We had lived for six years in a wonderful neighborhood with awesome neighbors, but for some unexplainable reason, both my husband and I felt it was time to move. We started a 3-year search for the perfect home, because I wasn’t moving into anything less than perfect! Moves are miserable! Can I hear an “Amen”?
We toured homes on the market in our neighborhood every time a new one was listed, and we looked around town a little too. At one point, my husband had decided to build on a heavily wooded, overly expensive lot in a hoity-toity ‘hood nearby, but it was snatched out from under us by an older couple as soon as we got serious about it! Imagine that, and it had been for sale for quite a while, too!
We had explored another neighborhood nearby that had an empty lot in it, but the word around town was that the owner was asking an exorbitant amount and had disappointed several interested buyers over the years. It was right smack in the middle of a well established, small gated neighborhood, up against the Natchez Trace, on a coveted cul-de-sac with no trees to remove (at $1K each). It was really, really nice, but out of our league. We had our realtor contact the owner anyway, but it was a no-go.
One day, I was driving into my neighborhood and talking to the Lord. Out loud. I asked Him, “Lord, why did you give us this prompting to move but nothing’s worked out?” Immediately, He spoke to my heart: “I’m waiting on you.” Well, that got me really thinking. Waiting for me to do what? Then the verse floated through my mind. “Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” (Psalms 37:4) I gave this some more thought before I pulled into my driveway. I’m living for Him. He’s my Numero Uno, so I guess it was my time to be blessed.
Then I really considered what was the desire of my heart. Before, I was looking only at what we could afford in my estimate. Since God let me know He was in control of this thing, I decided the pie-in-the-sky empty lot in the small gated neighborhood on which to build a dream house was my heart’s desire.
The next day (or maybe the day after), my husband was in his office before his busy day got started, and one of his partners stopped by. He asked, “How’s the house search going?” When my husband explained the situation with a certain lot that we had decided we’d like to pursue, this precious man remembered that the owner of that property was an old family friend. He made a call, the owner of the lot called my husband, and she offered to sell it to us for the price she had paid for it many, many years ago!
Thus began a wonderful journey of planning our dream home. We know we’ve been blessed!
Lord, help me to never take your blessings for granted. Please also remind me daily that you are in control of every situation in my life, big and small. Thank you, Jesus, for being so amazing! Amen!
