Wall of Faith: Tara

I love my friend Tara and the joy of watching as she perservered through painful days. Do you have a story to share about perseverance or trust?

Trust and Jump

There's a song on the radio lately that has been my mantra.

"Trust in you" by Lauren Daigle.
She sings, "When You don’t move the mountains I’m needing You to move,
When You don’t part the waters I wish I could walk through,
When You don’t give the answers as I cry out to You,
I will trust, I will trust, I will trust in You!"

I have been singing this song through the entire experience of buying a second home. My husband and I have been working on building our credit and paying off old debts with the prospect of "some day" purchasing house number two. House number one I bought with my ex husband years and years ago and by the grace of God I still own today, (but that's a whole other story of perseverance and faith!). So, fast forward to 2015 when my husband and I found and made an offer on the home of our dreams on a whim! We didn't even know if we would qualify, we didn't know if we could buy without having to sell my first home beforehand, or have it rented, or what have you. We prayed some very fervent prayers and jumped. Everything went so smoothly. We walked through the buying process, passed our home inspection and within forty-five short days stood outside our dream house with keys unable to contain the tears of joy from streaming down our faces. God's grace is so good!

We rushed to get moved in, because, while the bank noted that we could financially afford two homes, in reality we could not! We had to get house number 1 on the market, pronto. We spent evenings and weekends cleaning, painting, begging favors from friends and family to get the house ready to sell. My realtor was so confident that it would sell in a heartbeat. We held our breath through the first, second, and third open houses. We received multiple offers, only to have them fall apart or never materialize after promises from realtors to write up the house. We had given our realtor 30 days to sell the house, otherwise we would have to rent it. Paying two mortgages was not an option. Some of my family scoffed at us, sure we would mess the whole thing up, that we weren't capable of selling a house or finding renters. We persevered and just kept the faith.

God had a plan. He wasn't quick to let us in on his plan, and I did a lot of praying. I clung to the words of that song every time I heard it on the radio. He wasn't moving mountains I needed moved. In the end there was no buyer. Even in a hot sellers market, it wasn't meant to be. I was crushed. We were crushed. We dug in and started the secondary process of readying the house to rent. I put out flyers, and we listed the house for rent. We again spent weekends and evenings once again getting everything ready. We had very little response from possible tenants. At least from tenants we would feel comfortable renting to! One after another we would get our hopes up only to not hear back from a family after showing the house. Or discover the potential tenant had a scary rental history or lack of income needed to rent. It's not your traditional cookie cutter home. But it is an awesome vintage house with great character! How could there not be people out there that would love it as much as we had?

Pray pray pray, that is what I relied on to get me through the days of trying to find a renter. The words of Lauren's song were in my mind daily "When you don't part the waters I wish I could walk through". How desperately I wanted those waters to part and the house to be rented! The first of another month was here, another month of paying two mortgages. We spent that Saturday installing window blinds at the house while trying to simultaneously entertain our children (FUN! NOT!). After only getting through half of the rooms we gave up and went to get lunch, and my phone rang. A possible tenant was standing outside the house and was hoping to see the inside. I begged him off for 10 minutes so we could finish up and get back to meet him. I had been met with so much disappointment already that I did not hold my breath this time. I did not put much faith in this potential renter. I just went through the motions feeling ill not knowing how I'm going to pay the next months bills. This is a dreadfully lonely feeling.

But guess what. The gentleman that met me at the house that day (My husband had taken the kids home) loved the house. I mean LOVED the house. And he was exactly the kind of tenant we had been praying for. Within 2 days I was handing him keys in exchange for his rent and deposits. His other half joined him from out of state a month later and is equally amazing. I now feel extremely blessed to have this couple for renters! We honestly could not have hand picked a better pair. We cried again, but this time it was in relief. Relief that God's grace had carried us through the process. Relief that we would not be strapped with double the bills for another month!.

I still sing Lauren's song. But now I sign it with a smile on my face, and the last line of that verse means the most, "I will trust, I will trust, I will trust in you!"

God does show up. It may not be when we want him to. It may not be with the answer we expected. But he is there, and all along he has a plan. If you just trust. And jump.