| THE SEPTIC TANK |
Seeing is not believing, and I have proof.
My husband and I had been less than a year. I'd purchased the home the year before I met him. When I
purchased the home, there had been two extra housing units on the property - a mobile home and a small cabin.
By the time we married, the two extras were gone.
The home could be called a house with "character" - one tiny closet in the main bedroom, but a huge fireplace in
the living room. It had potential. The people who built it were - how to politely say this - cheeseparing. One
definition of that word is, "miserly economizing." The people had torn down the original home and used as much
of the 100 year old house as possible to build this one.
They'd gotten a good deal on paneling and used it everywhere. It wasn't until after I bought the house and a
plastic pipe broke under the bathroom sink - AND the floor swelled up from the water so that the door couldn't be
shut - that I discovered this good paneling had a statement written on the back to the effect, "Not for use in places
prone to dampness; outdoors, etc." It was on the bathroom floor and walls.
I share that to set up this story. When the septic tank began giving us trouble - and for you city slickers who don't
understand, here is a proper description of what a septic tank is: "underground sedimentation tank in which
sewage is retained for a short period while it is decomposed and purified by bacterial action." It's largely used in
rural areas and it is usually a large concrete or plastic box that certain things flow into and breakdown and I am
NOT going to get into detail other than to say it isn't as nasty as it sounds - unless it backs up.
So when ours began to give us trouble - scent usually gives it away - hubby dug up the ground to see what was
going on. To our surprise, there was a 50 gallon drum in place of a real septic system. To the under educated,
this is NOT a good thing. An average-sized septic tank has a capacity of anywhere from 1000 to 1500 gallons so
it is no wonder we had trouble. It was corroded and had to be replaced. At the time, we did not have any extra
funds for this emergency. A new tank can cost anywhere from $3000-$5000.
One evening in prayer, unknown to me, God spoke to my husband to go over to the nearby garden plot we’d put
in where the mobile home had been, and dig up the septic tank that was underground there. He would be digging
blind, not knowing what was down there until he got there. And he had to do it by hand because we didn’t have
any other equipment.
Now I KNOW there couldn’t be a better septic tank over there than what was in the house because the man who
built the house did not like the nephew-in-law that lived in the mobile home. The man had purchased the mobile
home for his niece from a police auction. It had been used as a crack house. It had bullet holes in the bathtub
and throughout the house. So why would he give them something better than what he had?
It absolutely did not make sense and for a bit, I thought my hubby was going off the deep end. For one whole
day, I watched him dig and dig and dig, thinking he was a bit of an idiot because there is NO way there could be a
septic tank down there. AND I expressed all this to my husband, verbally – not that I thought he was an idiot but
that there couldn’t possible be a better tank down there.
Then God spoke gently to my heart, “Oh ye of little faith. If you can’t trust your new husband, trust Me.” Two
things happened. I repented of my unbelief and I repented of not trusting God to speak clearly to my husband.
Now I can’t say I jumped up and suddenly had shining, total and complete faith in my husband’s ability to hear
from God but I refused to say another negative word to him. I immediately told him that while it was hard to believe
about the tank, I trusted him. As I watched him digging every day, I began to realize that I did believe he heard
from God and trusted him because I trusted God.
Needless to say, several days later and some rain that complicated matters, there it was, not only a concrete
septic tank but one of the largest ones – way bigger than the mobile home called for. Top of the line and almost
new. I don’t know why it was there but it was and it saved us a slew of money. God told hubby how to get it out of
the ground and pull it across the yard with the pickup. He then dug a new hole near our home and a guy came
with equipment and set it into the ground for a total cost of $50.
Lessons learned? While it may take time to learn to trust that God speaks to your new mate, keep your mouth
shut about it. Hubby told me later than when I expressed my trust in him, it took a load off his mind. He had his
own attacks that he might not have heard from God and that he was probably crazy to be digging up the yard
looking for a good septic tank. Then, too, trust that God can take care of every detail in your life – even septic
tanks!
Copyright © 2005 Nan C Loyd
Anointed Word Ministries
All rights reserved. Used by permission.
