Your Answer is on its Way
01/02/2018 17:15
The first fourteen years of our married life included eleven moves in four countries. We took them in our stride, perhaps because we had youth and energy on our side. But during the past six months as we attempted a 12th move …. that was something else altogether. We had never sold a house before and what a learning curve! After slaving feverishly for days, weeks and months on end to create a showpiece home, I assumed that the hardest part of our work was finally behind us. How wrong I was!
Preparing our home for twelve Open inspections over the next eight weeks zapped my energy, as if I'd been struggling up a steep mountain slope with a heavy backpack on a 40 degree day. We’d spend hours moving stuff (brooms, buckets, slippers, chairs, tables and the like) to the garage, convert our home and garden into clutter-free spotless masterpiece for half an hour, then had to lug everything back afterwards so we could actually live in this masterpiece. Weariness hung on us, like heavy trench courts made of concrete. The constant emotional rollercoaster ride of being hopeful one day then having those hopes dashed the next, added rocks of tiredness into the pockets of those same trench coats.
At first, the sale of our home had seemed to go according to plan. Just five days after our first housing inspection, we received an excellent offer and we signed a contract. What joy! Perhaps this house selling business wasn’t so difficult after all. Alas, seven days later, the buyer (whose plans for our home were foiled by the council’s regulations) called it off. And … that was that! Nothing else for it but to go back to plotting, plodding and praying much. We returned to the tedious, tiring task of holding Open Inspections, week after week.
Fast forward a couple of months. Change of topic, (or so it seems). One day recently, I found to my chagrin that our toilet roll supply had dwindled. Hmmm! Would the toilet paper last till my groceries arrived next Monday? Moments later, I went to our laundry cupboard to fetch a clean towel. Imagine my surprise to discover inside it a roll of toilet paper! Unexpected. Timely. Just what I needed! Light dawned. I’d kept a few rolls in our cupboard during our open inspections. I had obviously forgotten to put this one back in its usual place afterwards. How amazing it was that I found it the very moment I needed it.
Sometimes God is silent. For days, weeks, months, years on end. And then … at the nth hour – when all hope has receded, He performs a miracle, the sound of cool welcome rains pattering down, after a long parched summer. My husband anticipated selling our home by Christmas while I’d expected to sell it well before. But there we were, preparing for the final open inspection before Christmas, our hopes receded to a far-away land, disappointment flooding our hearts. We wondered if we should take our home off the market and have some renovations done before trying to sell it again. But the thought was just too hard for me to contemplate. I was so tired—too tired to keep going.
As we trooped out of our home to greet the agent, he surprised us. We had an offer! Fancy that. A little candle of hope was re-ignited. Seven days and two more Inspections later, with an increase of the original offer, we accepted! Hope flew—an eagle soaring high. Like that one roll of toilet paper turning up at a crucial time—God answered once again with perfect precision, so we did sell it before Christmas after all. Perhaps those 12 inspections were to teach me patience, perseverance and trust. God must have known I needed to learn those lessons!
Today, you might be wondering if God has heard your prayers. You might be disappointed at His silence or even feel abandoned by Him. Please don’t give up. These past six months I’ve learnt all over again what an amazing, mighty powerful God we serve. It’s often in the desert seasons that He reveals Himself conspicuously to us. It’s when we are bankrupt of hope that He marches in, waving the flag of impossibility-turned-to-possibility. Your miracle is surely on its way. Hope for it. Pray for it. I am cheering you on. God is too.
“And my God will supply your every need according to the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19