Wednesday, December 18, 2013

The Move, Part 4

In my mind, I was trying to determine what the next step would be. In my spirit, I knew God was unfolding the plan at His usual pace - not in a hurry - and I might as well relax. We had let go of the Bent Oaks house, and I was still pondering my dream. Did it mean to go forward with the townhouse? But that was in Victoria Commons, and my dream involved Victoria Hills. There weren't any listings in the Hills. Confusion!

Kris called me for us to decide our next step. I felt we needed to call the Realtor we had left a message with about the unlisted Victoria Hills house one more time. He called and finally got her. She said that the house had been taken off Zillow because it wasn't ready yet, but if we could meet her there on Friday, the 8th (it was Monday, the 4th), she would show it to us. The current renters were moving out the 8th, and if we put our application in online right away we could have first dibs on the house. There were two other people inquiring about it, but we had contacted her first. I raced to the computer, filled out the application and started counting down the minutes until Friday.

Friday rolled around, and we met the Realtor at the house. (Another side note is that she did a walk-through at 9:00 with the renters moving out and wanted us to meet her there at 9:30. If she had given me the option of any time in the whole day, I would have chosen 9:30, as that is right after I've dropped Judah off and have an almost child-free moment.) Kris had taken the morning off so we could look at the house together. We walked in the house, went from one room to the next with wide eyes and big smiles on our faces. The house was perfect for us! We looked at each other and said, "Oh yes, this is our house!"

We told the Realtor we for sure wanted it and wanted to know how quickly we could get in it. Our closing date was a week away, and we were eager to only move once without having to bunk with Kris' parents in between. We have a great relationship with them and felt that not moving our four children into their home for even a few days would be the best way to keep things happy. She said she needed to get people in there to touch up paint, clean and shampoo carpets. We told her we didn't need the walls touched up (we have three boys and figured that would be a waste) but would wait for the house and carpet cleaning. She said she would try to get it done by our closing date. About an hour later she called and said she had the cleaner coming the next day and the carpet cleaner coming Monday and that we could start moving things into the garage starting Sunday with our lease starting Tuesday. That was three days before our closing date on Friday.

Through this whole process, Kris and I kept looking at each other and saying, "For real?!" We have seen God again and again show us how much He wants to show us His care for us. Every detail.

This house that we're in, I'm not sure why, but the people who originally owned it painted every single room a different color. Some of the rooms even have more than one color. Seriously, when you sit at our kitchen table, you can see nine different colors. Nine. You know what? Almost every single color matches our furniture and needs perfectly. A pretty pink room for Susanna. A tan room for the big boys. Red, green and yellow rooms to go with our couches and chairs and even kitchen dishes. Only poor Judah has a lavender room, but he doesn't know the difference.

I'm sure there are details I am forgetting, but here is what I know: God has invited me and my family on a journey. A journey to experience a fuller measure of His goodness. He wants us to know how limitless His kindness, goodness and generosity are towards us. But for us to see and recognize it we have to quit expecting less.

I am beginning to see how we limit God's ability to bless by grasping for security and the first thing we see that will satisfy whatever we feel we are lacking. Sometimes, in our ability to see the next step we assume God hasn't yet prepared it. We doubt His tender attention to our care. We think we have to figure it all out rather than trusting that He already has it all figured out. So we go with what looks good, what feels safe, what fills a need or a longing...and we sacrifice what we've been asking God for and what He's been standing ready to do all along, just because we are impatient, afraid and insecure. We sacrifice our desires on the alter of security.

But for my family, I declare Isaiah 25:9 and 26:3: "Behold, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us. This is the Lord; We have waited for Him. We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation." and "You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You."

This is our moving journey. Stay tuned for our building journey, coming this spring!

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