Our House Story Part 5

{Part 1} {Part 2} {Part 3} {Part 4}

As I was saying, things had fallen apart and our purchase of our friends' house fell through. But we were already living there. We had to make a decision if we wanted to pursue other attempts to continue with the purchase, or just back out and start over. Starting over seemed impossible. It has been such a tiring and tedious process. I didn't think I could go through it again. Plus, it was the beginning of fall semester and I knew I would be working 2 jobs and going to class. I wouldn't have the luxury of free afternoons to take care of things. And I was so upset about the purchase falling through. As I mentioned before, Scott and I were pretty divided on this. But I had decided that if God wanted us there, He would use Scott to work it out. I was not created to have the strength to keep convincing Scott that this was the right thing to do. I had to admit that maybe it just wasn't.

One morning we were talking about it and getting pretty upset. As we were leaving the house for work, we stopped by the shed to get something out. There is a 4-letter lock on the door. Before we started turning it to the right letters to unlock the door, we realized it was currently set to P-R-A-Y. We both got chills and saw it as a reminder to continue to seek God through the process not only for guidance, but also for comfort.

After several days of prayer and consideration, we decided that this was not, in fact, what God wanted for us. To clarify, we do not think that God "changed his mind." I don't think He does that. And we don't think we were wrong in feeling His calling before. We just determined that sometimes God may call us to do some things, only to call us in a different direction once we get there. Who knows the reason? Maybe it was simply for us to learn to rely on Him more, to pray more, or to grow together as a stronger couple in the Lord. I certainly learned how to trust my husband for spiritual guidance. I admit I have not always done that. I think because I got saved before him, I've often felt like I'm "one step ahead" on things of a spiritual matter. But that is not how it should be. And I should trust that he is seeking God and God is working through him. And I think Scott learned to do just that--seek God and really listen to His guidance. So, maybe God just wanted us to be faithful in that. Who knows? But I believe He called us to take that path, and then called us in a different direction. This is not unheard of. Think about Abraham and Isaac. God called him to kill Isaac as a sacrifice to the Lord. Abraham obeyed, but just before he did it, God told him not to. He didn't change His mind; He had it planned that way from the beginning. And maybe that was the case with us, too.

So, we had to tell our friends our decision. Which was very painful. To be honest, I'm still not sure where we stand on that. They are Christians and I believe they have forgiven us. But it put them in a tough position and they have still not sold their house. I hope they are not angry. I hope God is growing them through this, too.

With that being decided, we had no idea what would happen next. We really had to lean on God at this point because we literally did not know where we would be living at the end of the month. Should we move back to our house in Portal? Move into an apartment in town? Get a storage unit and stay with friends? Try to buy a different house?

Well, that is what we decided. Try to buy another house. We started looking again. Within just one day of looking, we noticed that a house we had liked early on in the process had come down significantly in price. It was now in our range! We chose a realtor and we switched to a local bank for this go-round. We went to see the house the next day. We loved it. We made an offer the next day. We heard back within 2 hours that they accept our offer!! We literally went from having no idea where we would live, to having an offer accepted on a home in less than 2 full days. God really blew me away. And I felt silly for even worrying at all.

The process was amazingly smooth and was night and day compared to our last attempts. Our bank rep was awesome and he met with us after hours to accommodate our schedules. The attorney was wonderful. Everything was truly a great experience. Even closing was awesome. The lady who sold us the house is an older lady who is living in an assisted living facility now. She said she had been praying for a Christian couple to come along to buy the house. She said when our realtor told her about us, she knew it was right. She was thrilled to sell to us. It was so moving. I almost started crying as we were signing the papers.

And now we are home owners! We are in our house and I LOVE IT! The very first day, it immediately felt like home. It's a lot like our house in Portal, but with the convenience of living in town. We are surrounded by trees and a BEAUTIFUL yard thanks to the previous owner. And we have all the space we need, including incredible storage space. It is such a blessing. I'm SO thankful that God called us here. And I'm even thankful everything that happened on the way to this. I enjoyed my time in the other house, but it never felt like home like this does. And I feel like I've grown so much since this summer. God really does just blow me away!

~Christy~