Moments with Meryl
by Meryl Langley

What a lot has happened since my last "Moment." At that time, I recall, we were in the process of selling our home and buying another, larger one. It would be our new Fellowship home.

Immediately before our Fall Conference, we had a buyer for our home at 46 Obelisk and they did not have to sell their home before purchasing ours. This was wonderful news! All we had to do now was find the home God had earmarked for us. After the conference, our friend Page came to stay with us for four days, during which time we believed we would find our new home.

Time was spent scouring the newspapers, visiting realtors, discussing details, viewing houses that were for sale and driving around various areas of our town. On the third day, I happened to point out a brand new housing development, not very far from our current home. We went to investigate and loved what we saw. There was one home in particular that really appealed to us as we peeked in the windows from outside. It had ample car parking too for our local fellowship folks. Unfortunately, it was marked "reserved," meaning some-one had secured this property by paying a deposit.

Once inside the sales office we enquired about the availability of the type of house we needed and were told that there was one due for completion by the end of November and only last weekend it had been put back on the market again. Yes, you’ve probably guessed, it was the one we liked with the reserved notice. We immediately said we would buy it. God had literally reserved this house for us, we were convinced. Then when we heard the name of our new street and the name of the approach road, Page and I just looked at each other, totally amazed. Page once lived at Northampton Drive, Jackson, Mississippi and our new address was to be Jackson Close, Northampton. The approach road was to be Dixon Drive, and Page’s eldest grandchild is called Dixon. To us, this was simply God’s seal of approval. What a miracle.

At our local fellowship meeting, the next day, we all went to see our new home. Everyone loved it.

We had lived at 46 Obelisk Rise for almost 28 years, since Jim and I married. It seemed really strange to think this would not be home for much longer, yet as the next few weeks passed, it all just seemed so right. Much had happened in our family over the last year and we were very excited about what God had done and, indeed, was continuing to do.

Having had no experience of moving home, I felt somewhat daunted. During Summer Camp at Blowing Rock, I had spoken to Ginny Mansoor about this and she said, "Meryl, you just pack one box at a time, trusting Christ, as you, to complete it all. That is exactly what happened. I thought of Ginny often and trusted Jesus Christ to complete all that needed to be done-and He did.

Friday 26 November was the actual day of the move and this coincided with our fellowship weekend. We had lots of help from our fellowship; everything simply fell into place and went very smoothly. Locking Obelisk Rise and driving away, I felt no emotion whatsoever-strange because I remember really crying when I left the bedsit-the place where God in His amazing grace had dealt with me.

By 4:30 p.m. we had completed everything that was essential and were headed towards London. We were going to see one of the latest West End musicals. Can you believe it? We had a wonderful evening and when we arrived home about 1:20 a.m. the birds were singing the loudest chorus you ever heard. I could hardly get to sleep. I am convinced they were just praising God for 11 Jackson Close, Northampton.

The whole fellowship weekend was wonderful and as I sat looking out of the window, pondering the events of the last few weeks, everything gave evidence to the fact that from day one, this was indeed, home-God’s home.