I once owned a house up in Running Springs and I loved it. When my marriage failed, we lost the house and I moved into my in-law's garage. I was very grateful for their kindness, but to go from a two story house of my own to a garage that barely held me and the kids (Isaiah and Abby), it was quite depressing. A few months after that I had the opportunity to rent a house. It was small (about as big as the garage), but it had it's own bathroom and I no longer had to let people in to do their laundry. I was VERY grateful. A couple of years later I married Becky and we moved into a two bedroom apartment. That sounds small (and it was), but it was still so much bigger than the previous place.
A year and a half after that, we started renting the place we are in now. It has 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms! It doesn't have air conditioning and the house is constantly falling apart, but (again) we are so grateful because it is that much better than our prior situation. We have been renting here for 3 years. It gets really hot in the summer.
All 4 1/2 years of our marriage, Becky and I have been looking for a house to own. Every time we find one, the deal falls through for some reason or another. And we've had LOTS of deals fall through. Lots of doors closed. We've prayed and searched and searched and prayed to the point of emotional exhaustion - throwing our hands into the air to ask "WHY?" when we can't find our permanent place. We've felt like nomads. And yet, all the while, God has taken care of me. Time and time again, He has blessed me and my family with something better. And so, a year ago we decided to stop grumbling like the Israelites and to start praising God for what He has done. We realized that God wants us HERE. So we asked God to give us a clear, obvious sign when it is time for us to move. And in the meantime, home is where the heart is and our hearts are with God.
A couple weeks ago, our property manager told us the owners are selling our house. We have 60 days to vacate. Our first reaction was to get all huffy and offended and start freaking out a bit. After all, we had looked for a house for years and couldn't find one. How are we supposed to find one in 60 days?! But then we realized that this was God telling us that it is time. That means He must have a house ready!
We started looking immediately. We looked at 6 houses the first day. We never had any other days of looking. As a matter of fact, the first house we looked at is the house that accepted our offer. In the past, deals have fallen apart because we are using a VA loan which requires the seller to pay closing costs. This time, the sellers chose us BECAUSE they want to help a VA family. In the past, the inspection has found major problems with the house. This time, it was virtually flawless. In addition, there have been little ways that God has allowed for me to see (behind-the-scenes) to know that this is His direction - without a doubt. Nothing that is a deal breaker, but eventually enough coincidences pile up to where you can't label them coincidences anymore.
On April 24th, Becky and I are moving our family of 6 to Beaumont - to yet a bigger house - one that is ours - with air conditioning! And we just can't praise God enough!
No comments:
Post a Comment