Why wait?

Lately I find myself looking at a particular real estate website several times a day. It’s become almost an obsession with me…but with good reason. I sold my home several months ago with the intention of moving into a new one. I needed to sell before I could start looking so that I’d be cash-ready when the right one came along. And certainly the right one would come along soon…or so I thought. The sale of my home went off without a hitch. The buyer even allowed me to rent back from her for a time. But now that time has come and gone and still no new home for me. So…for the last three weeks, my parents have graciously shared their home with me and my cat. (God bless them!)

There are plenty of homes out there, more and more each day. But there are parameters I’m bound by. Certainly price is one of them. I’ve gone to my loan officer on a few occasions already asking him to raise the amount I am approved for. So far he has, but I know there is a limit. And I also know he is not the one who has to pay that mortgage every month. 🙂 There are geographical boundaries I need to consider for reasons that have to do with earthquakes and the kind of job I do. There is a certain amount of space I need and a certain type of home I’m looking for. And yet, day after day, as more and more homes pass me by I think to myself…why am I waiting? It’s not going to be perfect, just find one and let’s go already!

But, truthfully, as strong as that desire might be in me, it’s not an option. It’s not an option because this whole move has been something that God has been directing in my life for more than three years. He’s calling the shots on this. He’s setting the parameters. And He is going to provide me the right house at precisely the right time.

Now some of you may not have experienced His direction so strongly in your own life. I get that. This has been a rather unusual experience for me as well. Some of you may just think I’m nuts. I get that too. 🙂 But until you experience it for yourself, I just ask you to acknowledge that it might, just might, be possible for God to care about the intricate details of our lives including the home we live in.

He has shown me dozens of sign posts along the way the have affirmed and confirmed for me that His desire for me is to move. He has also given me the geographical boundaries of where He wants me to live. He’s told me how the home is to be used and even given me a picture of what it is to look like. So why should I wait? Because I am not about to take this into my own hands at this point! For three years He has directed my steps. For three years He has put this vision in front of me. For three years He has taken me step by step in a journey He has designed just for for me. Why wait? Because to do anything else WOULD be crazy!

I’ll be honest, I wish the journey was over. I wish I was in a new home and all settled in. I long for that day. I long every day to see the home, in real life, that He has put in my mind’s eye. But so far it’s not there. So, I wait.

The Bible says, “Now faith is the confidence in what we hope for and the assurance about what we do not see.” (Hebrews 11:1) If I don’t have confidence (which some days, I admit, I don’t) or if I would have seen this house in the flesh before ever selling my own home where would my faith be? I’ll answer that question with a question… What faith? It doesn’t take faith to believe in something you can see. It doesn’t take faith to have confidence in a plan that’s been laid out in perfect detail ahead of time. I’ve come to learn and I’m still learning that this whole journey has very little to do with a house. It has everything to do with building my faith.

If you’ve been told to wait, I want to encourage you. If you know that that direction is from The Lord, if He has given you signpost after signpost confirming His plan along the way…then WAIT. Don’t take His privilege, His joyful glee to bless you in a miraculous way away from Him now. WAIT! He is faithful. He is going to come through for you. You and I can commiserate for now in the midst of our impatience, but let’s stand firm together and wait on Him. His grace is sufficient, my friend. And the story we’ll get to tell on the other side of waiting will be amazing! And I can’t wait to tell it! 🙂 (pun intended)

Be encouraged…wait.