The ultimate prayer warrior stood before me. It seemed like her prayers always got answered, and whenever any of us needed some ‘extra help’ with the man upstairs, instinctively we always went to her. It’s like he heard her better, like after so many years of following him devotedly that she had earned some sort of special rewards program with God, where instead of a free pastry, she received blessing over every word she raised to him.
In her time she had prayed over lost library books, ‘boo-boo’s,’ and for favorable scores during standardized testing. She had fervently been on her knees after deaths, divorces, and amidst the most concerning health scares…
But today she wanted to know how she could pray for me!
“I just need an apartment… without mice” I noted.
My grandmother stared blankly at me. There was no denying I needed prayer for MUCH more than that, and she knew very well that my life had recently experienced a few ‘hiccups’ (that is to say, if ‘hiccups’ look more like violent convulsions in which one spontaneously foams at the mouth!) Even more, she knew that I desperately needed God to show up in my life, and that it would take much more than a mouse-less roof over my head!
But it was a start, and she humored me regardless, “What would you like this apartment to be like then?”
I smiled. Unfortunately this wasn’t McDonalds it was New York City. And while my heart might skip a beat for a glamorous apartment in a prime location, instead I pay a fortune for my one bedroom apartment above a Jewish Deli. An apartment where the heat and hot water stop working in the middle of a snow storm, the mice run ramped, and the landlord doesn’t call back.
“An elevator would be nice…” my mother chimed in.
I rolled my eyes while my grandma quickly scribbled the addition onto her sheet of paper. Nice, yes… likely in my budget, no!
“You want to be close to the store? Maybe have a nice view out your window?” My grandmother continued to question, jotting down each as she went, “Oh! You would love a nice kitchen wouldn’t you?”
My heart sank at the thought… I would LOVE a nice kitchen. My thoughts then flashed to my 19.8 Cubic ft. french door stainless steel refrigerator with automatic ice maker that I had back home…
I quickly snapped back to reality, wondering where they were going with this.
As I lifted my coffee mug to my mouth my mother continued, “…She definitely needs a two bedroom!”
I nearly spit my coffee out at the absurdity, knowing that a two bedroom would NEVER be something I could afford! Not in this city, and not by a long shot!
…But then God blew my flippin’ mind!
He blew Nehemiah’s mind too!
Nehemiah was a man who had just received news that the walls of Jerusalem had been destroyed, leaving the city unprotected and in ruins. He was a lot like us… discouraged, overwhelmed, and desperately in need of the Lord’s favor in his life.
And after many days weeping, Nehemiah decided to go and rebuild that which was broken. He knew he couldn’t do it on his own, and he cried out to God for help!
“O Lord, please hear my prayer! Listen to the prayers of those who delight in honoring you. Please grant me success today by making the king favorable to me…” Nehemiah 1:11
Nehemiah told God exactly what he needed (in his case the approval from the king to leave, and in mine, an apartment void of rodents!) And while he would have been content with just that, God had SO much more in store…
In the end, not only did the king grant his request, he also went as far to send officers to protect Nehemiah on his journey to Jerusalem. Even further, Nehemiah was provided all the supplies needed to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem entirely, and even enough to build himself a house!
Nehemiah goes on to say that all of these blessings happened “… because the gracious hand of God was on me.” (vs.8)
Now if you are anything like me, you desperately need the gracious hand of God on you…
You look at the ruins that are left of your life, and momentarily question if it’s even possible to rebuild this kind of devastation.
You wonder, even if you knew God could, if your heart can sustain the brutal journey ahead.
I am with you…
Yet today we can rest in the comfort that our God will meet us in our hopelessness, the same way he did for Nehemiah. That He will himself, provide protection for the long journey ahead, and will supply everything needed to restore all that is broken.
This week I am happy to say that God met me in my circumstances and granted my sincere request for an apartment (WITHOUT MICE…)
Not only that but HE BLEW MY FLIPPIN’ MIND and gave me more than I could have ever hoped for when He provided: (*please note that I am screaming while I type this!!!)
