Listening to God's Call: How It Saved Us from Hurricane Helene #141

After a whirlwind year filled with challenges and divine interventions, I'm thrilled to share my journey of faith and resilience on this episode of the Milk and Honey podcast. Picture this: a hurricane barreling toward our home and a year-long house hunt filled with doubt and divine nudges. Yet, through it all, my family and I emerged with minimal damage and a new home, thanks to a seamless VA loan process that seemed almost too good to be true. Join me, Lemon Price, as I recount these experiences and reveal how we transformed our trials into blessings. This episode is a heartfelt tribute to the power of preparedness, gratitude, and spiritual alignment.

But that's not all—discover the profound impact of responding to God's whispers, even when they defy logic. From a rapid home purchase to the improved lives of my children, the blessings have been abundant.

I extend a warm invitation to connect further at our upcoming book launch party in San Diego. As you listen, you'll find encouragement to trust in divine promptings and give a wholehearted 'yes' to the callings that come your way. Let's celebrate the journey of spiritual growth and leadership together. See you next Monday for more inspiring stories and insights!

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Chapters

• 0:17 Stepping Into Overflow
• 12:13 Responding to God's Guidance
• 17:38 Embracing God's Promptings

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:17

Hey, I'm Lemon. I am just like you, sister friend. Talk about stepping into that overflow that God has for us by becoming those ultimate Proverbs 31 women. Hey, I'm Lemon. I am just like you, sister friend. I knew God had something more in store for me, but I couldn't see a way out of the laundry piles and, frankly, I resented that. Proverbs 31 woman. How was I going to live up to the hype? That is until I found out how to really step into becoming this Proverbs 31 woman through leadership development. In this podcast you're going to find financial freedom, leadership, growth and motivation so you'll be able to do all the things God has called you to do with ease and really step into that land of milk and honey.

Speaker 1: 0:59

Welcome back to the Milk and Honey podcast. I'm your host, lemon Price, and I'm excited to be here. So, first and foremost, I'm going to tell you that if I sound funny, it's because I have pneumonia. I'm not contagious, I promise. So if anybody from Kingdom Alliance is listening and you're like, oh my gosh, lemon, I'm literally going to see you in a couple of days, don't worry, I'm not contagious, it's just an ongoing cough that I have for a minute. So just bear with me. But I felt like this was really important because, I don't know, we just have a. I've had a weird couple of weeks in like a good way, in like a really beautiful good way.

Speaker 1: 1:37

So I want to talk about obedience and I want to talk about this hurricane that just hit my area. So, if you guys are not from the United States or haven't seen the news, we had a massive hurricane hit Florida, georgia, north Carolina, tennessee, south Carolina, and nobody in our area was necessarily prepared for this hurricane. The hurricane was supposed to originally, it was supposed to turn in the Gulf and it wasn't supposed to hit our area. It was supposed to hit more North Georgia, not South Georgia, and it was supposed to be a category one. We were preparing for a tropical storm and ended up being a category four Big storm. It sounded like a tornado blowing through our house and I'm going to talk about this in a little bit. Thank God, we had very minimal damage to our home. We got power back on Sunday. They told us it wouldn't be until the 3rd of October and we got it back on Sunday. Thank God for that. But I want to talk about this house, this hurricane and obedience, and I know that probably sounds like really crazy and I really want to be sensitive too, because I understand that we got very lucky and I'm going to talk about that too. But I recognize like we have friends who live in Western North Carolina who are devastated right now. I have friends who have lost everything, and Glenn and I know a lot of people who've lost a lot in this storm. I don't want anybody to feel like I'm being insensitive toward that, but I also have a responsibility to give God the glory in the situation that he just brought us through. So let me backtrack this story, because this story is like a year in the making.

Speaker 1: 3:19

So last summer I, glenn and I were, we were traveling. We love, we're beach people, but we also really love the mountains, and so we contemplated buying a house up in the mountains. You know, got a pre-approval. We were literally up there for just like we can get away when our pre-approval came in and I was literally sitting poolside up at the mountains and got this pre-approval letter and that was, you know, summer of 2023. So we went. We looked at a couple houses. We found one that we were like you know, this house is fine, it's, you know, it's big enough. It had a beautiful mountain view. When you stepped out onto the porch you could directly see the mountains. Like it was beautiful, and so we were ready to put an offer in, like we had. We were on the phone. Something in both of our spirit was, like this isn't the house. Like, do not do this. So we still had this pre-approval letter and we couldn't find anything that we were in love with. So we let our pre-approval letter expire. We kept looking and I'm just not seeing something.

