In late 2017 I told God I wanted a home. I started playing house-hunters in early 2018 and found my house relatively quickly. I wrote about how I prepared for buying my home in Letters to the Lord, so I'll skip that part today. One thing I've never shared, however, is how I knew my house was my home; how God gave me my house.
I remember when I was house-hunting, I had a few target areas in mind. During my annual filing, I mentioned to my tax advisor that I was house hunting, and she replied by saying that one of my desired neighborhoods was killer on taxes. I immediately got discouraged and decided I should probably not look at houses in that area any longer. Within the week, my realtor mentioned a place coming on the market, and it just so happened to be in this area. I remember as he described it to me, I thought the worst. Since the house wasn't yet on the market (he had heard about it through a colleague, so no one knew the house was coming available except for her and now my realtor), I only had his verbal description to decide if I should look at it or not. I remember looking it up on Google images, and I wouldn't say I liked it; the exterior wasn't my style at all. My realtor convinced me that we should see it. I complied solely because of his excitement and optimism because I was feeling the opposite.
As soon as we arrived, I mentally noted everything wrong with the house.
As we walked in, one of the things I silently added to the list was the broken shutters in front of the house. A minute after stepping foot inside, the seller's realtor mentioned the seller was still working on finishing touches and would be fixing the shutters. "Coincidental," I thought. As I toured the house, it checked many boxes on my list. However, I made several excuses about how it wasn't the right house, and I wasn't sure I wanted to proceed. Let me clarify: I was searching for a starter home, but I am the definition of having champagne taste on a beer budget. I told my realtor I needed to think about it. I was grateful the house wasn't on the market yet, so I had space to mull it over.
That night, I was talking to God and asking if this was the house for me. I didn't feel any excitement about it; I felt kind of meh, to be honest. But, it's essential to take every decision to God, regardless of how you feel about it. I felt led to read Galatians 3, specifically the beginning portion about the promises of Abraham. I thought nothing of it and went to sleep. The next day, I decided to see the house again. This time, as soon as I approached the door to walk in, I knew it was my home. After looking around it, I noticed a book was left on the kitchen counter that wasn't there the day before. How coincidental.
God knows me and knows that I need things to be very clear regarding big decisions, so He put the firm in confirmation with this coincidence. I mentioned the book, and the seller's agent said it was the seller's and he was a Christian. I have never said, "Me too!" more quickly in my life. They were planning to list the house at the top of my price range, so I submitted a lower offer, hoping to negotiate. The seller came down in the middle of his price and my offer, and I accepted.
When I was working on this post, I remembered that I used to call this place my "double portion" house. I was initially looking for a 2-3 bedroom home with 1-1.5 baths (I figured anything more was out of my price range). I was hoping for a garage, but the most important thing to me was a yard for Belle. Well, God gave me a four-bedroom, two-bath home with a two-car garage, a deck I didn't even know I wanted, and a killer yard for my girl. It's funny how we can be looking for something to suit our needs while God is preparing something that goes above and beyond (Ephesians 3:20). Also, let me be clear and mention that my home is a starter home; it may have four bedrooms, but one of them is essentially a glorified closet. My house is on the smaller side in terms of square footage, but it was perfect for me and where I was in life.
So yeah, God gave me this home. It doesn't mean everything has been smooth sailing, though. It means I rely on God for all things relating to the house.
For example, there was a time I thought the roof was leaking, and I straight panicked for a second and may or may not have raised my voice at God to tell Him He's the one that put me here, so he's the one that needs to deal with it. Spoiler alert: the roof was not leaking. There was a time, in the dead of summer, when I thought my AC was shot, but it turns out I just needed a new thermostat. There have been countless other seemingly large issues that prompted me to run to God, but they all turned out to be smaller issues in the end. Praise the Lord, but I have not had any significant problems with the house that I could not afford to address right away. The closest I ever came to that was a couple of months ago. I had my annual maintenance completed for my furnace, and my HVAC tech let me know that my furnace was getting up there in age, showing signs of going downhill, and I should consider replacing it soon. I asked him how much a new system runs, and he told me. He left, and I immediately looked up at God (AKA at the ceiling) and said, "I don't know, but you do, so…work it out." I was praying to just make it through this season so that I could replace it in the spring, but God had bigger plans. After many, many, many prayers and an endless number of nervous glances at my thermostat to make sure the furnace was still working, He made a way. Watch the moment below.
If you take away anything from this post, please don't let it be that God gave me a house. Let it be that God placed me somewhere, and ever since, He has continued to provide the provision needed for me to stay in position.
Through this house, He has continued to build my faith and reliance on Him. If I waiver on anything else, I know that God will provide anything and everything relating to the house. It may not be in the time or in the way I want, but He has heard every prayer, seen every tear, and honored every promise. God is beyond good, and I am grateful He has used this home to not only bless me physically but to continue strengthening and stretching my faith in Him and to show people in my life what He can do with His kids. God doesn't show favoritism (Acts 10:34), so what He did for me, He can do for any one of you.
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