Do you remember the end of Miracle on 34th Street? They are driving past a house with a For Sale sign out front and Susan shouts “Stop! Stop!” She hops out of the car and excitedly runs through the house, giddily declaring “This is my house! The one I asked Mr. Kringle for!” Her mom and Fred, her mom’s romantic interest (who just proved in court that Santa is real), smile at her sweetly naive claim… until they see a cane leaning against the fireplace. One that looks a heck of a lot like Kris Kringle’s. One that throws their doubts into question.
Well…. I just had an experience that felt a whole lot like that. We have been renting our home for nearly five years and have spent three of those looking for another to buy. This has involved countless hours on Zillow (like I really don’t know if I can count that high), dozens and dozens of open houses and discussions of a possible out-of-state move to Florida where John’s family lives and tract houses don’t cost millions. We have also put offers in on a few houses, but have been unwilling to compete in the bidding wars. The last one seemed ours for the taking and, although it was 25 minutes outside our community, checked a lot of lifestyle boxes. But after we put in our offer, I could find no peace and ended up totally and completely freaking out. My extraordinary husband, who really, really wanted that house and really, really wanted to be in that beach-is-a-bike-ride-away area, pulled the offer. That is love.
All the while, we have been living in a home that I’ve loved with my whole heart. It is by no means perfect, but it has served our family so well. We’ve had incredible neighbors and all that we’ve needed. In light of this (and the relentless craziness of our Southern California housing market), the need to buy had been diminishing bit by bit… until a handful of months ago I decided that it truly didn’t matter. Unless God had something else for us, I’d be happy to rent this one forever more.
Fortunately, despite my complete abandonment of Zillow, my husband continued the search because last Thursday, he sent me a link to one that was smack dab in the middle of our community and looked pretty great. That in itself was nothing new, but what was new was the fact that when we saw it in person, it finally felt right. Not only would it serve our needs, but there is a separate unit my parents could convert into a cottage. Incorporating them has been on our hearts during our whole search, but we just didn’t know if we could make it happen. (The obvious answer is that we couldn’t; but clearly God could.)
We saw the house at 11:30 on Friday and had our offer accepted by 6:30 that evening – one day after the house had gone onto the market and one day before the scheduled open house. It is unheard of in these parts for realtors to accept an offer on such a desirable house before having the opportunity to pit sellers against each other and drive up the price. I mean unheard of! But that’s what they did and it felt as though this incredible property was handed to us on a platter. The sellers are heading to Tennessee and want a quick escrow. So if all goes well, it’s possible we could start moving in by the end of this month… standing in our much-prayed-for-home just three weeks after having not even known about its existence. That is nuts!!
Since having our offer accepted, we have learned about how amazing the neighborhood is. Not perfect, I’m sure, but it is less than a mile from Chase’s school, there are hoards of kids – even a favorite classmate three houses down, and the welcoming neighbors can’t say enough wonderful things about living there. But here is the kicker. On that first visit, after we had wandered around the yard, the realtor asked if we had noticed the writing shed in the side yard on the opposite side of the house. Um, what?? No! So he walked us over and showed us a perfect little writing shed (I didn’t even know that was a thing!) in which the current owner has written several books. It wasn’t listed in the details on Zillow. We missed it on first glance. But it was the sign for me that God went before us – the cane He left leaning by the fireplace for us to find. A symbol of His presence with us; His generosity toward us. We still have to make it through the hoops that come before closing and we will still have to pay a hearty mortgage, but there is finally peace and I am so glad that through our restless process the Lord kept us from taking for ourselves lesser things than what He wanted to give.
The “cane” left on the property
The need to be filled also led me to the Bible for nourishment. Not just for a few snacks, but several hearty meals worth. My screwed up sleep schedule, with a few pre-4:00 a.m. wake ups, served me the necessary time on a platter. As for church that Sunday, it wasn’t even a question if I would go. I hungered for it.
One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon. Now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!” So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.
I waited patiently for the Lord;
Fortunately, God saw past the hormonal cries of a pregnant woman. He didn’t remove the gift just because the process of receiving it was hard. He knew that the coming blessing would be worth the discomfort of weakness and loss of control. How right He was. Chase has brought so much joy to this home that the difficulties it took to get him here (including complications and a near-loss) seem negligible.
where waves grow sweet 