I wish I had logged every moment of this journey up to this point. Unfortunately, I didn't so I'll try to do it justice and then log God's work throughout each step to follow. Something has been stirring in us for some time to turn our finances over to God. I don't mean tithe our 10%. I mean turn it all over to Him and watch Him move. Due to dumb financial decisions that started with student loans and then continued into our marriage with other unnecessary debt, we have felt the burden of being slaves to our own finances. If I'm being honest, it has never felt okay but a deep stirring began a few years ago. It started small and has grown bigger and more constant over time. That constant tug to step into financial freedom has become so clearly a part of what we want. So, we have continued whittling away at debt and worked harder to be good stewards of our money. As that stirring continued to grow just recently, we've begun to look at what else God has for us. What does He want for us? What does He want from us? Where is He leading? Then, I think for no other reason than the leading of the Holy Spirit Kevin and I began to have conversations. What if? I say that it had to be the leading of the Holy Spirit, because this is something I wouldn't have dreamed of considering just a few months ago. What if we sold our house? What if we used the profits to pay off debt, and we bought a true fixer upper aka known as dump after seeing some of the possibilities. We could live in it as we fixed it. The reward would far outweigh the sacrifice. As we kicked around the idea, we found a house that needed lots of work. Some of the work would need to be contracted out but most could be done by us. We met a realtor to see the house. It sat on the market for 56 days with no interest. A few people had looked at it but said it was too much work. We talked to our kids about it. We took them to see it. We talked about what it could mean for us immediately and later down the road. The kids much to my surprise were excited about the possibility. So, we made an offer on a house that sat on the market for 56 days with no interest. The kids asked several times over the next 24 hours if we had heard anything on the house. On the way to school the next day, Shelby said "Mom I really want that house." I told her we needed to pray and ask God what He has for us. I immediately heard her in the back seat saying, "God, what do you have for us?" The same day we made our offer, a cash offer was also placed by an investment company. Of course, the seller took the cash offer. Can you blame them? That excitement and possibility only made us more excited about what could happen. So, we continued our search. There's not much out there. If it stays on the market more than 24 hours, it is either way overpriced or is an absolute dump. We happened upon another house as we broadened our search a bit. I know God will put us right where He wants us. I know He is working for our good. I know He has great things for us. I trust Him fully. So, we were scheduled to see the other house. I was very skeptical. The pictures online look less than desirable, but I'm willing to sacrifice to experience financial freedom. Much to my surprise, the house was really great. It needs work for sure, but that's what we are looking for. It has so much potential, and it would be such a great place for our kids. Everything about it seemed right. So, we made an offer. It was our first offer and it was very low. We expected a counteroffer for sure. We thought we'd just see what happened. As we waited for news on the offer, we continued with 24 hours of life. I had dinner with a friend and in our discussion about what was going on in our family and the offer on the house, she asked if that would mess our kids up for school. The house is just over the state line. That conversation put me into a bit of a panic. That thought never occurred to me. My kids go to school where we teach. Why would that be a problem? Well, apparently it is a problem when you cross the state line. I had a quick conversation with our school registrar who confirmed that my kids could not be in my school district if they don't live in Arkansas. Now, I only have one kid in my district with me. The other two school-aged kids are with Kevin. It is a district-by-district choice whether or not this is allowed. So, Kevin has talked with his admin. He has visited with his assistant superintendent who is looking into it for us. This weekend, we have battled discouragement along with constant reminders that God is fully and completely in control. In the meantime, our very low offer was accepted on the house. I've had I'll Give Thanks playing in my head nonstop along with a few other songs. I've woken up in the middle of the night singing in my head and believing for great things. I don't know what tomorrow holds. I know our house hits the market on Friday, and if it goes anything like every other house in our area we'll have several offers before Monday. I know God has great things for us. I'm excited to see what He's up to. I know His plans are always bigger and better than any I could have dreamed for myself.
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