Every time I walk around my new house, I thank God. I tell everyone..."The Lord gave me this house." We had just paid off our other house and were really enjoying that financial freedom, but it was very, very difficult cramming all of our kids into our 3 bedroom house. I saw my oldest son, Johnny, really needing his privacy and I just needed more space. I feel like I got the best! It is such a beautiful area. We have a gorgeous mountain view and our kids have friends in the neighborhood. It's just plain beautiful and we are happy and comfortable.
We had a very difficult closing on the house, however. From day one, the Lord gave us favor in every way. The market has been down so it was a perfect time to buy, except when you were looking for a five bedroom. Those seemed to go very fast. You had to make an offer $20-30K above the asking price or someone would outbid you. It was crazy. We had been looking for a house for months in a certain area and had made several offers that either got rejected or outbid. We were frustrated, but we said, "Lord, we are waiting on You."
It was the end of November, and we just happened to see a house in a total different neighborhood in a totally different area of town. It was listed as four bedroom, but we thought we'd take a look anyway since we were close to it. It was absolutely beautiful and nestled on the bottom floor was a fifth bedroom! I was unsure about the house because it had teal carpet. I just couldn't get over it and was trying to envision my furniture in a house with teal carpet. John squeezed my shoulders and said, "Babe, we can change the carpet." So we stepped out in faith and made an offer for $20,000 less than the listing price, knowing that it was a good deal even if we bought it at the list price. A day later, we were jumping up and down because they took an offer for $7000 less and they would pay $4000 towards our closing costs.
Then came our first hurdle. They had listed the property as "As-Is" and our agent warned us that it means they are not willing to do any repairs. We did our own inspection and found a few things that needed to be fixed. We used our own advise that we tell people, "If you don't ask, you don't get." So we put in a request for the $2500 worth of repairs and asked the Lord to go before us. To our agent's surprise, they agreed to do every one of them! We were thrilled and thankful that the Lord was taking care of us!
When we returned from Africa in January, we had a meeting with the loan officer. She let us know that if we locked in at an interest rate of 4.875, we would be able to use the seller's money for closing and only have to bring in $300 of our own money. The rates were low anyway, but we decided to go ahead and lock.
Many, many things held us up and the lock expired three times, but they continued to extend the lock. It was a very trying time for us. We were ready to move and had our whole house packed by the end of January. So we were officially living out of boxes. I couldn't find anything.
Finally, at the beginning of March, they had the docs ready for us to sign. The title company was in California, which was less than ideal. But they scheduled to have the notary come to our house to sign. I talked to the loan officer and shared my concern with her because I hadn't gotten a firm handle on the amount of money were to bring in for closing and I was not comfortable with that. It was what came next that floored us, "You need to bring in $3500." Surprised, I practically yelled, "$3500? You said, we were supposed to bring in $300?" She pondered a minute and said she remembered saying that to me, but doesn't know where she came up with that figure. I called John and then we called our agent to cancel the notary until we had a firm handle on what was going on. Soon, there was a knock on our door and it was the notary carrying all of our documents. He expressed that he did get a call from our agent, but the phone cut off and was not able to hear what he had to say. I am convinced this was all God's plan to bring glory to Himself!
We invited the notary in and we laid all of the papers out and looked at them. I told John, "I am okay to sign if you are." We were already three months into this thing and we had $7200 in earnest money at stake if we cancelled. So John and I reluctantly signed. It was Tuesday and the papers were immediately sent FedEx and they would be sent the next day to the bank so the loan would be funded.
The next day, John came home from work and I could see that something was bothering him. "I am not feeling at ease about losing $3500." My heart sank. I knew what we had done. We signed all of the papers agreeing to everything in front of a notary and they were going to hold us to it. All the banks were closed, but John called our agent and told him to get a message to the bank that they were not to fund the loan. Now I was a little worried. We gave $7200 in earnest money for this very reason-they didn't want us to cancel and if we did, they kept our money.
John and I decided that he would stay home from work and we would call the bank and see what we could do. We knew it was all in the Lord's hands at this point. Our real estate agent was STRONGLY advising us to go through with the loan because he knew the way it was going to go...not in our favor.
John then took the kids to church and I stayed home with the girls and had my bible study. I read, 2Chronicles 20:14-23. It was a sweet time with the Lord and during this time, the Lord brought light into my heart.
