Over Memorial Day weekend we held the biggest garage sale of our lives, and I confess – I am not a garage sale person. We have never lived in one home as long as we have in Texas, so every closet was full. We have never lived in such a big house as we have in Texas, so each kid had their own room full of stuff too. As we sorted and sorted and sorted, a verse kept running through my head:

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us…”
Hebrews 12:1

Kent prayed that our garage sale would be a ministry opportunity. I was doubtful. My hopes aimed much lower. I hoped someone would show. I had never conceived of a garage sale that ministered to anyone.

But God had good plans. He not only sent us buyers for hundreds of dollars, but so much more! We had so many neighbors we had never met come by to shop and wish us well. We had a passerby named Samaria stop to shop the first day. She had never seen homeschool books, and asked if she could interview our kids about their homeschool experience.

We answered her questions and talked while others milled around. Suddenly, Samaria felt convicted that she had condemned her sister in Georgia for homeschooling her nephew. She stopped there in our driveway with tears in her eyes to apologize and reconcile over the phone. They hadn’t spoken in weeks and the rift began to heal!

The next day a retired Army chaplain and his lovely family gave us extra cash after buying books & baskets. They stopped in the middle of the driveway to circle our family up and pray over us and our work. It was beautiful. And not like any garage sale I have ever been to!

I had posted some extra drum heads from Joel’s drum set online for sale and had another miraculous conversation I describe here. God provided all the buyers we needed!

Our calling involves moving internationally, and moving internationally requires traveling as light as we can. In order to run the race marked out for us (in Africa), we will cast aside all that hinders. All this stuff will slow us down. We need to run with perseverance.

It can be painful and difficult to let of meaningful belongings. Following Christ in obedience is worth the price, trading temporary comforts for eternal ones. Pray we can wrap up the sorting and selling well, ready to run our race!