December came, and with it, an increasing sense of urgency. While we weren’t quite finished with the remodel, I knew we were only weeks away from placing our home on the market. I called our family realtor after Christmas to tell her our plans.
“Debbie, Tyler and I are planning to move. The house isn’t quite ready, but it should be soon. I would like you to come see the house and walk us through the next steps.”
Her response was, “Okay. Where do you want to go?”
I guess it’s time to share that months prior to this phone call, Debbie had helped my sister and her family move to a wonderful neighborhood in our town. Within weeks, she also helped my parents buy their new home in the exact same neighborhood…on the exact same street.
I won’t lie; I felt a little left out. You see, it’s always been a dream of mine (one I’ve repeatedly voiced) to live close to my whole family. So when my dream was realized for my mom and sister, I had to deliberately fight becoming jealous. Instead, I prayed. “Lord, I am happy for them. If it’s your will, I would love to one day live there too.”
“One day” in my mind was in the distant future. It’s not that I was putting limits on God; it’s that I couldn’t imagine Tyler and I being able to finish our current home quickly or afford a home in their neighborhood. Furthermore, at the time, Tyler was adamant that he did not like that neighborhood. “The homes,” he said, “are too close together, and they don’t have big yards. I am a ‘yard man’.” Needless to say, I was not expecting a quick response, but I asked earnestly anyway. God is certainly capable of anything. (Luke 18:27)
And I mean anything. Within months of my prayer, Tyler’s ill opinion of the neighborhood completely changed. In fact, by the time Christmas rolled around, Tyler was more convinced we’d own a home in that neighborhood than I was. So, he was frustrated at my answer to Debbie’s initial question.
“Why wouldn’t you tell her that we ONLY want to go to that neighborhood?” he questioned. “As far as I’m concerned, she’s wasting her time looking anywhere else.”
Truthfully, I was nervous to narrow Debbie’s search for our next home. You see, I wanted to remain open to God’s plan, and He hadn’t told me that’s where we were going. Additionally, this particular neighborhood is very small. Homes do not come up on the market often, but when they do, they sell quickly. Well, most of them anyway. One sat unsold for months, and was eventually pulled off the market completely. (I actually walked through it during its estate sale; it had hideous peach paint, but a nice kitchen.)
Anyway, Debbie took note that, despite our strong desire to live near family, she was free to search elsewhere. However, her first priority was selling our current home, which we were able to complete by the end of January.
For five laborious months, I witnessed and experienced the grace of God enabling Tyler and I to accomplish more work than I thought was possible, at a pace that was inconceivable, on a budget that was just, plain miraculous. It was a relief and a triumph to know our work was complete; we did what God had told us to do. Now, it was time for us to rest in God’s ability to orchestrate and manage what remained.
To be continued…