Speaker 1: 4:18

For me, summer rolls around again, which is the best time to buy, right, if you're a parent like you want to move during the summer so that way you're not disrupting school. And end of summer rolls around and in Georgia kids go back to school August 1st it was like mid-July, and Glenn and I were talking about it. We're like, okay, if it's too late for us to buy a house now, why don't we just wait until January and February? Rates are going to go down anyway. Let's just wait till January or February and then we'll go. There should be more on the market. You know all those kind of things. And we were both in agreement, like we were good, we were fine.

Speaker 1: 4:57

And then the last Friday in July. I wake up and I'm like I'm supposed to text our mortgage lender this morning and he was like okay, it was like the kids literally go back to school on Tuesday. I'm like I know, but I'm supposed to text our mortgage lender today. And he was like okay, so I text her, shout out to Ivy, text her at 7.30 in the morning on a Friday. And I was like how do you feel about us buying a house again right now? And she was like, okay, you know, just send me updated pay stubs and tax return, whatever you know all the things you have to do to buy a house. And so I sent them over and a couple hours later she was like okay, like how much you guys want to spend on a house? And I was like, oh my gosh, we haven't even looked. I actually have no idea. Let's like check out the area Glenworks near Savannah.

Speaker 1: 5:49

We go to church near Savannah, and so we were driving like 45 minutes to an hour every day to work in church and I was like this is crazy. So I'm like we, you know, we want to be closer. We don't want an HOA. Like you know, there are certain things we wanted. I personally wanted to be on the ocean, but that just did not happen for me, which is fine, and so, anyway, we're like, let's just, you know, start perusing. And so we start looking and find something that we're like, you know, we settled on like a radius, and so we text our real estate agent. And this is how, you know, we live in a small town. Our real estate agent was also the kid's bus driver, and that's a whole other story about just what a blessing that man is. So we text him. We're like, hey, we're good to go.

Speaker 1: 6:34

Ivy emailed our pre-approval and I, like our mortgage lender that we use because they're like a small local thing and they don't farm out your loan after you close they do all of their underwriting up front. So, like between Friday and like Monday, we had gone through all of underwriting, like it was done. Everything was like good to go. So like minus, like inspection and stuff like that, like our loan documents were done. We talked to a real estate agent and you know, we found a couple of things. There was only two houses that we were actually like interested in looking at, both in great areas, fantastic schools, the whole kit and caboodle, and that was the other thing too. We're like, okay, this is like a little bit stressful because schools already started. Now, like school started, so if we're going to make this move like, we have to do it like right now.

Speaker 1: 7:22

And so we found we found a house, the first house we saw. I know it sounds so crazy. Of course we didn't tell them that we love this house, but we went and looked at the other one and hated it. It was awful, I hated it. Everything about it I hated. We sat in the second house that we saw and mapped out what our offer was going to be called. This agent said we were putting in a verbal whatever. So that was on a Wednesday, thursday. We signed the official like offer letter and that was at 9am and by one o'clock in the afternoon our real estate agent had called and said Congratulations, you guys are. You know they accepted. And so by Friday morning we were under contract and then we closed three weeks later, which is completely unheard of, if anybody has ever used one of these, like we.

Speaker 1: 8:08

Glenn was in the military, so we used a VA loan and usually there's a lot of requirements, there's a lot of things that kind of have to happen. They're really picky about certain things on the house and the inspection and all those kinds of things. We most VA loans it's more like 45 to 60 days that you're closing on and the seller and I know her because we live in a small town she didn't want to work with anybody who had a VA loan or like a USDA or anything like that, and because we had done underwriting upfront and all these beautiful things, she was like, okay, I'm actually fine with it because I know this loan is going to fund. And so we were like, okay, great, so we ended up closing within three weeks. It was so fast. We weren't supposed to close until after Labor Day and things just kept getting moved, which was great for us. We had a bunch of people here for the actual Labor Day. It was wonderful. And so you're like, okay, what does that have to do with obedience and this hurricane and all those things we have? Now only, it's only been a month, right, labor Day weekend was only a month ago and we have not been here that long.

