But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. — Matthew 6:33
My wife and I have an amazing house but it can be easy to take it for granted. When we step back and look at our house and how it became ours, it was and still is a miracle.
Our real estate agent had shown us several houses. None of them were great and some of them were only okay at best. It was hard to get excited about spending a lot of money on something we knew we wouldn’t be very happy with. One day our agent told me about a house she was aware of that wasn’t on the market yet. The owners of the house were thinking of selling it so they could build a dream house. So we decided to look at the house our agent suggested along with several others.
There was only one house we looked at that day that we even liked and it was the house our agent told us about. In fact we more than just liked it, we loved it. That house had everything we wanted but it was more than we wanted to pay. Our agent told us that the sellers knew that it was more than we wanted to pay but suggested we should still make an offer and see what happens. We prayed about it for a week and went to look at the house a second time. We decided to make an offer. It was a reasonable offer but it was less than the sellers were hoping for. The sellers countered our offer so we had some more praying to do. We felt at peace about a new offer so we countered with it. This offer was the highest we felt led to make and we believed God was telling us to walk away if they want anything higher. The next day I got a call from our agent and she told me they countered again and it was only $1,250 over our last offer. When it comes to buying a house, $1,250 is the equivalent of take a penny, leave a penny trays by cash registers. Regardless I had to trust God for the number He gave us and apologize to the agent but decline that counter offer. As hard as it was to decline when there was only a $1,250 difference, it was even harder when our agent offered to pay half so it was only $625 over our last offer but my response was the same.
We were walking away from our dream home over a mere $625 and we had nothing to fall back on. I was preparing myself to start looking at houses again when I got another phone call from our agent some time later. She said the sellers took back their counter offer and the house is yours for your last counter offer price. I was speechless but managed to say we’ll take it.
We honestly could have found a way to pay the extra $625 or $1,250 but I’m glad we trusted God and put it in His hands. We have the extra assurance of knowing that our amazing miracle house was part of God’s plan for us. We would have been called fools for walking away from our dream house over a mere $625 but I would rather be considered a fool than to have something I know God doesn’t want for me.
You may not have any doubts about what you are capable of by your own efforts. Why not see what God can do if you give him a chance (Ephesians 3:20-21)?
Originally posted January 14, 2010.