I don’t outright talk about religion here–even though it is a HUGE part of my personal life–because I feel like it is something vastly personal and I never want any friends to feel excluded because their beliefs do not match my own. But since my word for this year is FAITH, I am going to share a few posts about how things are going with my word–and that means I am going to share some very personal, vulnerable aspects of my own faith and the journey I’ve been on this year. I hope that instead of feeling excluded or triggered, you can see your own personal journey in what I share and look for our commonality. If you are currently in a place where religion makes you feel offended or upset, you might want to pass on this series. My goal is to share in hopes that it helps bring joy and hope to your life. If you are not in a place where you feel open to someone else’s perspective on faith, this will be here if and when you are ever interested in the future.
In early February, my husband and I both felt the nudge. You know, like I mentioned in yesterday’s post. That nudge that moves us to do things we probably would not have done otherwise. We felt like we should prepare to sell our home. It wasn’t based on any sort of market indicators and it definitely wasn’t based on convenience, but we couldn’t deny the feeling. Ironically, while our power was out and our pipes were frozen, we were discussing what home improvement projects we should do before we’d be ready to sell our home in the future. One of the biggest? New carpet. We’ve lived here for almost 15 years—ON THE SAME CARPET! Carpet is only in three of the bedrooms and on the stairs, but still, it was time. So we asked a trusted friend for a carpet installer she recommends. She didn’t really have one and we were trying to figure out how we could find someone when pipes burst in the attic above our twins’ bedroom and the contractors who came in immediately ripped up all of the old carpet and pad in that room because it was thoroughly soaked. Well, we thought, there’s one room we’ll be replacing…
But then miracles came into place and we were able to get new carpet and pad for the other rooms (and stairs) in the house. The general contractors who came to do the plumbing and sheetrock repairs got us in touch with a guy who would get carpet for the one bedroom that flooded to match the other carpet we’d gotten and then he’d install all of the carpet. We were overjoyed to find anybody who was willing to do our little job at such a busy time because we knew that there were lots of jobs much bigger than ours that would pay far more—busted pipes in Houston were as easy to find as fire ants!
Before the carpet was replaced, we managed to clear everything out of the kids’ bedrooms and we painted the walls. Some dear friends shared some old dressers, nightstands, and a chest of drawers they didn’t need anymore and when we moved the kids back into their bedrooms, their rooms were wonderfully decluttered, photo-ready spaces.
But it wasn’t until April that my husband and I both had that unmistakeable feeling that it was time to move forward. We reached out to our dear friend who is a realtor. I didn’t expect to get so emotional on the phone with her, but I basically melted into an emotional puddle as I told her that we felt like it was time for us to sell our home. I am active in my community. I love where we live. I love our house. But I couldn’t deny what I knew: He wants us to move.
And the last time I felt that strong push, we moved to Houston in the first place; even though we had no jobs here, no family here, and had to leave great jobs, friends, and family behind. And even though it was difficult to leave, I have loved living here! I never would have known to choose this place, but He knew. And I listened. So, with that same FAITH, I moved forward.
And our realtor began telling us about a friend of hers who had a 5-bedroom, 4 bathroom home that would probably fill many of our needs. She said that this friend had been wanting to sell her home for a while now, but every time she was going to list it, she changed her mind. She said, “Maybe she’s been waiting for you…” I instantly felt like maybe she was right. I felt like we should move forward and see how things felt.
And even though the house wasn’t exactly what we thought we were looking for, we know from experience that the Lord knows better than we do. So we moved forward. We wanted to be sensitive to the other woman’s timetable. We were not in a hurry. We were willing to wait. So our realtor sat down with her friend and came back to us with a timeline. She asked us to get our house ready to go on the market in a week and half, so we could sell our home and be ready to close on it in time to meet the other homeowner’s timeline. We were a bit shocked because we weren’t ready to move so quickly, but we did it. In about 12 days, our realtor and a photographer were in our home taking pictures and we were exhausted! Our house went on the market the very next day and 6.5 hours later, we had our first offer (already above our asking price) from the only showing of that first day.
Things seemed to be falling into place. My husband is a very private person, so he wasn’t really talking about our situation with anyone and I was too emotional to talk about things with most people. I felt like a piece of my heart was being ripped out. Understatement alert: I am not great with change. I am working on it, but it’s difficult for me, so I had been looking at pictures of the new house, trying to imagine our family living there. I tried imagining us living on that street, with different neighbors, walking with the kids and our puppy Koko to the elementary school around the corner. I was putting my trust in the Lord and working hard to let go of my many insecurities and fears. I was growing my FAITH. Little did I know just how much I would need it sooner than we could have predicted.
