Since we returned from the home school convention this weekend, besides missing Lyndsey I have been busy trying to clean out my school room. Eventually, I'm going to have to clean out every room in my house, but at the moment, the school room is the most demanding.
We are very blessed that we have a large house with a detached "cabana" which consists of one room, a full bathroom, and a walk-in closet. This is our "school room." We purchased this house four and a half years ago, in 2004, which, if you keep up with the housing market, you know that this was just before prices went sky high.
Smart move, babe.
My husband takes care of our investments, financial issues, and real estate. I don't even pay the light bill!! He knows that my math skills leave much to be desired, and since God blessed him with the ability and a love for numbers, there you go.
Anyway, we bought the house with the intent to sell it. It is a wonderful house, tailor made for a large home schooling family. We found it while it was under construction and we got a decent deal on it, but it is just more house than we need and I would rather downsize.
The problem is that the real estate market in our area ballooned completely out of control and then, because the law of physics says that whatever goes up must come down, it came down! Let me rephrase that! The balloon burst and the market did not float gently down - it crashed!
Big time crashed! Like BOOM, SPLAT, BANG crashed!
Thankfully, we had purchased at the low, rather than the high, so, although the crash devastated our profit, it did not land us completely upside down. Just a little off kilter.
About a year and a half ago, my husband felt like God was telling him to prepare for something. Part of that, he thought, was to sell our house. So, even though we were in the midst of the biggest real estate crash in our area in a really long time, we put the house on the market. We got a lot of showings and even some really interested buyers, however, we never got a reasonable offer.
Did we misunderstand God or did God decide that He has something else planned for us? Well, that is the theological question of the day -- and, I'm not sure what the answer is. Likely, we misunderstood - or God knew that it would take drastic measures for me to get myself cleaned out! Showing the house two or three times a week was drastic!! Either way, here we are, still in our house and trying to figure out what to do now. Our contract is about to run out and I think my husband has decided that we are going to stay put for a while longer.
Here's the thing. We rented a POD storage device to store books, a few pieces of furniture and other keepsakes that were cluttering up shelves and such so that we could show the house better. We thought this would be short term, because we thought that we were following God's leading therefore, He would sell the house quickly. Now, eighteen months later, we are paying for this storage device and I am determined to get that monthly charge off of our AmEx card.
I am not a pack rat. I throw things away sometimes that get me into trouble with various members of my family. Like the fishing rods and reels of my dad's that we can not find in the garage. I don't recall throwing them away, I don't think I did, but nonetheless, they are not to be found. Or the brand new golf shoes of my husband's that I unknowingly took to Goodwill because they somehow landed in my "give away" bag and off they went! I do not want junk and clutter in my home, I want to be organized and neat - but, alas, somehow it just seems to keep multiplying.
Anyway, I'm on a mission again to clean out and get rid of because I feel like God is soon going to reveal to us why we are still in this house. I feel like there is a reason beyond the obvious fact that He is blessing us far more than we deserve. We have a large, beautiful home and my husband still has a really good job and I truly don't understand why.
All around us our friends are suffering. The news reports are full of stories of lost jobs, lost homes, lack of medical insurance. However, somehow it all reaches a new level when you actually know people who are dealing with these things; and not just one person or two, we know at least a dozen families right now - personal friends of ours, who are dealing with lost jobs, lost housing, and horrible medical issues without insurance.
My heart is breaking for these friends of mine. I know that God has called us to be His hands and feet and that when one member of the body suffers, we should all suffer with them. I want so desperately to help and I don't know what to do. I do know this, though, that God has placed us here, in our city, in our neighborhood, and in our home - for such a time as this. He is going to reveal to me what we can do to help our friends and what our house has to do with it all.
Right now my prayers are centering around this issue. That He would reveal to us what He wants us to do to help others and how we can use our house to do it.
Secretly, I am actually hoping that he will bring someone to live with us for a season. I think that I would have functioned well in the time when people lived together with extended family and friends. I love it when we have visitors or host missionaries. I loved it when four years ago God brought a young single mom and her five year old to live with us for six months.
I am a selfish person by nature, I know all humans are to a certain extent, but some of us struggle more than others. I love to give to others, but usually that giving is monetary and doesn't inconvenience me all that much. When the "giving" causes me to have to change my plans or do something I don't want to do, it makes my flesh prickle a bit more. I hate to admit that, but it is the truth. I hate it and I want to put it to death, therefore, when we have people in our home, it motivates me to think about someone else besides myself. I do things I need to do whether I "feel" like it or not.
Plus, I truly love the camaraderie of having others in our home. I love sitting up late at night playing cards or board games. I love long chats and listening to the kids play in the pool. I love the extra hands in the kitchen preparing a meal. (I told you I am selfish)
Anyway, as we are in this season of prayer and seeking God's will - I am doing the only tangible things I know how to do while we wait. I am cleaning out, donating extra stuff to others who need it, trying to save on expenses we don't need to have (like storage devices), and planting an organic garden to lower expenses.
My prayer is that God would reveal His perfect will to us and that we, misguided as we are sometimes, would hear Him clearly and understand what He wants us to do.
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11
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