Bringing Joy To The World By Joy Rendulic
I never wanted to move. My husband Chris, 6 children, and I lived in a beautiful 5-bedroom home in Erie, Pennsylvania on 8 wooded acres with a stream. I loved everything about it. Chris had a great job and our families lived close. Chris’s brother moved to South Carolina and would invite Chris to go down to golf for a week every year. When he returned, he would always say, “It is so beautiful; we need to move there one day.” I wouldn’t pay particular attention to this. Then one day he said, “I really can’t take these winters anymore.” This time I really heard him, but I still didn’t want to leave Pennsylvania and neither did the kids. I prayed, “Lord, what am I supposed to do?” I heard Him loud and clear, “Support your husband!” I remember saying back to God, “Support what?” I asked this because Chris had been looking for a job in South Carolina for a long time but couldn’t find anything. I didn’t hear anything back, so I just said, “Okay, okay, I will support him.” Right after I said this, I sensed a change in perspective that God had provided in all of us. I had been taking all the women’s Bible studies our church offered, and I remember thinking I have to stop them and start clearing my house out if we’re ever going to move. The next one was titled “Fight Back with Joy” and I thought, “I have to take that one!” I’m so glad I did because it had such an impact on my life. One lesson asked what our fears were and said to ask God if we didn’t know. I didn’t know, so I asked God and was blown away when He answered. He immediately said, “You are afraid to move to South Carolina–cleaning your house out, leaving family, and hurricanes! I said, “You’re right; I am!” The next line said to give your fears to God. I kneeled back down and put my hands out and said, “Here you go, take them, they belong to you now; I don’t want them back.” Then it said to do something to show you are facing your fears, so I cleaned a closet out. 64 | M AG A Z I N E N A M E PAGE 3 63
That night Chris showed me more houses and for the first time they were reasonable, and we got excited about the possibilities. Chris decided to buy a business and contacted a commercial realtor and told him his interests. Later the realtor showed him Island Treats Ice Cream Shop in Pawleys Island, South Carolina. Chris reacted angrily and said, “He didn’t even listen to me! This has nothing to do with any of the criteria I listed! Look what he showed me!” I said, “I love it!” He said, “What? You’re not supposed to love it; you’re supposed to support me.” I said, “It’s awesome!” Chris surprised me on Christmas with a picture of the ice cream shop! I asked God where the money was coming from and then I went on the computer and this flashing ad reads, “Sell your 401K to buy a business to retire on.” We prayed together and then agreed that if they allowed me to withdraw it and if it was enough to buy it, then we would conclude God directed this. I called, totally expecting them to give me a hard time and my agent says, “It’s your money you can do whatever you want with it; sounds like a great idea to me.” He told me how much the check would be and it was the exact amount as the asking price! We booked a flight soon after and our college daughter agreed to watch the kids during the rest of her Christmas break. In my mind, we were going to see the ice cream shop and hopefully buy it. The next day when I was reading my Bible the word “house” was everywhere, and I believed God was telling us we’d be getting a house while on this trip too!