– A TWO-BEDROOM APARTMENT
– With an ELEVATOR
– Directly ACROSS THE STREET from the STORE
– With a BALCONY (With the above picture as my VIEW)
– And a beautiful kitchen complete with… are you ready for this?… a 19.8 CUBIC FT. FRENCH DOOR STAINLESS STEEL REFRIGERATOR COMPLETE WITH AUTOMATIC ICE MAKER!!!!!
No really, you can’t make this stuff up!
And while my new apartment doesn’t change my circumstances, I am reminded that the God who provided me with it, CAN!
That while I am still paralyzed in fear at the future, I can find comfort knowing that just like Nehemiah, God will provide everything that is needed to rebuild what is broken, and offer His unparalleled protection over my heart until then.
And maybe just maybe, there is a teeny tiny part of me that is curious to see what He has up His sleeve next…
(Maybe.)
… And it’s all because the ‘gracious hand of God was on me.’
Krista Ortiz 
Praise the Lord! I pray you may revel in the mind-blowing provision of your personal God, Krista, and that it will encourage you!
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Thank you Deanna for your prayers! 🙂
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Thanks Krista! Needed to read that while I wait for God to blow my mind… making my complete list now. 🙂
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Shari, I will be praying that God blows your mind sooner rather than later! 😉
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Congratulations on your new apartment. I am so happy that God has blessed you with this. While it has not solved all your problems, it surely relieves you of some of your current burdens and makes life a little more bearable. May He continue to bless you and keep you in the palm of His hand.
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Thank you so much Shana! My heart is full!
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Krista, this was so right on time for me, thank you for sharing. First off, congratulations on finding such a blessing of an apartment! I’ve lived in NYC my entire life and finding an apartment that has all those amenities is difficult. So YAY for you guys! Secondly, that Nehemiah passage is perfect for what I’m going through, I just need to continue to keep praying and ask God for what I want. Thirdly, He is so good and you just proved and reminded me of that! God bless!!!
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Tara, I am so glad you were reminded of our God’s goodness, and that the story of Nehemiah could encourage you the same way it did for me! I will be praying that God shows up and ‘blows your flipping mind’… and add a little extra prayer for our sanity! after all, we live in NYC don’t we? We can ALWAYS use a prayer for our sanity! 🙂
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Krista, you are beautiful inside and out. Love reading your words. My daughter is about your age and you remind me of her and the things she is going through.
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Aw Susan you are so kind. Praying for your daughter today, and that God would show up and move some mountains on her behalf!
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Awesome! It is so hard to believe but he will do that over and over… Blessings to you!!!
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Thank you Wendy!
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Simply inspiring. So hopeful. God IS present.
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He IS! God is so good!
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Krista- Ive been following you for a few months and love your blog. Your honesty, your faith, your rawness, are all so speaking to me. This post today really helped with something I am dealing with. I will not be afraid to ask our Father and I thank Him for the way He has blessed you!!! I am so flippin excited for you! But now, let me ask, if you don’t mind…what is the devastation that you have spoken of since around valentines day. All your posts have been so desperate, is it wrong for me to ask what is going on? I’ve looked back in previous blogs and Im not seeing anything. Other than the mice eating your brownies. I agree thats devastating but not sure thats what has rocked your world. I even googled “whats happened to Krista on Urban Hallelujah” but goggle didn’t even know. And google knows everything. 🙂 I love you as if I know you and again thank you for being so dang real. Blessed by you .
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Bev, you are hilarious! I love that you googled it! I will definetly write about it someday, most likely when I am a little farther out of the madness! But each week I write about what God has taught me, and so if HE has me write about it sooner I will for sure!
I am glad this post could help encourage you where you are at in life, and I can’t wait to hear all about how God shows up in your life and blows your mind! (It will happen my friend!) Praying for you this week….
And you are right… the mice eating my brownies was DEVASTATING. I may never be the same! 🙂
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You just write when the time is right! I just thought maybe I missed it somehow. I Look forward to EVERY post you make!
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Krista,
I don’t know why but since your post on valentines I’ve felt the need to be in constant prayer for you. I’ve noticed a change in your writing and in some things that are, left out, of your writings.. And I’m just a follower of a sweet insightful girl on a blog, but I’m praying for God to show himself to you and make a beautiful mosaic of your broken pieces. Jesus says blessed are those who mourn, blessed are the brokenhearted, not blessed are those who have it all together. So with that I rejoice in the blessing of struggle because I know God is purifying us and being glorified through us for something when greater.
