The feeling didn't go away and I told my wife about it. Her response was the same as mine. "Why would we sell our house? We love it here!" In my mind that confirmed that I must have imagined I had heard God wrong. It confirmed we were not going to sell this house! But the feeling wouldn't go away, and I have learned that when something is imagined to be from God and it won't go away, it must be from God!
For several weeks we mocked the very idea of selling our house. We would get up in the morning, walk across the house and look out the bank of rear windows over the beauty of the lake and say, "And why are we thinking about selling our house?" As I look back on our attitude, it was almost taunting God over the very idea. We went for months and He wouldn't let up! Finally, after almost six months of toying with the idea, we listed it for sale! Realtor #1-nothing! Realtor #2- nothing! Realtor #3- nothing! Tried selling it ourselves- For Sale By Owner!- nothing! Took a year off from even trying- of course- nothing! Finally this spring, Realtor #4-sold it to the first people to look at it!
What made the difference? I am not sure, but here is what transpired in the nearly five years of trying to sell it! Before listing it the first time, I finished off the space in our walkout basement. There were two things that really bothered me after the job was done. #1. I never got building permits from Winnebago County to do the construction work. #2. I didn't want to stain a bunch of woodwork and so I used a cheap foam, paper covered mouldings, frames and doors to finish the project. That part should have been okay but it bothered me that in a house I was trying to sell for $250,000.00 I used the cheap mouldings!
This spring, I swallowed hard and went down to the building department and told them what I had done. I simply said that I wanted to make it right. They were very good about and said it happens all the time, and they would work with me to make it right. I paid $348 for permits and scheduled the inspectors to come see what I had done. All but one inspector was easy about it and let me off the hook with the completed work. The plumbing inspector, while he was good about it, ripped my work apart and left me with a list of things that needed to be repaired. I wasn't sure what I would do, but one thing I have learned over the years about the construction business is that almost anything at anytime can be repaired. When it was all done, I passed the final inspection with another $700 in the project to make things right.
When my grandson graduated from high school this spring, he and I tackled the wood work problem. We tore out all of the foam work work and replaced it with a real prefinished oak wood work. We took about two weeks to get that done and it looks great, to me! The reason I say it that way it that no one seems to notice the difference, but I do! I can now sell the house and have no misgivings about it! Someone asked me why I would do such a thing. I said it is hard for me to preach about righteousness and know in my own life I had those two unrighteous things hidden in my basement, and in my heart.
Anyhow, to conclude: we are in the process of packing and getting ready to move. As far as the contract goes on the sale of our home, we have jumped one hurdle (contingency) and have a couple more to go. Our basement and second floor upstairs are completely packed and setting in the garage in boxes. By the end of this week, the main floor of the house should be ready to close on July 28th. Maybe you are wondering if there were any consequences to not listening to God five years earlier. Our neighbors sold their house, same house as ours, for $335,000 five years ago! We sold ours for a lot less- a lot less!
This morning as I was having my personal prayer time, the thought went through my head- "What are going to do if it doesn't close?" A flood of anxiety welled up within me at that moment, and then I thought, "This is a matter of faith in God! We have done what He has told us to do. We simply have to trust that everything is going to work out like He has said!" Then I realized that this whole lesson is much bigger that I ever imagined. There is a move going to take place for eternity when the time comes. Satan is always asking, "What if that contract doesn't pan out?" But I have faith in the words of Jesus in John 5:24, 24 “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. 25 Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man. 28 “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29 and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned.
How is your contract with the Almighty? Is it based on your believing in him? Think about it!
.JPG)
