When we decided to make an offer on the house last week, I completely fixated on all the negatives: it needs a complete kitchen and bathroom overhaul; it needs new windows; it needs A/C or some kind of cooling system installed; it needs a new garage door and a major landscaping plucking. Big things there to fixate on.
After placing the offer and imagining us living there, I swung the complete other direction and drooled over all the positives: there’s a third floor attic that can be turned into a fabulous room one day; there’s a full unfinished basement with level floors and high ceilings which could also be turned into an amazing guest space one day; the house has a laundry chute from the second floor to the basement (I have *always* wanted a house with a laundry chute); there is an amazing study with a walk-out porch on the second floor too, so Craig could finally have a real office to write in; the house is across the street from good friends (two sets of them!) and is within walking distance from other good friends.
I think the friends thing is what I will be most disappointed about if, when it’s all said and done, we end up not getting to live there. Oh, and the laundry chute – I’m going to be seriously disappointed by not getting to have the laundry chute.
When the bank turned this into a game of real estate roulette, I lost my nervous edge. I’m not worried anymore. It really might not happen, but I’m honestly not devastated by that. So, as I said before, the list price was X. We offered 40 below X and they came back with 22 above X. Then we offered 30 below X and they offered 12 above X. We said, “No thanks,” but told them our offer was still on the table should they change their minds.
And now we wait. This is what usually makes me crazy in a short-tempered, frazzled, get-lost-while-driving sort of way. But I’ve had one of the most seemingly cliche verses* popping into my head for the past week. What you need to understand is that I don’t lean toward the cliche very often, nor do random verses I memorized decades ago come popping into my head at random times very often. But in this case, I’m very glad it keeps popping into my head. I need to hear it and, hearing it, I need to believe it. God does know the plans He has for us. He’s declared it. His plans will prosper us and not harm us. His plans will bring us a future and a hope. And His plans could very well include this house we’ve prayed for, or could mean staying exactly where we are. I’m okay with it either way. I wasn’t last week. So this is the growth of forced patience and while not something I seek, is something I’m glad for.
God knows we desire to do good things with the bigger space. He also knows we’re capable of doing good things in the space He’s already provided. The question I’ve had to answer is do I know that? I think now I finally do.
*By cliche, I only mean that it gets used over and over and over to the point that it seems to lose its meaning. I’m sure I’m the only one who has experienced this, so please don’t be offended that I called a Bible verse cliche. Of course it’s not. It’s the people who use it who tend to be. Sometimes. I’m done now.
5 Comments
May 19, 2008 at 1:31 pm
Megan, I understand the waiting. We are trying to SELL our home right now and it has been agonizing. I am at the point where I’m ready to stay where I am and maybe that’s just where God wanted me to be.
Also, we have a laundry chute in our home now–one in the upstairs hall and one in the kitchen. I LOVE them. I will definitely miss having them when/if we move!
Keep us posted.
May 19, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Hi! I found your blog at God’s World News, which my daughter received this year, so I’ve been keeping up with your nesting instincts saga…And now I’m introducing myself, not wanting to continue eavesdropping.
Jeremiah 29:11 is one of THE best verses to cling to in rocky times, and one of my favorite–cliche or not. God means what He says, even when we’ve heard it a hundred times or when we’ve been waiting so long, we wonder if the promise did actually get worn out by so much use (our human mentality).
We’ve lived in our dream house for five years now…farmhouse in the country, down a winding road with a (seasonal) creek running in back, complete with some kind of upstairs (a full attic awaiting remodeling), a large “country kitchen” and walk-in pantry, a laundry/mud room (not just a closet for the washer and dryer, with dirty clothes piled on the hallway floor that everyone has to jump over on their way through), a bay window and window seat in our master bedroom that overlooks the creek and hills (we watch the moon setting in the morning sometimes and the sunsets at evening, of course), and my old-fashioned Victorian bathroom, with a clawfoot tub, pedestal sink, black/white checkered floor, with a built-in vanity and room for a large dresser. The only problem is, we live in the middle of nowhere, forty-five minutes away from my closest friends and shopping and half an hour from church (& the school where my husband works). With houses not selling here in California, and my restlessness, my prayers have been answered with, “Be content”. So I’m enjoying my home, and e-mailing and calling my friends a lot, and trying not to complain about gas prices and the distances we’re driving, etc.
You’re in my prayers. I’ll keep in touch.
Blessings!
May 19, 2008 at 9:08 pm
It’s also a cliche verse because Karen Kingsbury quotes it 100 times in every one of her books. But it totally applies to your situation right now. Still hoping you get the house. Stinky bank!
May 19, 2008 at 9:48 pm
Oh Jen – when we moved from Colorado the market dropped right when we put our house up. *That* was also agonizing. It took our house 6 months to sell in what had been a 2-weeks or less selling market. We moved three months into that and weren’t even there. When it was all said and done, we sold the house, but barely broke even. Lost all our equity. Stressful for sure. Hope your situation resolves itself quickly for you!
Hi Debbie! I’m glad you dropped by today. I have a secret wish to live in the country and have my own chickens. I didn’t exactly think about the cost of gas to get to other things, though, so thanks for that perspective. Still, dream house and all. Pretty nice!
Chelsea – Who is Karen Kingsbury?
May 20, 2008 at 11:32 am
Seriously? Karen Kingsbury is a cheesy Christian fiction author who’s written several dozen books about sappy characters in ridiculous situations that don’t get resolved until the last of a 5-book series. And in every one of her books the characters “hear” God speaking Jer. 29:11 multiple times when they’re facing tough soap-operaish circumstances.
Sadly, I’ve read most of her books. They’re a mindless escape, worse than TV.