WHERE MOUNTAINS SING

“And my God shall provide all your needs according to His riches in Glory by Christ Jesus.” Phil. 4:19

Wow, this verse says a lot. God will meet my needs all of them according to His great riches in Glory. Do you know what His great riches in Glory are? I don’t. I can’t imagine, but He owns the cattle on a thousand, million, trillion hills. He created Heaven and Earth. How big is Heaven? I can’t imagine. The glorious sunsets are but a taste of the wondrous beauty we’ll see in Heaven. Why in Heaven gold is so plentiful they use it for pavement! His riches are far beyond anything I can see or imagine.

Have you ever had Him meet a need before you asked? Or prepared the way before you had the need? Oh yes I have, every time we’ve moved. But the best story is about the time we moved from Montana to North Dakota.

God had provided a nice little farm house 11 miles south of Chinook when John took a job with Sanjel working on gas wells. With the nearest neighbor being a mile away, the place was almost perfect for us, over a half a mile from the highway, nestled in some trees with lots of pheasants running around the crop fields. The house had come open just when we needed it and we knew it was His provision. We loved the small, friendly town of Chinook and we fit into the Alliance church very well.

However, after two years Sanjel laid off all employees in the area and John wasted no time in going to the North Dakota oil fields to get a job driving truck with MBI. So it looked like we were moving to North Dakota. Not my destination of choice!

Leave Montana where I had lived for nearly 30 years? Leave the cozy house and nice farm where I had room to roam? Leave our little church where I had friends? Leave my dear friend who was dying of cancer right when it seemed she needed me most? No leaving Chinook was not in my plans.

“A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.” Proverbs 16:1

So John and I sat down and made our plans. We came up with a list of requirements for the place we would look for in North Dakota. We agreed, since we were renting such a nice place in Chinook, that we would not move bag and baggage until we found just the right place.

My List of requirements:

1. Secluded and Remote
2. Nearest neighbor at least a half a mile away
3. At least a half a mile from any road with traffic (more than two cars a day)
4. Room to roam. Lots of walking space, acres and acres to run my dogs, preferably from the house.
5. Fenced yard or able to build a fence
6. Some grassland, not all farm ground
7. Good water
8. Preferably able to hunt
9. Lots of game birds
10. Preferably a pasture for horses

John’s list:

1. A heated shop
2. In his price range

I was pretty solid on the first 5 requirements, the rest were negotiable. The house? Didn’t matter so much. I suppose there needed to be a house.

John had been in North Dakota a month working in the oil patch, when I first drove over with the dogs. When I arrived at the campground where John had our camper, he started telling me about houses in town he had found, and that he hadn’t been able to find any place out of town that wasn’t snatched up quickly. John then proceeded to show me houses in Beach and Wibaux that were for sale fairly cheap. My heart clenched and my stomach rolled. What happened to our list? I asked. He countered that maybe I was being a bit stubborn and needed to compromise.

Compromise! I thought I was compromising by moving to North Dakota! Where I always said I would NEVER live! However, for the sake of John’s job I was willing to leave Chinook, leave my cozy house, leave my friends, to live on the North Dakota prairie, but I needed my space. Ok, that’s compromise. Wouldn’t you say?

He said these were small towns, couldn’t I put up with living in a small town? No! I said. A town is a town.

When I saw the badlands, rolling hills and buttes, I felt better. I never knew such beauty and wonder could be in North Dakota. But living in town! No way! Not an option! If a neighbor can see me in my own yard then they’re too close. And I thought that’s what John also wanted. After all he had agreed to “the list”. Evidently I was wrong.

For the first time in our married life there was terrible friction between us. We did not agree on a very important issue. The air was thick and tense in the pickup that day. I was very close to tears.

His idea was to rent or buy a place in town then take our time and look for a place out of town. I didn’t like the idea of moving twice and I know how such things go. They usually don’t.

The next day was a bit better as it seemed John had resigned to the fact that I had compromised all I was going to and was not going to live in town. A realtor showed us properties for sale near Wibaux, in Montana no less, but with the cost of developing, they were out of our price range. We also looked at a few houses but none met the requirements or fit the budget.

The next day John went to work and rain had me and the dogs captured in the camper, so I opened my Bible.

“Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near.” I read in Isaiah 55:6

That punched home. “Have I not been seeking You, Lord? Haven’t I been calling on You for help in finding a place to live.”

“My thoughts,” God said through His Word, “are not your thoughts. My ways are not your ways. My ways and My thoughts are far above yours, yet you seek to do it your way.”

Okay maybe I had been a bit stubborn, as John said. Maybe I was a bit demanding with the list, but was it wrong to look for a place we liked?

