Thursday, August 26, 2010

House for Sale... kinda

During the end of my sophomore year in college, my friends and I started looking for off-campus apartments.  My parents had briefly mentioned the possibility of buying a house and renting it to my friends because it would be cheaper for them than paying room and board or rent somewhere else.  As we were driving around the campus neighborhood that summer, we stumbled upon this house.
Wow!  It seemed perfect.  Not to mention, the owner inherited the house, and was desperate to sell.  The price was right.  The owner was also a general contractor, so he completed redid the inside of the house.  I posted a couple photos below for the sake of reminiscing. 
Newly renovated kitchen








Dining area with new carpet and paint









 We made lots of good memories that year. My parents continued to rent to friends even after I moved up to Chicago to finish student teaching.  They signed new renters this year but also started thinking about selling the place.  Make a little money and get rid of the extra tasks that come with owning a rental property.  Not long after they started thinking about it, 2 different people contacted them about buying it.  (There wasn't even a for sale sign in the lot.)  They knew it was the Lord's leading.  Within less than 2 weeks, they had an offer on the house that was higher than the price they paid.  Wow!  In this market, no for sale sign, and no advertising... sold.  This situation reminded me of a couple Biblical principles that should dominate my life and mind.

- God is able to exceedingly, abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us (Eph 3:20)
- God is working behind the scenes in ways we don't see.  His thoughts and ways are higher than ours. (Isa. 55:9)
- When we delight ourselves in God, he gives us the desires of our hearts.  (Psalm 37:4)  In this case, since my parents each have a strong, growing relationship with God, they can know many of their hearts' desires are from God because when we are following Him closely, He plants his desires in our hearts.
- He who promised is faithful.  (Hebrews 10:23)  God promises to take care of us.  He wants great things for us.  He has a plan!  And He is faithful to fulfill it (it's up to us to pay attention, listen, and follow His plan). 

Praising Him with you,
Renee


1 comment:

  1. wow. okay, so mission accomplished with why people should write blogs.
    first of all, yes, we had some splendid times in that house. i wish you could have been around for this last year, because she definitely became my home, and holds some of my fondest memories. it was hard not going back to live there this year, but at the same time, i'm so glad to be out of central illinois. and hooray on the blessing of the sell, that makes me really happy for your parents, because it was such a blessing for me that they bought it in the first place!
    but seriously, the point you were driving home with that post, and the specific reminders about God at the bottom were EXACTLY what I needed to hear right now, in just about every area of my life, a few that I'm really struggling with right now. God sure is creative, and if it takes a blog to reach me, then thank you Renee.

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