Several years ago, I wrote a couple blog posts about a story
in the Bible about the prophet Jeremiah buying a field. You can find those posts here and here God
spoke to me in that season about a promise He was going to fulfill in our
lives, but I wasn’t going to fully understand or see the fulfillment of that
promise without first offering a sacrifice.
Long story short, this promise was about our future as a
family. At the time, we were trying to
get pregnant with our first child (we had actually miscarried our first
pregnancy and were trying for a second pregnancy). When we finally did become pregnant, we were
asked by some friends what our baby names were.
Natalie if the baby was a girl, and Leeland if a boy. We already knew Natalie means “born on
Christmas day” and were shocked to discover Leeland means “land; open pasture;
field.”
Well, when we had Natalie, we were sure we’d have at least
one more baby… our Leeland.
When we became pregnant a second time, we decided not to
find out the gender, to the chagrin of many friends and family!
Out came… Eloise.
I’ll be honest… two babies two and under threw me for a
loop, and I wasn’t sure for a long time whether or not I wanted to try for a
third.
I’ll be even more honest here… my main concern was whether
or not we could fit three children in our vehicle. What a silly reason! Jordan eased that fear right away by telling
me we could just spend a couple hundred dollars on the right car seats that would fit, rather than buy a whole new
vehicle! Brilliant! And certainly not a reason to stand in the
way of God’s promises!
After Ellie turned 1, we knew it was time to try for a
third, in God’s perfect timing.
On October 13th, 2018, I went to church with a
broken heart. I had gotten my cycle and
was so disappointed we weren’t pregnant yet.
God really ministered to my heart that night. He has perfect timing… He sees me. He has a promise to fulfill.
Exactly one month later, on November 13th, I
found out I was pregnant! I love how God uses numbers in my life. It’s like it’s His way of saying, “there are
no coincidences… I have control of every detail. Wink wink.”
A couple weeks before our ultrasound to find out the baby’s
gender, we were singing worship in church, and I noticed the projection
screen. The images were all of aerial
shots of FIELDS! And we were singing a
song that’s been recorded by the Christian band… you guessed it… LEELAND. I leaned over to my friend next to me who
knows our story well, and she immediately knew what I was thinking. This new baby inside of me was our boy… our Leeland.
On July 22nd, 2019, our beautiful son Leeland
Chase was born. Our promise fulfilled.
But there’s more to this story!
Since about January of this year, Jordan and I decided to
pursue finding an investment rental property in Alaska. Jordan took on most of the work, as I
supported him and helped make decisions when he needed my input.
When June came around and he still hadn’t found a property,
he began to feel a bit discouraged. On
our way to a church leader’s meeting, he expressed his doubts and felt maybe
God’s timing was further out than what we thought for this property. Little did we know, our meeting that night
was going to give us the opportunity to sit with close friends and share our
hearts about this topic and pray for each other.
That week, Jordan and our realtor found a property he was
ready to pursue! We did look quite a bit
into it, and even put in an offer, but ultimately, backed out of that
particular property for several reasons.
However, just about a day or
two later, Jordan found a duplex hidden away in a town outside of Anchorage
where our close friends and property managers live. And here we are now, new owners of this
duplex in Wasilla, AK. We officially
closed on the property in mid-August.
Now, remember what I told you about Leeland’s name meaning
“field,” and the prophecy the Lord gave us about “buying a field”?
The week we closed on the property, our friend texted us
this message:
“Hello friends J
So I’ve been thinking about something and wanted to share a thought with you
that’s kind of been marinating in my heart as I pray for you guys. So I’m remembering the word that the Lord
gave Amy for Leeland so many years ago ;) Part of the promise was found in
scripture and the Lord’s encouragement to Jeremiah to go and buy a field. So as I’ve been praying for you and the
property you just purchased, I could not help but connect the fact that
Leeland is now here in your arms and you have purchased a field. Well, maybe not a field but do you see what
I’m saying?!? Do you see how God is
leading your hearts?! God is so good and He is so faithful! And I love watching you two do life!”
HOW had we not put this
together ourselves?! Maybe because we did just have a baby and
have been in a bit of a fog…
But her message gave us CHILLS.
Our Leeland’s arrival at the same time we purchase a
property in Alaska…
God told Jeremiah to buy a field in the land He was about to
exile the Israelites from, as a sign of His promise that He would one day bring
them back to that land.
And maybe this is a stretch (please sense my humor), I have
always felt a little “exiled” from Alaska when the Air Force moved us
away. But now we have purchased our
“field” as a sign of God’s promise and the dreams in our hearts to one day
return to the “promised land” of our dreams!
It’s been hard for me to get this story put into words… and
because of that, I’ve hesitated to share it at all. I get that this all may seem way out in left field (whoops! No pun
intended J),
and it may seem like I’m really reaching for something here, but I can’t deny
the goodness and the glory of the Lord God.
And you certainly can’t deny my son who is snuggled in his
swing snoozing away, or the keys in our hands for this new property.
“I would have lost heart had I not believed I would see the
goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” –Psalm 27:13
Amen!
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| Our new rental property in Wasilla, AK! |
