Well, I am sure many of you have been wondering where I have been for these past couple months. I still can’t believe that it has been so long since I have blogged. I have so much to update you on!
In my last post, I mentioned about our apartment flooding AGAIN and the fact that we were homeless and looking for a new place to live. To read the actual post – click here. What a difficult time that was. There were days where I really thought I was not going to make it. But thank God for His strength that got us through it.
We wound up staying with the wonderful family from church, who took us in, for almost 2 months. My husband had to continue working, so the pressure wound up being all on me to search for a new place to live. I spent hours looking in our local papers, searching online, dealing with realtors, making calls, and traveling to look at countless different places. I really got sick of it in the end. I would come home crying because the places that I looked at in our price range – were disgusting. I saw one place that was covered in black mold – outside and inside. I literally stuck my finger in the mold in one house, right in front of the landlord and let them know that this wasn’t good. I really have no clue how anyone could live like that.
In another house, the walls were covered with DARK paneling. It was like a dungeon in there. There was yet another house that had bedrooms that were only big enough to fit a twin size bed and NOTHING else. Oh and how about the one that had absolutely no yard – definitely wouldn’t fly with my 4 children. There were tons more, but I really don’t even want to think about it now.
In the end, I wound up compiling a general email telling about our recent flood, about our family, and what our budget was for a home. Whenever anyone posted anything of interest on Craigslist, I would attach the email and just wait for a response. Many didn’t respond, and those who did just said that they really could’nt bring their prices down. But I didn’t give up and one day a landlord responded and we set up a day to meet. It was on a Saturday, so my husband was home that day and we all went to look at the place. We walked in and honestly just felt a peace. It was a totally different layout than what we were used to. We always lived on one floor – no stairs. But this place had 2 main floors and in addition also had a full basement and an attic. It would be perfect for us and a welcoming change.
Everything came together and we moved in shortly after. We are so blessed and so grateful. I really believe that all of this happened for a reason. We probably would’ve never moved out of our old place if it hadn’t flooded so much. But God had a better place that He knew we needed to be. Yes, it was difficult going through all of that. My husband and I went through the whole gamut of emotions. It was not easy waiting and searching and waiting and searching.
Cliff had to continue working during that whole time so really the pressure and stress was all on me to find us a home. I spent hours looking through the papers, making calls, talking with real estate agents, and emailing people. It was crazy. And man, some of the places I went to see that were supposedly within our price range were just horrible. I would come home crying and feeling hopeless.
During that time, I was listening to a Joyce Meyer teaching on CD called “Satan’s Interruptions” or something to that effect. And Joyce said this profound statement that really touched me. She said “God is the God of MORE than enough”. Wow, it hit me like a ton of bricks and from then on I started praying with faith and confidence – claiming that God had something even better out there for us than what we could imagine. And guess what? He did! And during that time, I not only learned about patience and flexibility – I also learned how to TRULY let go and depend on God.
And look what He gave us – a wonderful new home that is much better suited for us than what we were living in before. God is so faithful!
So check out our new home!
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