Perfect Timing

When Husband and I got married, we moved into his little bachelor house in the Big City. That was fine with me; I had been living in an apartment, and except for the fact that he was keeping his college textbooks in the kitchen cupboards, the living conditions were quite satisfactory.

It was a small house, though, and we knew that as we enlarged our family the living quarters would have to enlarge as well. We'd been married a couple of years when we put this house on the market, intending to buy a larger house in the Big City.

It shouldn't take long to sell, we thought. Husband had kept the house in pristine condition and had updated it cosmetically, and the cozy cottage had an enormous back yard and huge trees in front. We contacted a real estate agent, placed the "For Sale" sign between the huge trees, and waited for offers to start pouring in.

We waited, and waited, and waited. We showed the house often, but it was never just exactly right for buyers. They wanted two bathrooms, or a larger garage, or a basement. The kitchen was too small, the back yard was too big. We knew we didn't want two mortgages, so we kept looking for (and finding) our next dream house in Big City, then watching someone else buy it.

A year passed. Boy#1 was born, we kept showing the house, and buyers kept not making offers. We prayed every day that God would FIND A BUYER ALREADY and let us move on with our lives.

In the meantime, Husband had been asked to teach a few evening classes at his alma mater, Small College, which was about an hour from Big City. It turned out he truly enjoyed teaching. The next fall, a faculty position opened up, and he was offered a job there.

We prayed about the offer, and felt God was moving us in that direction. It would mean I could stay at home with the Boy, which always had been our hope. We even looked at real estate in Small Town, and found the perfect sprawling old home in the perfect location right across the street from Small College. But what about the house in Big City, the one that wouldn't sell, the one I now thought of in less-than-thankful terms?

Finally we decided we had to step out in faith. Husband would live in Small Town, in the unfurnished old house. Boy#1 and I would continue to live in the accursed little house while I stayed in my job and covered that mortgage. We would be a family on the weekends. We signed the contract to buy the big house.

People, on that day, after the little house had been TWENTY-SEVEN MONTHS on the market, our agent called us with an acceptable offer.

On. That. Day.

And the buyer wanted immediate possession, so we wouldn't have to be split up as a family while we waited for closing. We moved into the big house on Boy#1's first birthday. We were amazed.

This was our first experience as a family with God's perfect timing, and it reminded us that He is sovereign, and wise, and He loves us. If our little house had sold in any semblance of when we had planned, we never would have moved to Small Town.

I tell this story today because some dear friends are waiting for their house to sell. S. will stay behind to keep the home fires burning enough to keep pipes from freezing but not enough to call the fire department, and G. will start his new job in another state. It is not the arrangement they would prefer.

But this will work out in His perfect timing, friends. You will be amazed.