2Chron 20:14-23 It read, Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel the son of Zecharia, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly. And he said, "listen, all you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehosphaphat! Thus says the Lord to you; Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God's. Tomorrow go down against them. They will surely come up by the Ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the brook before the Wilderness of Jeruel. You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem! Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you."
And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem bowed before the Lord, worshipping the Lord. Then the Levites of the children of the Kohathites and of the children of Korahites stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel with voices loud and high.
So they rose early in the morning and went out into the Wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, "Hear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem: "Believe in the Lord your God, and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper." And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the Lord, and who should praise the beautify of his holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying
"Praise the Lord,
For His mercy endures forever."
Now when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated. For the people of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to utterly kill and destroy them. And when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another.
So when Judah came to a place overlooking the wilderness, they looked toward the multitude, and there were their dead bodies, fall on the earth. No one had escaped. It really struck me how when they began to sang praises to God, it was then He set up ambushes against their enemies. So I sat down on the couch, raised my hands and sang praises to God and asked Him to go to battle for me. I was asleep when John got home, but had to remember to share this with him.
The next morning, John and I got up and talked about our options and what he thought we should do. Our real estate agent was adamant that we should just close because they don't just let people out of their locks. That's the whole reason why people buy locks. But we talked and then I remembered, I needed to show him these verses. I told John, "God spoke to me, let me share it with you." As soon as I started reading the verses, his eyes got really big. "God told me exactly the same thing at church last night," he shared. "I was so excited about it that I was going to wake you up and share it with you, but you were asleep, so I just rested in bed and sang praises to the Lord." We knew instantly that the Lord had confirmed that He was going to battle for us.
Next, we went and printed off praise and worship songs from the internet. We sat in a dark, quiet room while the rest of the house slept, and together we sang onto the Lord and committed our situation to Him. It was probably a good thing no one heard us. We are terrible singers and perhaps that's why God heard us and worked on our behalf so expediently...He may not have wanted to hear us sing again! We expressed to our Father our serious situation and how bad it looked for us, but we committed it into His hands and asked Him to go to work for us.
Following this, John got on the phone with the manager of the bank and let him know our situation. He had a very grim outlook for us as he pretty much guaranteed us that this loan had already reached the department and was probably funded already. But he said he would look into it for us. He called back in an hour and said he was sorry there was nothing that he could do for us because we had signed all of the papers and even though it hadn't funded yet, he would not be willing to let us out of our lock and give us our money back. John boldly let him know that we would like to cancel the transaction stating he would rather lose his $7200 and start over. John looked at me and said, "We should have never signed those papers." I responded, "Well, that's where the Lord comes in. We have done what we shouldn't have and now we need God to do the impossible."
I can't express to you how it felt. We just knew God was battling for us. We knew the Lord had spoke to us and confirmed it through both of us and He was taking care of it.
An hour later, the manager at the bank agreed to LET US OUT OF OUR LOCK! Not only that, but he was going to give us the interest rate that we wanted and they were willing to absorb the $800 in fees it was going to cost them to redo the docs again. Praise God. He went to battle for us and won. Our real estate agent said in 23 years, he had NEVER seen them do anything like this.
The following day, we were tested. The bank called us and said that they had made a mistake. They would let us out of our lock, but that we would now have to pay $1000. They wouldn't be able to absorb the costs. John and I knew the Lord was in it. We agreed to the terms. But when we got off the phone with the bank, we agreed together that no matter what, when we got our earnest money check back, it was going to be for the full $7200 and they would not take any money out of it. John said, "I don't know how God is going to do it, I just know that we will not pay one penny of that money to the bank." We just wouldn't receive their report. I thought of Romans 4:19-21 And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah's womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised, He was able to perform. I knew God could perform this, even if the bank went back on their promise.
So we continued steadfast in our faith. We decided together that we would not accept their report. Exodus 23:1 "You shall not circulate a false report." It was only God's report we would believe so we never told anyone that the bank went against their promise to us. I only told people that they let us out of our lock, gave us our interest rate, absorbed $800 in costs and we get all of our money back. I never added in that they had called back the next day and went back on what they said. We just believed God was faithful to perform.
And He is faithful...even our real estate agent just couldn't figure it out. He went through the figures to find their mistake, but there wasn't one. When we got our check back from the title company, every last penny was given back to us. God is faithful to perform!
So when I walk around my house, I thank God for it. He gave us everything and went to battle for us and won. Be encouraged that whatever your battle is, big or small, sing praises to your King as He desires to battle it out for you and bring glory to His name over and over, forever and ever.
Stacy
