One of the greatest joys we have at Abundant Life Christian Fellowship is watching God at work in the lives of others.  We love to see what happens when God remakes people, transforming them into new creations.  It's these stories of transformation that we call "God stories," and we count it a great privilege when God allows us to play a role in them.

As a group of believers, we at ALCF are equally excited to see the way that God uses us as a group.  We're blessed when God works in us and through us to serve and bless others.

When Sarah started house hunting a little over a year ago, she knew she wanted to find a home as close to Abundant Life as possible.  God had made it clear to Sarah that he wanted her to become a member of the community of South West Massillon over the preceding three years, and she was excited to follow where he led.

You see, God had given Sarah a special love for our community.  It started with a local mission trip that she’d chaperoned, and it had been reinforced as she participated in the church’s block parties.  The more she encountered the people of South West Massillon and the more she learned about the community, the more it became clear to Sarah: she wanted to stop being a visitor and start being a resident of this neighborhood she had grown to love.

So she started her hunt, and after about a month of looking, Sarah was sure she’d found the house of her dreams.  However, two days before she was going to place an offer on the house, it sold to another buyer. A few weeks later, there was another house, but her offer was outbid.

For the next few months, Sarah checked online real estate listings daily, attended open houses, and toured nearly every house for sale in the area, but to no avail.  None of the houses were for her.  She was frustrated and beginning to doubt that South West Massillon was truly where God had called her to live.

Finally, in late June, after more than three months of house hunting, a small home on 7^th   Street that she had seen once and dismissed for various reasons kept coming to mind.  She called her realtor and asked to see it one more time.  As she toured the home, she became increasingly convinced that this was where God wanted her to be.  About six weeks later, she had the keys and she was officially a resident of South West Massillon.

So what’s the “C.O.O.L.” part of the story?  Of all the houses Sarah looked at and those she’d seriously considered purchasing, only one was on the C.O.O.L. Project map: the house where she currently lives.  Because she’s a resident of the neighborhood, C.O.O.L. volunteers have offered to do some work on the exterior of her house.  And since Abundant Life is cooperating with the ministry and working on several houses in the community, she’ll also have the opportunity to meet even more of her neighbors as she volunteers for C.O.O.L. 

It seems God brought Sarah to the right house at the right time so that she could be blessed and so that she could be a blessing.  That’s pretty cool.

 If you want to learn more about the C.O.O.L. Project 2013, check out their website by following this link!