My husband and I had been less than a year. I'd purchased the home the year before I met him. When I
purchased the home, there had been two extra housing units on the property - a mobile home and a small cabin.
By the time we married, the two extras were gone.
The home could be called a house with "character" - one tiny closet in the main bedroom, but a huge fireplace in
the living room. It had potential. The people who built it were - how to politely say this - cheeseparing. One
definition of that word is, "miserly economizing." The people had torn down the original home and used as much
of the 100 year old house as possible to build this one.
They'd gotten a good deal on paneling and used it everywhere. It wasn't until after I bought the house and a
plastic pipe broke under the bathroom sink - AND the floor swelled up from the water so that the door couldn't be
shut - that I discovered this good paneling had a statement written on the back to the effect, "Not for use in places
prone to dampness; outdoors, etc." It was on the bathroom floor and walls.
I share that to set up this story. When the septic tank began giving us trouble - and for you city slickers who don't
understand, here is a proper description of what a septic tank is: "underground sedimentation tank in which
sewage is retained for a short period while it is decomposed and purified by bacterial action." It's largely used in
rural areas and it is usually a large concrete or plastic box that certain things flow into and breakdown and I am
NOT going to get into detail other than to say it isn't as nasty as it sounds - unless it backs up.
So when ours began to give us trouble - scent usually gives it away - hubby dug up the ground to see what was
going on. To our surprise, there was a 50 gallon drum in place of a real septic system. To the under educated,
this is NOT a good thing. An average-sized septic tank has a capacity of anywhere from 1000 to 1500 gallons so
it is no wonder we had trouble. It was corroded and had to be replaced. At the time, we did not have any extra
funds for this emergency. A new tank can cost anywhere from $3000-$5000.
One evening in prayer, unknown to me, God spoke to my husband to go over to the nearby garden plot we’d put
in where the mobile home had been, and dig up the septic tank that was underground there. He would be digging
blind, not knowing what was down there until he got there. And he had to do it by hand because we didn’t have
any other equipment.
Now I KNOW there couldn’t be a better septic tank over there than what was in the house because the man who
built the house did not like the nephew-in-law that lived in the mobile home. The man had purchased the mobile
home for his niece from a police auction. It had been used as a crack house. It had bullet holes in the bathtub
and throughout the house. So why would he give them something better than what he had?
It absolutely did not make sense and for a bit, I thought my hubby was going off the deep end. For one whole
day, I watched him dig and dig and dig, thinking he was a bit of an idiot because there is NO way there could be a
septic tank down there. AND I expressed all this to my husband, verbally – not that I thought he was an idiot but
that there couldn’t possible be a better tank down there.
Then God spoke gently to my heart, “Oh ye of little faith. If you can’t trust your new husband, trust Me.” Two
things happened. I repented of my unbelief and I repented of not trusting God to speak clearly to my husband.
Now I can’t say I jumped up and suddenly had shining, total and complete faith in my husband’s ability to hear
from God but I refused to say another negative word to him. I immediately told him that while it was hard to believe
about the tank, I trusted him. As I watched him digging every day, I began to realize that I did believe he heard
from God and trusted him because I trusted God.
Needless to say, several days later and some rain that complicated matters, there it was, not only a concrete
septic tank but one of the largest ones – way bigger than the mobile home called for. Top of the line and almost
new. I don’t know why it was there but it was and it saved us a slew of money. God told hubby how to get it out of
the ground and pull it across the yard with the pickup. He then dug a new hole near our home and a guy came
with equipment and set it into the ground for a total cost of $50.
Lessons learned? While it may take time to learn to trust that God speaks to your new mate, keep your mouth
shut about it. Hubby told me later than when I expressed my trust in him, it took a load off his mind. He had his
own attacks that he might not have heard from God and that he was probably crazy to be digging up the yard
looking for a good septic tank. Then, too, trust that God can take care of every detail in your life – even septic
tanks!
Copyright © 2005 Nan C Loyd
Anointed Word Ministries
All rights reserved. Used by permission.
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