For Sale (Part 4)

 

The other realtor had made a mistake. He had mixed up the houses he had on the market. There were two offers in on this home, but the home was not under contract. It never had been. The inspection scheduled for Friday was a different house. They were accepting offers. God had answered our prayers, and we had the chance to offer.

That day, we were out of state picking up materials for a building project our church is involved in. Matt had taken the day off, so we could drive as a family, load up this wood, and bring it back to the church. We were actively choosing to seek first God's kingdom, when he added this answer to prayer.

Here's a story I shared on Instagram when we found out:

Big faith. That's what God was giving us. That's the gift He was giving our girls. We believed, and He was helping our unbelief. We wrote up a full-price offer and asked for closing costs. We were on Cloud Nine.

They responded with, "Now that we have three offers, we're calling for Highest and Best. One of the offers is cash, and they're willing to come up to asking price. We'll give them til Tuesday to prove their funds (it was Friday)."

Our realtor explained the odds. To beat a cash offer, at this price point, we'd have to raise our offer by $75,000. I did the quick math. If we bought another house (that wasn't our forever home), and then moved again in 5-10 years, we'd be spending as much or more money total long term, so even though I could justify it logically, it was too much.

Matt was unmoved, "God has gotten us this far. We hold." We told them we'd cover closing costs, our realtor (and friend) gave up some of his commission to make our offer stronger, and we prayed until Tuesday.

During the waiting, God gave me the verses in Exodus 14:13-14: "And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will shew to you to day:... The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace."

While I was brushing Charlotte's hair that week, soft, blonde waves falling around her shoulders, she said to me, "Aren't you excited about the house, mom!? The kitchen is so big, we could feed a lot of people, and there's a lot of room for paper dolls, and I love the attic...!" I smiled at her and responded, "Yes! I love that house, Charlotte! But we aren't the only people who want it. Other people want to give them money for the house also." 

Charlotte thought for a moment, "Oh..."

And then with all the faith of a child she said, "But.. are they praying?"