August 5

   Rejoicing today at the goodness of God! Even when we doubt, question our decisions, make mistakes, fall short…He still has a plan for us and that plan is a good plan because He is for us and He loves us!! In our weakness, He is strong…embracing surrender to His plan is our greatest strength!!

     You may wonder how I can be so sure. Normally I would probably just tell you past experience, learning who He says we are in Christ and holding tightly to the belief His Word is true.  In a word, by faith. All of these things are true, but today I experienced tangible proof.  After ten and a half years, I am finally letting go a huge part of my life… My home from birth until the day I walked down the isle to marry; my children spent a lot of their childhood visiting with their grandparents in this home and it was an extension of our home. Many memories have been made in the 53 years this house has been home to my parents and has been in our family. Over the last 10 years, both my son and daughter have spent time here with their spouse as newly married couples. Many memories! I was not as prepared as I thought but knew the time had come and for the last several years we had began praying that when it did, God would send the right buyer quickly, show us what to ask and direct us through the process. We had also asked several friends to join us in this prayer. We know it would be a challenge because of area and because of the volatility in the housing market over the last several years. We have watched as prices dropped steadily for several years in a row and the market was flooded with homes in that area. 

      Having said all this, fourteen days ago, I placed the home I grew up in on the market to sale. I knew this day was coming and now it had finally arrived.  We had prayed about everything: asking price, agent, a prepared buyer, guidance in the whole process. Many might wonder about bothering God with prayers of such things, but I learned a long time ago that God cares about us even in the small things! He tells us, “Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses every thought, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7). I believe our God  cares about everything concerning His sons and daughters! For goodness sake, He knows the number of hairs on our head! 

    Back to the story, fourteen days ago today, mid afternoon, the for sale sign was placed.  Several folks have looked at the property and at least three have been pretty interested. An offer came in Sunday night near bedtime, significantly lower than our asking price. It was from a non-profit organization whose mission is to help people. Refusing to be shaken by the lower number, we prayed and prepared our counter-offer then went to sleep believing God was still answering our original prayers. A Counter-offer was submitted on our behalf, and countered in an e-mail by their agent (not an official counter-offer).  It was only slightly higher than the original offer, while we had countered with an amount exactly half way between each of our original numbers. Because it was a charitable organization, we felt that was the right thing to do. We choose to decline their second offer, knowing several others were interested and we had only been advertised for a short time. 

     I have to admit when I first got up today after declining the unofficial offer last night, my initial thought was should we have declined…but…I immediately captured that thought and countered it with this one: Even when we doubt, question our decisions, make mistakes, fall short…He still has a plan for us and that plan is a good plan!

      The long and short of this is that my counter offer was made at 3:04 p.m.; buyers agent responded with non-official counter offer at 3:56 p.m.; the buyer signed our original counter offer at 6:02 p.m.; both, before I saw second offer and three hours before I declined it. All that was missing was the buyers agent’s signature. As of now, the contract is complete and binding.  The agents refusal of offer never was received and my agent received a signed acceptance on our first counter offer.  I fully believe that God, in all His sovereignty, had His hand all over this transaction for the benefit of all parties concerned. I also believe He will see it through to completion at the closing table because of surrendered hearts! In the meantime, no doubts or questions because even if this falls through and…

             

Even when we doubt, question our decisions, make mistakes, fall short…He still has a plan for us and that plan is a good plan because He is for us and He loves us!! In our weakness, He is strong…embracing surrender to His plan is our greatest strength!!