As we were doing our taxes this year Eric and I were paging through paperwork looking for documentation regarding the purchase of our home. It brought back memories of just how amazing our home selling process was. And how faithful God was to us.
We had our house listed for awhile when they extended the "first time home buyers" tax credit to "long time" homeowners--people who had owned their home for at least 5 years. We knew getting that was a total longshot since the tax credit expired on April 30 and we wouldn't reach 5 years of owning our home until April 28. So we'd literally have to sell our house and find the new one and close within those two days. Highly unlikely, right? Yes, we had pretty much figured that would never happen.
And then along came March. By this point we'd had the house on the market for 9 months and were growing weary of the entire process. But then, finally, we received and accepted our first offer. And with a leap of faith we put the closing on April 29th...which would give us about a month to find a house to move into and get the tax credit. And on March 29th we finalized our offer on the house we now live in...giving us a month to move out and into our new house. Neatly clinching our tax credit but a mere one day margin.
I remember we were in total awe at the time because it just seemed so unreal. That was absolutely no way we could have orchestrated that, it was a God thing. Going through our taxes and seeing the corresponding dates...April 28, 2005 we purchased our first home and April 29, 2010 we sold it. The home we purchased was actually listed on the same day as our first home...just 5 years later.
The entire journey of selling our home taught me a huge lesson. God's timing is perfect. Throughout those long months of trying to sell our home I certainly envisioned what would be the "right" timing. I saw the house I wanted come and go and couldn't imagine finding another home I would love. But we did. And we would not change the way things happened.
Our home how we first saw it. It looks a little bit different now...but not a lot! We hope to "beautify" the front a bit more this summer. Hopefully with Eric being done with school we'll have a bit more time!
I've surprised myself a bit with this pregnancy. As much as I want to "control" when baby makes an appearance I know that I can't. And I don't need to. God's timing is so much better than mine. He's proven that to me time and time again. I get it :-) And every time I feel myself wanting to snatch back the "control" (as if I really have any!) I just remind myself that I don't need it. Every time I think I know how to do something the best way, God shows me that His way is much, much better.