Speaker 1: 9:14

And so this hurricane hit and it was a devastating hurricane, absolutely devastating. We lost power, you know, like I said, like for days we had no power and everything. And so thankfully we have a pickup truck and cell service was down. We have Verizon and I'm sure a lot of you last week remember Verizon was down nationally, but Verizon was down for us days before it was down for everybody else. There was no cell phone reception either in our area.

Speaker 1: 9:43

So we were like, okay, we are going to drive around and check on our friends. And so we did. We were able to drive around, check on a lot of people, make sure people were okay, and we drove by our old house and so thankfully nobody had moved into our old house. Our landlord hadn't even been over there yet. We drove by to check on them and check on our old neighbors and the devastation that I saw. I was in complete tears. It was the most heartbreaking thing I've ever seen.

Speaker 1: 10:14

Our house that we lived in, a tree landed on the roof and one went through a couple of windows. If we'd still been there we would have lost everything. The house is completely uninhabitable now. We wouldn't have a home. Our neighbor on the other side thankfully they had already moved out and they actually only live like next door. They ended up buying a house next door to where they were living. Nobody had moved into their old house either. A tree went and split their house in half. It landed on the roof and just completely went through the dead center of this house Our neighbors on the other side of us. Thankfully they had left in time, but a tree took off a whole bedroom of the house and so one whole side of the house was gone and Glenn and I were looking at where we parked our vehicles and everything like trees were down and like 150-year-old oaks were down where our cars would have been. We would have lost our house. We would have lost our vehicles. One neighbor lost their home. The other two neighbors would have lost our house. We would have lost our vehicles. One neighbor lost their home, the other two neighbors we have in that neighborhood. There was damage but it was livable.

Speaker 1: 11:16

When Glenn and I left it was so hard to watch the amount of tears I shed and just the gratitude I had for God there was such protection and I was talking to my friend Debbie. She's been on the podcast and we were just talking about it. I'm like because it didn't make sense for me to text my mortgage lender when I did. It just didn't. We weren't, glenn and I were not prepared to buy Like we just we were not. I mean we had done you know, like we were okay, mean we had done you know, finding like we were okay, but we weren't planning on doing that until January or February, with the idea that if we bought something in February we'd probably close like March or April and then the kids get out of school in May. So we were like we can make this slow move and all these things like that was like our earthly plan as a unit. That was our earthly plan as a unit. That was our plan. And then it was.

Speaker 1: 12:13

I mean, very obviously it was God telling me to reach out to that mortgage lender and everything moved so fast. The attorney when we closed because you need an attorney to close here in Georgia and all three real estate agents because the seller had two, it was a team. All three real estate agents, because the seller had two, it was a team. All three of them said they've never seen a home close this fast with a VA loan, that a lot of the times they get pushed back because something doesn't meet this regulation and there's all kinds of things. We're just so insanely fortunate and looking around I'm like, oh my gosh like God really spared us from this situation. And so it's not just this is my encouragement, this is not to come in here and brag about what God has done, but it's like twofold when I think about this situation.

Speaker 1: 13:07

First of all, I had to be I had to be in tune with the spirit. I had to know that it was God telling me to reach out to that mortgage lender, because it did not make logical sense for me to do that. None of that made sense. I'll tell you too. It's the funniest thing. It's always okay, you're conditionally approved. And of course, I so nervous, you know, I like didn't sleep when they said that. And they were like oh, you know, it's a conditional approval. And they were like we'll call you the next day. I didn't sleep, I was so nervous. I'm like I don't know what, if there's some weird secret debt I don't know about or I don't know who knows.

Speaker 1: 13:42

And she called to verify that Glenn is a junior and not a senior, and not one senior, that was it. She was like I just need to confirm that he's a junior, not a senior. And like the house that his parents own in texas is not his house. And I'm like, yeah, that's it, that was it. It was so fast and you could tell the lord was really on it. And I'm sitting here thinking about this.

