COVID Miracles

By John Houston

August 21, 2020

It’s hard to believe that nearly 6 months have already gone by since we were first introduced to COVID-19 in Texas. The past 6 months have been filled with changes, adjustments, and leadership challenges for our companies – along with every other company, organization, and family in the world. But in the JH Family of Companies, it’s also been filled with miraculous provision from God. God has been reminding me lately to approach him with thanksgiving in my heart. (Psalm 100:4) This article is a chance for me to do exactly that. I want to honor him with thanksgiving for all the ways he has provided for us during this time.

Early on, when COVID first plunged into our world, God took me to Psalm 91. I believe it was a promise from Him to me personally, but also to our entire family of companies. The Message version states, “Because God’s your refuge, the High God your very own home, Evil can’t get close to you, harm can’t get through the door… ‘If you’ll hold on to me for dear life,’ says God, ‘I’ll get you out of any trouble. I’ll give you the best of care if you’ll only get to know and trust me.’” What a great promise! I believe this promise is for anyone who believes in God and chooses to make Him their refuge. As I’ve seen play out my entire life, God is always faithful to his promises. And, man, have I seen God fulfill this one for our companies in the last 6 months. Here are just a few of the ways He has miraculously provided, for which I am extremely thankful:

A couple years ago, long before we knew anything about COVID-19, we felt God leading us to make some significant changes in our company systems and processes. We called it Better Before Bigger, and we changed just about everything! All of the changes allowed us to become more technologically savvy and more virtually interactive with our website. At the time, the reason for these changes was to become more efficient. None of us had a clue how important those things would be to us now, in this time of social-distancing. But God had a clue, and he prepared us long before we even knew why. He was protecting us before we knew we even needed the protection. He’s faithful to his promises even when we’re not aware! 

At the beginning of COVID, many home builders began scaling back and slowing down to see what would happen with market trends. When we kept praying over our own strategy, I kept hearing God say that his vision for us for 2020 wasn’t changing, and that we were to keep doing what we were doing. So, we continued to plow ahead. And now, 6 months into the pandemic, business is booming. We’re on track to exceed our budget goals in all companies, and I find that just mind-blowing. I’m amazed and humbled by God’s mercies which are new every morning. 

Another miracle of protection happened within our land development company. With the housing market flux, many land development companies experienced interruption with their scheduled lot take-downs, affecting their overall profits. Miraculously, all the homebuilders in contract with our development company had already completed their lot take downs prior to the market disruption. Our development company wasn’t affected by the disruption at all. We could have never planned this on our own… for there to be this perfect window when there weren’t any scheduled lot takedowns during the disruption. I see it as God’s provision and protection.

One of the most important miracles to me relates to our giving goal. Every year, we set a giving goal for kingdom-minded projects. Earlier in the year, I started to feel in my spirit that God was going to blow our goal out of the water. I felt that we were going to be blessed enough to be able to give 150% of our goal for the year. We didn’t know how that would be possible, but just kept believing in faith that God was going to make it happen somehow. Sure enough, through this COVID pandemic, the government instituted a new bill for this year that removed the charitable giving cap on businesses. Money that would have been tied up in taxes, can now be given to kingdom-minded projects! This is yet another example of God’s faithfulness to the promise.

The mission of our company is to reach people for Christ and Give to the Kingdom. While God was faithful to help us stretch our ability to give, He has also stretched our ability to reach people as well. Our JH Reach department led a campaign called Hope Outbreak in which we were able to come alongside of our employees and give generously to local charities affected during COVID-19. We gave over $40,000 to these local groups and brought the local charities and our employees together for a social-distancing celebration! We even invited local police force and black community leaders to the event, and man was it powerful to see our employees unite with the community to speak a message of HOPE where there has been pain. We also connected with our employees through our Fun/Hope Committee. One of our employees, Sam Carothers, joined us recently from big Corporate America. He told us that the care and value we add to each employee has moved him so much that he even decorated the wall in his office with all of the inspiring cards the Fun/Hope Committee delivered to him during this time. Sam said, “Everywhere I look it says, ‘We care about you.’” YES!!! That’s what we aim for, and I love that God has allowed us to do exactly that!

I’m thankful for all of these ways God has blessed us in the midst of the pandemic, and his faithfulness to the promise of Psalm 91. But, ultimately, I’m just so thankful I get to come to him every day. I get to be in God’s presence today, just because he loves me. God’s love has taken so much pressure off of me to perform. My job isn’t my life. These businesses aren’t my life. Jesus is my life. And I am simply stewarding what He has asked me to steward for today.

What are you thankful for? How has He blessed you?