“Strick, we just got pre-approved for a house!” I yelled on the phone.
“Quit playing girl.” He said, not really convinced.
As I told him the story about what had just happened, he started to get really excited too.
“Now we have to have to find a house in two weeks in order to be in the house by Christmas.” I said.
“Hey, if God was able to get us approved then I know there’s a house for us.” He said.
I immediately started house hunting. I found a realtor and had her to show us everything available in this one neighborhood we wanted to live in. We hated them all!
We had gotten preapproved for a loan. Could we really expect to live in the neighborhood we had been driving through for 6 months? Maybe that was too much. Maybe we should just be happy to find a home we liked even if it wasn’t in our dream location.
So we expanded our search and finally narrowed it down to 3 houses. Each was a nice home. 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, 2 car garage, new or recently built. Each was a place we could see ourselves living in, but something didn’t seem quite right. We had to decide on house by Monday morning to ensure that we could finish the process in time for Christmas, but I couldn’t get the other neighborhood out of my mind. We made a decision that we would pick one on Saturday morning.
Early Saturday morning, I woke up and prayed about the house. I heard God tell me to go back to the neighborhood and look again. So Edwin and I got up and went to search one more time. We looked up and down every street, but there was nothing new. As we turned down one street, we saw a familiar face. It was a teacher from the school where Edwin was an assistant principle. We stopped to say hello.
She asked what we were doing and we told her our dilemma.
She asked us if we liked her house. From the outside, it was everything we had envisioned. She invited us in to check it out. We LOVED IT!!!! This was the house we had dreamed about. Then she said….
“If you like this house, you will love the house next door.”
“Great, I thought except the house next door isn’t for sale.” I thought
“There’s not a sign out, but the house next door is for sale. Our builder built both of them. I even know where the key is. Let me show you around.”
“Is this really happening?” I wondered as she went to the yard opened the secret key stash and let us in.
We walked in and she was right. WE loved the house! This was the house, I had dreamed of for my first home. No one had ever lived there! It was built for us even though the builder didn’t know us! We said we wanted it so she called her builder. He came over and we hashed out the deal before the realtor could get there (but we still let her get her commission b/c it was the right thing to do).
We got the contract approved, the loan completed and then the inspector found a problem! We needed a structural engineer to come tell the builder how to fix it. They told us we shouldn’t get our hopes up because with this delay there is NO way we would close by December 22 the Friday before Christmas. What they didn’t know is that because of the loan and the house, I was fully persuaded. I just kept saying we would be in our house for Christmas. My well meaning friends tried to tell me to use wisdom. Our realtor and our banker told me they didn’t want me to be disappointed, but it was TOO late to talk me out of my faith.
I had only been tithing a year and I had watched God to the impossible, pay our bills, give Edwin a better job, clean up our credit and keep our house hidden for us until we could find it. There was no way I was about to let an inspector’s report stop me from getting in my house in time for Christmas.
While Edwin worked, I packed our apartment because faith always has corresponding action!
Four days before the deadline, the engineer came out and discovered there was an easy solution to the problem. The builder came right over and fixed it. We were all clear to close except, our closing complany was booked! It didn't look like we would be able to close. Once again the realtor, the banker and my well meaning friends advised me to be reasonable, but who needs reason when you have a Word from God? The Thursday before the deadline, the closing company called to say had someone cancelled!
Friday, December 22, 2000, we closed on our house! We started moving in that night because the boxes where already packed! We spent our Christmas in our dream home, in our dream neighborhood. God had done more than come through, He had exceeded our expectations!!!
Oh yea, we were able to buy new furniture because the week we closed, the school district gave the employees a bonus so we got our furniture DEBT FREE! DId I mention, they hadn't given bonuses in the last several years?
We got involved in God’s system of giving and receiving and honoring Him with the tithe and HE did what we had been trying to do for years! I’ve learned that God is not a taker. The tithe is not to take from us! It’s to connect us with Heaven’s best. Tithing and giving makes God a partner in our finances allowing Him to put His Super on our natural.
We practiced giving and receiving for 10 years and we’ve watched God exceed our expectations time and time again. We’ve used our faith to get a bigger house (cause 5 kids in 1700 square feet is not a blessing). We used our faith to pay rent and mortgages for other people. We have given away cars, furniture, food, vacations and we’ve watched God exceed our expectations.
Hope this helps you to keep giving (or start) and to expect God to help you. He really does take pleasure in your prosperity!
