Waiting is hard!

My husband and I have been trying to buy a house for about 5 months now. I was so excited when we started looking. I have never bought a house before. I had all these wonderful expectations of what our house would look like. Where would it be? How much property we would have? Would there be room for a garden? That excitement was short lived. I never realized how exhausting it is trying to find a house. First, one that my husband and I would both like. Second, one in our price range. Third, one that would fit our needs as a homeschooling family.

We were excited. We found a house that was brand new and in our price range. Another perk was that we qualified for the First Time Homebuyer Credit. That credit would be enough to pay our mortgage for a whole year. How great is that?

I believe in all the excitement, we neglected to ask God what He wanted for us. We figured that everything was lining up, so it must be what He wants for us.

As quickly as everything lined up, everything just as quickly fell apart. Just a few weeks after signing a contract on the house, the mortgage that we qualified for ran out of funds. We had to close on the house by June 30th in order to get the credit. June 30th came and went and so did our contract. Shortly after the contract fell through and the builders had another offer on the house, funding became available. A few weeks passed and we received a call that the other offer on the house fell through and that if we extended our contract we would still qualify for the credit. Again, we were excited, thinking that God was paving the way to our new house. Once again, as quickly as everything lined up, everything just as quickly fell apart.

You see, from the time of the first contract to the second contract, I had come home to homeschool our 4 children. With that loss of income, it made it more difficult to get approved. We have been trying for weeks now to get all the paperwork required, but we are still waiting.

Wait on the LORD; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD. Psalm 27:14

My husband and I had "plans" to buy a house, but we don't necessarily know if those are the plans that God has for us.

A man's heart plans his way. But the LORD directs his steps. Proverbs 16:9

I will admit that during this process my husband and I have been frustrated, unsettled, annoyed... the list could go on and on. But in the end, we both realize that our plans are just our plans, we must wait for God to reveal His plans. If we were to get this house and get the credit, we would have to live in that house for at least 3 years. Maybe God doesn't want us to live there for 3 years, maybe He has other plans. We don't know, but we will have faith that God will provide a house for our family. We will have faith and we will wait patiently on Him to show us the path that He wants us to take.