The Green House
by Sharon Chatwell

The house was green. There was no denying that. It had three bedrooms and a two-car garage with a short driveway leading to a major street. It also had a big, fenced backyard, but most of all it was green.

My husband, Rick, was just finishing up his internal medicine residency in Dallas, and we were looking for housing in Rochester, Minnesota where he had been accepted into the rheumatology fellowship program at the Mayo Clinic. Despite the fact we had never lived outside the borders of our native state of Texas, we were determined to face the idea of living in sub-zero temperatures and lots of snow.

There was just one thing. We needed a house. Our family had grown during residency, and with two active little boys, we knew we needed to rent a house with a big backyard where they could play outside a lot.

Rick was nervous. The housing market in Rochester was tight, meaning that we would have to wait until just a few months before moving there to find a place. And since Rick was busy finishing up his residency, we couldn’t get away more than once to look at what was available. The responsibility of finding suitable housing for our family began to weigh heavily on his shoulders.

“Honey,” I told him, “God brought us this opportunity in Minnesota. He knows we are going there, so He knows we will need a place to live. He will provide just the right place for us in Rochester.”

This was a stretch for Rick. Newly baptized as a believer in Christ, the idea of applying faith to this sort of situation was a new one to him. But he decided to trust that God could do this for us. We prayed together that God would provide just the right place for us to live while we were in Rochester. We turned it over to God to handle. In the weeks that followed whenever we were tempted to worry about where we would live, we would say to each other, “God will provide a place for us there.”

We then made every effort to be prepared for our house hunting trip. First, we sat down and did a lot of talking. We decided on a price range that would work in our budget. Then we came up with a short list of things we felt were necessary for our new home. Those things included that it have two or more bedrooms; that it have an attached two-car garage; that it be on a major street (or snow route, as they’re known in Rochester); and that it have a fenced backyard.

During the process of making our wish list for the house, Rick asked our son, Christopher, what kind of house he thought we should get. Chris was three at the time and, as the elder of our two sons, was the only one old enough to give an opinion. He thought about it for a moment and then answered very seriously “A green one.”

Rick added a last “requirement” to our list: Green.

A few weeks later we were in Rochester. The housing market being what it was, there were only three or four houses in the whole town that fit in our price range and had the actual number of bedrooms we needed, plus a two-car garage. We looked at the first few and were disappointed to see they would not work for us. As we pulled into the driveway of the last house available, we realized God had answered our prayers. It had three bedrooms, a huge, fenced yard, a two-car garage and sat on a major snow route. Beyond all of that…it was green!

To Rick, who had believed in faith, it was nothing less than a miracle. It was the only house in town that would have worked for us, and it was green! It was a sign from heaven that not only was this the house for us, but God had heard our prayers and provided for our needs.

Over the years since, I have watched my husband grow into a man of deep and abiding faith in God. What was then taken as a major step of faith for him, would now be done as a matter of course. I have watched in awe as I have seen what God has done, not only in the life of my husband, but in my life as well.

Encourage your spouse to believe: to trust in God for the simple things as well as for the sublime. The seed you sow will bear fruit.

It has been many years since then. We live in a different town now (one without so much ice and snow). The house we live in now was provided for us even more miraculously than the one in Rochester, and believe it or not…the house is green.

Dear readers,

My husband and I are making plans for a quieter and somewhat slower future together; as a result, this will be my last article for On the Side. It has been my great pleasure (and an even greater blessing) to write to you so often, over so many years. I appreciate the opportunity you have afforded me to do so.

Several years ago, I wrote this article for one of the first Side By Side e-newsletters sponsored by CMDA. It is about God’s provision for our lives. I wanted to share it with you again this month, as I find that it is as true today as it was back then.

Recently, we have been searching for some new partners for my husband’s practice, which has been harder than it sounds. Evidently, not everyone wants to be a Rheumatologist in Nebraska. So far, there have been numerous interviews with new doctors and frustratingly few answers to our prayers.

Until today, that is. Today we have had two doctors contact us at virtually the same time and say they are planning on making decisions in early November. They also say their hearts are both leaning towards coming here. Amen! Evidently, God still provides.

May God continue to bless each and every one of you,

Sharon