For Sale (Part 3)

When I was 9 years old I had a shirt that said, "I can't be high maintenance, there's nothing to fix." Whether it's admirable or not, my personality has always leaned towards fancy things and strong opinions. It's something I have to keep prioritized, as I bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. It's not ungodly to have nice things (Job, Daniel, Joseph, Esther, the Proverbs 31 woman etc.), but the moment you make those things more important than faith in your God/obedience to His commands, you miss the mark.

When I lived in England for the semester, I had a fireplace in my bedroom. It gave off Pride and Prejudice or Downton Abbey vibes, both of which are ideal. This picture is a shot of the master bedroom in the house we toured that Monday. You can't see the two full baths, the walk-in closet, or the laundry room. It's the kind of room (on the first floor) that makes me stop and daydream about the life we could have lived here.

We walked from room to room that way, dropping the "love" word at every turn. The house was already under contract, but the walk-through confirmed for both Matt and I that it checked every box we'd ever had for our family. IN THIS POST  I wrote over eight years ago, I talked about how brick was ideal. How white houses with black shutters were ideal.

On one hand, the home wasn't updated recently, but on the other hand, it's the kind of home we wouldn't be able to afford if it were updated. Besides, if they had made updates (to the kitchen/bathrooms/flooring etc.), chances are I wouldn't love every decision, and I'd want to redo bits of it anyway to better match my taste. Our realtor also said that if you moved the house a quarter mile away to the next city, it would double the cost of house. The goodness of God piling up around us, putting the impossible within reach. But, still, under contract.

We began praying as a family that the house would fall out of contract, and we'd get the chance to offer on it. No ill will towards whoever had it under contract. Maybe they'd decide they didn't want to have to renovate a kitchen from the 80s, or they wanted to live on the water or something. As a couple, as a family, as individuals, out loud, and to ourselves, we prayed for the chance to offer on this home. From Monday to Friday, we prayed.

Our girls listened and watched and prayed along side us... I spoke about it publicly on Instagram. I wanted everyone to know that when we got the chance to offer on this house it wasn't just "we like it, and we can afford it" situation. God had to do it.

Matt was praying through the miracles in the Bible. Nothing is too hard for God. This was a small thing. Impossible for us to accomplish, but easy for God.

The home inspection on the house was scheduled for Friday. On Friday our realtor called us and said, "I'm about to blow your minds, guys. You're not going to believe this..." but the thing is, we did believe it. It was exactly what we'd been praying for.