In exactly one month, we are off! We have to remind ourselves to be excited--not because we aren't--but rather because life has been very "full" since we've made the decision to move and serve in Nicaragua. Things are wrapping up here--school's out, Vacation Bible School is over (Ruth and I helped lead this at our church this year), we've had the infamous "garage sale" and now live in a mostly empty house, the paperwork for Nicaraguan residency is complete, we had an incredible time of sharing and worship and eating with a huge group of friends and family at First Church on June 2, and our house is sold.
God's faithfulness has already been displayed in so many ways, through so many people, in so many situations. As things fall into place in ways we could not have orchestrated had we tried, we must give credit to our Maker. One specific way that we've been amazed was through the selling of our house.
We were quite sure we were going to have to rent our home, due to the low market value of our home and our urban neighborhood. We were okay with the plan to rent, though we knew that it could come with some headaches depending on the renters. So we worked really hard to find renters from our church or other people who would invest in the neighborhood which we love so much. We had multiple prospective tenants (and a property manager) walk through a few times, but time and time again it didn't work out for a variety of reasons. This was really discouraging, and we began to worry a bit about the "plan" for the house.
Ruth's parents lived a few blocks from us at this time, and decided to attempt to sell their house. They had an offer the day it was listed.
I was skeptical, but I agreed to list our own home and hope for the same luck. It took A LOT of work to make our busy, cluttered home "showable," but we were up for the challenge. Pictures were taken, and the house was listed online. The next day, by 9:00 AM, five showings were scheduled. Ruth had to get the house ready ALONE and abandon ship with the three kids for the entire day. That night, we had two offers. We accepted one of the offers (higher than our asking price!), and to make a rather long story short, the house SOLD and we are now renting our home from the buyers (up until July 20, I think). So yes, I suppose we can say that our house sold in one day, but anyone who has gone through the process knows that there are countless steps between an offer and closing (and I was truly convinced that each one was going to go completely wrong).
So, yup, in hindsight--all the issues with renting out our home, all the worry and silly hours pouring over zillow.com to check property values, convincing myself that the appraisal would flop or the inspection would reveal something major--God had it worked out. I am thinking that He is going to show up a few times like this in the process of beginning a new chapter of life. Closed doors might just mean that another door is open that we just don't know about. And I need to learn a thing or two about trust. . .