“You forget, Child, I take care of you always. I do nothing in vain. That with a word I will do what I please and it always prospers. I always work for your good.” (from Is. 55:8-9)

Oh no I hadn’t forgotten. “I know Lord that you take care of my needs. You always provide. But what about my wants? Will you take care of my desires as well?”

“Oh you of little faith!” The words seemed to echo in my mind and through the small camper. I even checked to see if the dogs had heard.

“For you shall go out with joy! And be led out in peace. The mountains and hills shall break forth into singing and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.”

“Sure, Lord, mountains in North Dakota! And trees? All I saw yesterday was wide open prairie.”

“Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree. This I will do for you in My name.” (Isaiah 55:12-13)

So I had my doubts about trees and mountains in North Dakota, but I had also doubted His provision. I had forgotten that He knows what I need and what I want. He always takes care of me, this I know. He has never yet left me stranded in the desert. Even though I may feed along the road and in the desolate heights, I never have hungered or thirsted. Yes I forgot. He loves me beyond my understanding and He will never leave me alone in the desert heat. He will lead me. He will even lead me beside springs of water where I long to be. (from Isaiah 49:9-10)

“Oh Lord forgive me for my unbelief, for my stubbornness and my strong will. Lead us in the way You want us to go. To the place You have for us. I will not strive any longer but will leave it in Your capable hands.”

That afternoon, with my dogs, I took a walk on the National Grasslands near the campground and I was amazed at the vibrant red and gold of the rolling hills. The next day I drove out in the badlands and the gorgeous beauty took my breath away. As the dogs and I walked amongst mini mountains, pointy hills and crazy shaped formations, it seemed they broke out singing all around us.

That night I had a little talk with John and it came out that because of a misunderstanding about something I had said on the phone, he thought I was demanding we move right away, yet wanted the perfect place. That I wasn’t willing to wait until something came available. I assured him that was not what I had meant and that I had put it into God’s hands and I believed God would provide a place for us.

With that settled, things were much better between us and I told him my plan. Which was to go to Beach in the morning, do laundry (ahh the Beach Laundromat, another story all together!) then drive to Golva, then stop in Sentinel Butte on my way home and ask around in the small communities for houses that farmers may have to rent. Eventually I’d go to Wibaux and other small places in the vicinity. I had my map in hand, my route plotted, my plan in place. The next day I would begin to execute it.         However, God had a different plan.

The next morning, with the dogs in the back of my outfit, I was nearing the exit for Sentinel Butte. I had admired the green hills and red-topped buttes in this area the several times we had passed by on the interstate. I wanted desperately to explore Camels Hump Lake and check out the large flat topped mountain I assumed was Sentinel Butte, but that would come later in the day. First things first!

However as I was approaching the exit, I heard a very strong and audible voice in my mind saying, “Go there now.”

But–but I had planned—”

“Go now!” It was as if my car turned on its own and I found myself driving off the exit. Well ok, I thought I’ll go to Sentinel Butte first.

Two miles off the interstate, I topped a hill and there before me was the sweetest little town I had ever seen nestled between two buttes. Two church steeples tipped the sky, a handful of houses in a haphazard grouping, green fields, mowed lawns and a little old fashioned gas station on the corner. Stopping at the station and getting out, I took a big breath of sweet alfalfa scented air. Now this town I could almost live in. Almost. It certainly seemed like a nice, quiet community to live near.

Inside the station I met the very friendly proprietor, who promptly answered my questions by telling me of two houses south of town that were for rent. John had heard of them both and one was already taken, the other was not an option since dogs were not allowed in the house. I was telling Rick our story when a kind-looking gentleman walked in and listened for bit.

Then he said, “So you’re looking for a place to live?”

“Yeah,” I told him “A place out of town.”

“Well, I have one,” he said with a small grin, “rent free.”

“What?” He had my attention now. “How far out?”

“It’s south of the Butte about 6 miles.”

“How far off the main road?”

“Oh about a mile, I’d say.”

“Any neighbors?” I rapid fired my questions.

“Yep. A couple.”

“How close are they?”

“Oh I’d say about a mile and a half, maybe two to the nearest.”

“Can I walk on the property? My bird dog needs lots of running space.”

“Oh yeah,” he said, “it’s a big place, lots of room and you can do anything you want as long as you take care of it.”

“Is it farmland?”

“Nope mostly grazing, right in the Red Hills.”

“Do you allow dogs in the house?”

“Don’t think it really matters with this house.” He said grinning.

“And you don’t charge rent?” I knew there had to be a catch here somewhere.

“Nope, just take care of the place is all I ask.”

