Oh, the saga continues. Yes, of course, I’m referring to our quest to sell our home and purchase the older, needs some major work, so-much-we-don’t-know home that we are absolutely in love with. You can read about how this adventure began here and more here.
I am still working on resting in God’s faithfulness, timing, and provision. Our house has been listed for over 100 days (wow, it goes against my pride to even want to admit that!) and it is a slooooowww moving process. Our area is not a hotspot right now in the real estate market, but as I remind myself, it only takes 1 showing if it’s the right buyer. Given this waiting process, I’m prone to vacillate back and forth between confidence that God has the home we love for us to buy and the “what ifs” if He doesn’t. But this is how He has been moving since my last house post.
One Sunday after church, Will told me on the way home that he had really felt God speak to him during the sermon. I had missed the sermon because I was serving in the nursery that day, so he gave me a quick rundown on how, during the sermon, God led him to the passage in Matthew 13 (verse 44) about the parable of the hidden treasure. In this brief parable, a man finds a treasure hidden in a field. With joy, he hides it again and sells everything he owns to purchase that field. Now, this parable is an illustration of the kingdom of heaven, which is the treasure we are to seek and give up everything for, but Will felt that God was also using it as a source of encouragement for him. Timely too, as Will had been fasting the previous week and praying for God to reveal His will in a few different matters, one of those being the house situation. In addition, this verse was significant to us given that the home we love is really quite literally hidden right now- it is not yet in foreclosure so no appearance on the MLS or foreclosure sites and we found it in its current physically hidden state.
The next day I shared this with my mother, who told me how she had recently been reading a devotion that also had a “treasure” theme. A day later, a close Christian friend of ours mentioned a verse on Facebook about “treasure”. The word treasure was being used over and over again. Will and I decided we would continue to pray that God would guide us and continue to act on faith as we try to sell our home and attain our hidden treasure. I also thought about the verse that we should build our treasures up in heaven and not on earth (Matthew 6:20), and asked God to help me make sure I don’t replace the treasure of His love and my relationship with Him with the treasure of this house.
As the second scheduled date for the hearing approached, we continued to pray and were relieved that soon after, the auction date would follow and that the home would become bank-owned, not only because that would allow us to begin to get involved in the process (assuming our current home was under contract) but because someone would be taking care of our treasure. You see, this is a treasure in the rough. Big time. Last time I peeked inside the home, I noticed the floors were swelling in the living room– evidence of water damage. I hear a clock ticking in my head when I think about the need to get someone in there to take care of the poor thing before any more damage is done. I hate to think about it just sitting there neglected like it is. So when the date of the hearing had passed, I rejoiced thinking, only a few more weeks until auction time, and this house will get some attention again.
Then, I decided to call the law firm involved in the process to confirm the auction date was still scheduled for June. Well… it’s not. Now it is scheduled for August, because the hearing had to be pushed back until July due to someone not having all the paperwork in order. It was so discouraging to hear this. While I recognize that it is good for Will and I in the sense that we don’t have a contract yet on our current house, my heart sunk as I thought about two more months passing, a possible increase in water damage, and who knows what else happening…
I shared this new information with Will, who had just arrived home from work, and took our dog outside in the back yard. As I walked around, I kind of cried out to God in my head (and perhaps with some tears) over the frustrating process. I asked Him what He was doing in all of this and pleaded with Him yet again to remove the desire for this home if it is not to be ours. I walked back inside and went over to my computer to check my email (which I do rather compulsively). I noticed the Proverbs 31 devotion in my inbox that I knew had been there all morning but that I hadn’t bothered to read yet. As I clicked on it I couldn’t help but stop in my tracks at the title. “Divine Delays”. I could have stopped there, because those two words ministered to me in that moment like not much else could, but I did read the whole thing through. Then I went back and stared at the title some more. And I knew that God was answering my cries to Him in the backyard. I knew that He was reminding me, again, that He is in control. That not only did He know the delay would happen, but that His hand was in it.
And I thanked Him.
And now, we wait.
Dancing in the Mundane 