Speaker 1: 14:04

I had to be in tune with the spirit. I didn't know that it was god, but then I had to respond, even though it didn't make any sense. Moving did not make any sense for us and we moved so quick, like it wasn't weird for the kids starting new school. They're in a better situation, they're happy, they have friends Like they're hanging out with their buddies all the time. They're so much happier academically, they're doing better at the school which is crazy because it's only been a month. But I say all that to say we really have been so fortunate. That's my encouragement for you. Like I need you to be so in tune with the spirit. I need you to know it's God, but then respond. Respond even when it doesn't make sense. Respond when you're like there's no way this could work out unless it's the Lord. I need you to respond because I was sitting here and I was looking at this house that was destroyed. I've never even thought to get renter's insurance, which is probably bad, obviously. So if you're renting, get renter's insurance.

Speaker 1: 15:02

I didn't so, glenn and I literally would have lost everything. We would have absolutely nothing and we would have no home to go to. If I hadn't responded, if I hadn't texted the lender, if I didn't have all my ducks in a row, if I wasn't organized and had the documents that the mortgage lender needed and all those things, then we wouldn't be here. We wouldn't be here. And so that's my encouragement for you is to listen and respond, because my obedience is the reason my family is safe. My obedience is a reason like we're okay and we have a roof over our head and our home is safe. If I hadn't, if I had blown it off, if I had thought to myself you know what that's crazy, I'm not doing that we would have lost everything. Crazy I'm not doing that.

Speaker 1: 15:50

We would have lost everything is to not only listen to the Lord, but then respond the way that he's asking you to respond, even when it doesn't make sense. I want to encourage you to respond to what he has for you, because all I could tell you from this experience is the Lord really does go before us and he knows what's best for us. The Lord really is looking out for you specifically and he knows what's best for us. The Lord really is looking out for you specifically and he knows exactly what you need if you are willing and able to listen to what he has for you. Again, I'm just praying for everybody who still doesn't have power and have the resources, the people who've lost loved ones like I'm praying for them. But also I have to give so much glory and gratitude back to the Lord because of my ability to respond, and this is not because I did it out of my own strength, but because I was willing to be humble enough to hear and then obey him.

Speaker 1: 16:41

And now I have this story to share. And now I can tell you I don't think I will ever be. I mean, I can't say that I'll ever be in a place where I'm like is that really the dog? Is that him you know? Like where I'm like questioning? But I'll tell you I will respond a lot faster. I promise I will respond a lot faster. That's just the encouragement that I have for you this week is to listen and respond, even when it doesn't make sense, my friend. So that's it. That's what I have for you.

Speaker 1: 17:12

Be ready, because the next couple of weeks are going to be jam-packed. I'm leaving for California on Thursday. If you want to come to San Diego, shoot me a message on Instagram because I'm having a party for the book launch. Yeah, you're welcome to come and I would love to meet you in person. So if you're in the area, shoot me a message. I'll send you the details. There's a lot of like really exciting announcements and speakers and fun things. I have planned for the podcast for the rest of the year.

Speaker 1: 17:38

This is the last kind of like very chill week that I have for the rest of the year, but I'm so excited, I'm so grateful and I just want to encourage you listen and then respond.

Speaker 1: 17:50

Grateful, and I just want to encourage you listen and then respond.

Speaker 1: 17:53

So if there's something the Lord is asking you to do and you're like this doesn't make sense, I want to encourage you to go do it this week, Finish the episode, leave a review on Apple if you haven't done that already and then go and do it.

Speaker 1: 18:05

Go and respond with your whole heart and give God your yes, like your full yes, a full trust that he is going before you and that he is doing things and he is prompting you because it's in your best interest, and I promise he will glorify himself in that process when you listen and respond. So I love you and I will see you all next week. Bye, friend, to their purpose and calling. Also, if you could spare a moment to leave a review, it would mean the world to me. I really appreciate your feedback and it really helps our community grow. Remember, the road to discovering God's call for you isn't one you have to walk alone. So join me again next Monday for another episode where we'll continue to explore the depths of leadership and the heights of our heavenly calling. Until then, keep seeking, keep growing and keep trusting in his plan.