“Oh, is there a shop my husband can use?”

“Two of them.”

Okay to make a long story shorter, the gentleman asked if I would like to go see the place right then since he was leaving town that afternoon for a few days. And I said “You betcha!” (probably came out more like, You bet, since I hadn’t been in Nort’ Dakota long)

He just happened to drop by the station, he told me later. He knew not why, hadn’t been planning on stopping. Just felt he should. Also I know now if I had gone to Sentinel Butte in the afternoon, as I planned, I would not have found the station open since it closes by 2:00, and I would not have talked to the friendly proprietor or met the fine gentleman. Ok, coincidence? Not on your life.

So, south of Sentinel Butte we drove around The Butte. My eyes clung to the rugged, rim-rocked cliffs of the big flat topped mountain and the varied shaped buttes at its base, with scattered trees no less. Then I saw a plain surrounded by hills on every side, where there was a large clump of trees all by itself, not another house in sight, a long ways off the road.

“That’s where we’re going,” he said pointing to the trees.

“And the mountains and hills shall break forth into singing before you, and the trees of the field shall clap their hands.”

            While we were driving the gentleman asked if we liked to hunt. “You’ll see deer and antelope on the place,” he said, with a twinkle in his eyes, “and plenty of pheasants.”

“Oh by the way,” he asked turning towards me as I drove, “do you have horses? There’s a nice pasture I would like to have grazed.”

“”For you shall go out with joy! And be led out in peace.”

We drove up the long driveway and my eyes widened. Green fields, a lush creek bottom, rolling red-topped hills, a big barn, metal shops and yes, trees met my astonished gaze. I thought I was in paradise!

“Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree.” Well cedar will do. “and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree.” Russian Olive is fine. (Is. 55:12-13)

“Now the house,” he said as I pulled up and stopped, “I don’t know what shape the house is in, its been empty for a couple of months.”

I realized the ramshackle building beside us was not one of the many outbuildings, but the house.   My eyes registered white chipped siding, a broken upstairs window, the back screen door hanging off the hinges, the screen on the front door flapping in the wind, tall grass in the yard and the roof with very weathered shingles.

“Oh my,” I said, “but I would live in our camper to be able to live here.”

“I’ll put a new roof on it,” he said right away.

So the house was not in real good shape, but it was workable. As we walked through the house, I could see it needed lots of work, paint and cleaning most of all and some repairs.

“I’ll take care of the major repairs,” the kind man said, “and you take care of the small things.”

Sounded like a deal to me. He was willing to replace old windows, put on a new roof and install new carpet. We spent a month cleaning, painting and repairing. Later he did many other major repairs and we continue to do a few improvements every year. Seven years later, the house barely resembles the one I stood staring at that first day.

That night, which was John’s birthday, I told him I had found the perfect place. I proceeded to list the requirements from “the list” that the place met and it was ALL of them!

“And it’s rent free!” I said.

His mouth fell open. “Sounds like a fairy tale to me.”

More like a God-tale.

“And my God will liberally supply (fill to the full) your every need according to His riches in glory, in Christ Jesus.” Phil. 4:19, Amp

My every need and desires too, filled to the full, prepared and planned before I even had the need. According to His GREAT riches in Glory. Wow!

So I had the audacity to tell God there weren’t mountains or trees in North Dakota. God with His humor put us right in the high country, surrounded by rugged buttes and with the badlands a stone throw away.   He must have been chuckling when He orchestrated this place, nestled at the foot of the second highest point in North Dakota, to be available just at the right time!

Not only that, I discovered mini mountains, peaks in the bottoms, sandstone hills and formations whose song of many colors rise to the sky in every season. And trees? Oh yes there are trees, not a lot but the few around are full of birds in the summer. Birds singing and trilling at the top of their voices, singing praises to their God above who looks to their every need. Trees glistening with frost in the winter morning sun. Trees clapping their hands and swaying to the song of the wind!

October 2nd will be 7 years since that day I first came out here and we’re still praising God for His provision of this place and a generous man I just happened to run into. It amazes me that here in North Dakota, a place I NEVER wanted to come, God brought us to a place we love to be!

No we don’t know how long we will be able stay here, we hope a long, long time. We have no written contract, no real security for the future, except that we know God holds us in His hands. And He prepares our way and directs our steps.

“I will turn all My mountains into roads and My highways will be raised up.” He will make a way where there is no way.

            “Shout for joy, O heaven! Rejoice O earth! Burst into song, O mountains!

            For the Lord comforts His people and will have compassion on His afflicted ones.” Is. 49:11, 13

This is before, but with the new roof

Now

Barn, before

Barn now.

Where the mountains sing!