God is able girl, thankful for this blog!
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Michelle, I can’t tell you how much your prayers mean to me! Seriously! I am so encouraged to know that you have been lifting me up to the Lord. I feel people’s prayers, I really do! God is so able… you are right. Thanks for reaching out and for praying for my heart! Blessed by you
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Loved this, I need a huge miracle and I will remember Nehemiah. Grits54.wordpress.com
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Beth, I will be praying for you today! Praying that God shows up in the midst of the chaos and calms the storm in your life, and for your heart to trust Him until then. Prayers are headed your way!
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I have been very needy over the past year, but He’s been there each time and completely blown my mind every.single.time. Thank you for reminding me how very blessed I am, even though some of the circumstances haven’t changed.
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Thank you Sam for reaching out and sharing that god showed up for you also! God is so good!
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Reblogged this on The Stay At Home Wife and commented:
I so needed to be reminded of this today. Our God is so much bigger than our circumstances!
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SO much bigger! May he meet you right in the middle of your circumstances just like he did for me, and just like he did for nehemiah!
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God’s power is shown in our weakness. Let us continue to be weak and helpless (I say begrudgingly) so that God’s true power can be shown for all the world to see. So happy for you and the new apt. Amazing how something so “simple” (although it’s not so simple in NYC) can make or break us sometimes. I hope you look back on this blog one day and are blown away at how God has shown up each and every time, at the right time. When I read the Bible, I can’t help but think “why did the Jews doubt God when He did X, Y, and Z?” And then I remember I doubt even though God has done X, Y, and Z+. Silly us.
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Grace you are so right! We are no different than anyone in the Bible (though we like to think we are!) and He does indeed show himself most in our weakness doesn’t he? Which is kind of a bummer if you REALLY want to get to know Him more like I do… 🙂 Guess I should get comfortable in the weakness! Thanks for sharing your thoughts my friend! Gonna have to have you over for some tea and break in this new apartment of mine! 🙂
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I would love to come over for tea!!! Perhaps that tea will be spiked 🙂
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Awesome!!!!! Though I too have been reading for awhile now and wonder what is going on with you. I too have noticed a change in your writing. Thank you for sharing!!!
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That was one of the most difficult decisions to make for me… trying to decide if I should KEEP writing even though I knew it wasn’t going to be as “pretty” as I wanted… But here I am! 🙂 Thanks for reaching out Shelly!
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And I’m thankful that you have continued to be here, “pretty” or not!! I love ya’lls blog!!
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OK..I have not been reading for long. I read the post about you needing God to blow your flippin’ mind and I probably wouldn’t have paused long enough to read this particular post if you hadn’t included that in the title. I normally skip over the “blogs you follow” home page. Just being real. 😉 But as I scrolled through your words I started getting chills. I don’t even know you and God is using your story to give me CHILLS. So good. and I totally cracked up at your description of your grandmother. That sounds like the perfect description of some of the prayer warriors I’ve known in my life (here in the “Bible-belt” of East Texas). Keep on keeping on, girlfriend! He’s got you covered!
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Just wanted to say I’m from East Texas too, and I absolutely know what you mean about the sweet southern prayer warriors! We’re blessed down here!
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You are so right! Proud to be born and raised here!
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Kelsey, I appreciate you being REAL! I love that! 🙂 Thanks for reaching out and sharing your thoughts with me. I have to be honest, when I wrote this I thought NO ONE in their right mind would give a rip about how god blessed me with a (mouse less) apartment, but had to because that’s what God taught me that week! So it’s encouraging to know that I gave you chills ha! I guess it goes to show God knows what he is doing more than I do! 😉 Thanks again girl.
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Oh how I loved reading this today and celebrate with you today on this amazing answer to prayer! Be blessed and know you are loved by many, including that fabulous prayer warrior! 😀
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thank you sooooo much! I appreciate you cheering me on along the way! God only knows we need that sometime!
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