The events that happened next are significant…to my utter surprise …God did change the desire of my husband’s heart. Somehow, I was able to talk him into just looking at it. And once he did his mind opened up to the possibility that change would be in order. He loved it too. And so, the dream of having an old house with a Christmas tree in every room was on its way! We made and offer contingent upon our house selling. And all was well with my soul.  A few days later everything changed, and our realtor called and gave us the bad news.

“Unfortunately, someone has made a non-contingent offer on this house.  If you want to buy it, you will need to see if you can qualify for a bridge loan and temporarily own 2 houses…”

The war had just broken out and the economy was not stable.  We consulted others for sound financial advice…no one- not one person, advised us to proceed. The 11^th hour had arrived.  We needed to give our mortgage company an answer.  We could lose it all for we could not sustain 2 mortgages for long. We were at our son’s basketball game and after the game ended, we began to share with our son our dilemma. Out of the mouth of babes came wisdom beyond his years. My oldest son…just 12 years old said: “What if God wants to see if you trust Him?  Why would He lead you straight to this house if we weren’t supposed to live in it?”  Since we couldn’t answer that question, we told them we would proceed. Our mantra was if we perish, we perish.  We took a leap of faith…and we were now the proud owner of two homes.

At this point in the story, it should be noted…I pleaded for God to come quickly.  I told Him I was afraid. Petrified actually.  I reminded him I would need desperate help in being still and knowing He was God…

That Sunday, our realtor had an open house. He warned me not to expect any buyer from an open house.  To our surprise…the news was good when we arrived home.  Our realtor was practically pale and looked utterly stunned as he reported the story to us.

A woman came up to him and simply said:

“The Lord led me to this house.  What would it take for me to buy it?”

Merry Christmas to me. I was one step closer to the dream of my Christmas house happening. And so, we waited as all of the details fell into place. She indeed did buy our house. Have you ever been so excited you could barely contain yourself? So much anticipation. I had no words. I had no idea why God heard my prayer and answered it.

To be continued…