Anyone who knows me will tell you that I don't have a lot of patience. I want things now, and I want them my way. I am learning that I am blessed with what I need each day and that everything I need or want is going to come eventually...I just have to have PATIENCE. I moved to a small apartment 14 months ago. It was perfect for me and my four kids at the time. However, throughout the months we have driven each other crazy, shared one bathroom, shared one living space, and had not nearly enough room. We have grown closer throughout the year but seriously...enough is enough!
The search for a new place to rent began after Troy and I got married and we got home from our honeymoon in May. It was a very long and frustrating process. Everyday I felt like we were in a rat race. Who could get the first call into the property owner, who could get to the desired house first, who could get their applications in first. We looked at dozens of homes, had many fall through for absurd reasons, and had a lot of nights with heavy hearts. (Well, I should speak for myself....Troy has more patience than me.) The only ones that felt right to us ended up falling through. Besides the ones we looked at I called on dozens more, only to be told that they were already taken, or that something didn't fit the criteria we needed.
I had a thought come to me one day during this rat race that it all just seemed too crazy. I had the impression that when we found the right house it would be easy...that it would just workout and it wouldn't be so hard and stressful. This helped me muddle through the next few weeks and I learned not to get my hopes set on anything. Troy kept reminding me that we would end up exactly where we are supposed to be, that I needed to be patient, and that it would all work out. As I look back I know my Heavenly Father was trying to teach me two things. #1- PATIENCE, and #2- Faith in HIS plan...not my own. The end to this story is that we found yet another house to go look at. I had no expectations by this point. (We had seen some pretty interesting properties...and by interesting I mean nasty!) We pulled up and were pleasantly suprised, we walked in and without a shadow of a doubt knew this was the place where we were supposed to be. We kind of hurried through the house because we knew we just needed to call the owner ASAP and tell him we wanted it. We were the first ones to see the house but we knew that didn't mean anything. We knew he could let other people through, review their applications and pick his favorite.
We got out to our car and Troy called Ben (the owner) and told him that we liked the house and wanted it. Ben basically told us it was ours, end of story. He said he would take it off the market immediately and he'd send us an application WHEN HE GOT AROUND TO IT. (Seriously....NO ONE does this!) Within just a few minutes the house was ours. I couldn't believe how easy it was....or how hard it had been up to that point. There were so many houses that could have worked but none that had felt right. The one we held out for was by far the best and I can't believe how blessed we have been. It has an unfinished basement that is going to allow us to be able to finish all the room we need for seven kids to live comfortably. (Seven kids in my apartment was the stuff bad sitcoms are made of!)
We are so excited to move and start OUR life together in a new place and to make this home OUR own. I've learned how important it is to set goals and to have faith and let Heavenly Father do the rest. I've learned that while He is teaching me patience He is also guiding me to what he has planned for me.
To those with some serious challenges right now my little house hunting story may sound trivial, and I agree that it is. The point is is that if our Heavenly Father cares about the trivial things in our life then he most definately is going to help us get through the serious stuff. I've seen His hand through the heavy, yucky stuff also, and again I learned the same two lessons. #1- PATIENCE, and #2- Faith in HIS plan...not my own.
We never know what He has in store for us, but if we can have faith through the hard times it will definately turn out better than we could have ever planned ourselves.
