faith and patience. Here were five women who (except for Brittney and me) had never met before we moved in together and covenanted together to be a family to one another in Christ. Familial intimacy does not happen immediately or by chance, especially amongst total strangers. And in a house the size of Maison de la Vie, it can be so easy for people to share the same space and never see each other. Thus there was quite a bit naturally working against the formation of strong relationships. But God intervened here as well and answered the prayers of many people. At some point this fall, the barrier among all of us seemed to crumble and love and trust have filled the gap. If this all happened because we were sick together or mere coincidentally with our illnesses, it is clear to me that something changed at that time; and I am convinced that the Lord uses many means to accomplish his purposes and answer the prayers of his people.

But a house with a large mortgage and room for eight to ten women will not survive long if only populated by five women. And so we continued to pray for more women to move. And once again, the Lord has answered prayer. Jamaica moved into the house the week before Christmas; this itself was so very good. But God will continually work to boggle my mind. For the Sunday before Christmas, Ryan announced in church that the house is looking for more residents, and immediately after the service, Neil came up to me and told that one of his co-workers was looking for a place to live. I told him that to have her call me. That very afternoon, Courtney did call, and we set a meeting for the next day. We met up at Taco Bell and talked about the house and started to get to know each other's stories. By the time we parted, Courtney seemed very excited about the house, but wanted to take some time to think and pray. A couple of hours later she called with her decision to move into the house. By that Sunday, she was moving in.

I must confess that while I knew we needed and did pray for more women, I was somewhat anxious about the change this would bring in the house dynamics as we all would have to repeat the process of learning to love total strangers. And once again I have been shown how futile it is to worry, for God has already been working in our relationships. Evidence of grace abounds everywhere I look as I witness all of us encouraging one another and being encouraged and getting to know each other (not that things have been perfectly smooth. Put seven sinners in one house together, and there will be problems, and there are kinks to be worked out as we figure out how to function as a house. But overall, the good far outweighs the bad. And this too is a test of patience and grace toward one another.)

The Lord's crazy providence was demonstrated in one more way this week [New Year's week]. When Courtney moved in, we did not have a mattress for her. We have several beds, but no mattresses. And I really had no idea where we were going to find one – not that I doubted we would. Courtney moved in on Sunday, and on Monday, out of the blue, Adam sent me a message on facebook, asking if we still needed a mattress. Absolutely yes!

So that brings me to today, the first day of Anno Domini 2009, where I cannot but praise my God in Christ that He truly is faithful and loving far beyond what I or anyone else deserved, and He works in so many ways to do his people good, eliciting praise from their lips. Is life easy, smooth and pleasant? Oftentimes no. As I think on the stories of each woman at Maison de la Vie, there is much pain and brokenness. But we are a broken people praying to the God who has known has known what it means to be broken, and we know he is not distant. And as I look back on 2008, I can only see the miraculous providence of God everywhere, both in the joy and in the striving."