Our Old House

I keep up with the housing market in our area, and just for kicks, the area we owned a townhouse in up until about a year and a half ago. So, here's the verdict: We purchased the townhouse in May of 2004 for $340,000.00 - - - - - - we sold it in November 2005, a mere 18 months later for $480,000.00 (and, before you ask, almost all of the profit was turned around and put back into this house - we do not have a huge chunck of money sitting in an off shore account or anything) - - - - - the lady who bought it from us sold it just a couple of months ago in June of 2007 for $458,000.00 - - - - - yikes!!! It always kind of sucks when you loose money on a property deal. I pray that she is doing ok financially.

Hmmmmm, it seems like we bought at the right time and sold at the right time. God is amazing isn't He? I have issues with trusting God - - - I have for years and years, and it only got worse after my father's suicide. But, here's the thing: no matter what, God is still faithful. How else do you explain that we only looked at houses 2 times before we found the townhouse we purchased in the Bay Area? I walked into the house, and 10 minutes later walked out, hugged Shawn and said, "buy that house for me, that's the one I want". I 'just knew' that the townhouse was the one. And, after we purchased it we found out that the person who was selling it had just lost her mother to cancer I think - but here's the kicker - she was a Teen Mania intern just a year or two prior. We bought our house from a Teen Mania intern. Very cool!

On top of that, about 18 months later I got EXTREMELY antsy living there and told Shawn that we needed to sell the townhouse because I was no longer comfortable there. Due to a set of, what I recognize now, as God ordained situations, we sold the townhouse for the price of $480k - a price which God had given me even before we had the house appraised and evaluated by our realtor.

THEN - it gets even better!!! We, at the same time was looking for houses in Placerville because we knew this is where God wanted us. I found a house that was in dire need of work, a task that Shawn and I thought we were up to at the time, and I knew that this was the house we needed to buy! And, one more time, God told me exactly how much we were going to pay for it. I don't want to get too much into detail here - but there is no way I could have known either of those prices....AND....when we went to purchase the house we are currently in, we offered something different than what we paid for. We offered $370k for it, but, NOW GET THIS, our realtor in Placerville calls me and says, "I know you said that $370k was approved, but I feel like we can get it for $365" - - - uhhhhhh, the price that God had told me a number of weeks before that. How cool is God????

All in all, looking back on it, God was the chess master in this situation. I can see looking back how faithful and amazingly coordinated His steps were for the purchase and sale of the townhouse and of course for the purchase of this home. I am amazed!!!! We bought at exactly the right time and sold at EXACTLY the right time in the Bay Area. Had we waited, like we were counseled to by a number of people, we would have lost quite a bit of money.

I find that God works in the most amazing of circumstances. God knew, of course, that this is something that would get my attention. I am sitting here hoping with everything within me that things work out here in Placerville for us. I need more work, Shawn needs to make more money at his job ventures, yet I still question whether everything is going to work out. Seeing our house purchase, sale and purchase, I would say it's gonna all work out just fine. But I have never been one to be satisfied by the unknown. I wonder if this is something I should work on??? Uh, yeah - I think so. I need to trust God, because ultimately He, and only He is the chess master in my life and in Shawn's life. Regardless of the moves He makes, even the unexpected ones, He is still in control. And, the best part about it is that He always wins the game. Check mate!