For extra background, read part one & part two...Many have asked us what happened to the probable house purchase (fully explained in part two). We haven't forgotten, it's just been crazy around here the last three weeks. I now have the time to sit down and tell you what happened. Thanks for your patience and interest. We know many have been praying for our housing search.
On April 5th, our Chile field director, Curtis, and his wife, Diane, flew into Antofagasta with all the paperwork & money ready to make the purchase on the house that had been in divorce court. The day had finally arrived! At 10:30 am, we had a scheduled viewing at the house so Curtis could physically eyeball the property. At 12:30, we were to go to the notary to sign the paperwork.
On the way home from picking them up at the airport (9:30 am), I received a call from Kristi on my cell. I had to pull off the road at a park to chat with her (since it's against the law in Chile to talk on cell phones while driving). She said, "Do you want the good news first or the bad news?".
Oh no, what happened?
Kristi had just gotten off the phone with the realtor. The realtor said that when she called the lawyer (on the husband's side) to double check the time for the house view, he told her that he had sold the house the previous day to another party for a higher price. While chatting with Kristi, the realtor was in tears, she was upset at what the lawyer did without notifying her.
So even before getting home from the airport, the house we were going to purchase that morning, was already sold the previous day. Case closed. God's final answer. An answer that we had prayed for, meaning a clearly closed door.
Obviously, we were all bummed. Curtis and Diane had taken time out of their schedules and ministry, to fly up to make the purchase...and now, we were back to square one.
Back to praying for more leads.
Back to spending time online looking for leads.
Back to calling phone numbers asking for prices, locations, square footage, etc.
Back to...back to not knowing.
Curtis and Diane ended up staying with us for four days. It was profitable for them, because they were able to meet the people we minister to on a weekly basis, they were able to attend a Sunday Bible study, and they were able to get to know our city personally.
After Curtis and Diane left, both Kristi and I were a bit overwhelmed. We had gotten so close to the purchase, and now another affordable option seemed unlikely and distant. For several days, we didn't feel like doing anything. We were discouraged. It was like we were zapped of all our energy, and yet, the ministry, homeschooling, and life had to keep going on.
We were thankful for our times in God's Word and some encouraging comments and notes from family and friends via email and Facebook, because those days were a sanctification struggle. Honestly...it was hard.
Several days ago, I read an article online that was talking about how the kindest thing God could do was to disrupt OUR plans. Wow, was that article ever timely. It really slapped me around spiritually. We are daily refocusing our trust and confidence on our sovereign God. The God who knows all things and can supply anything, to anyone, at anytime.
We would ask you to continue to faithfully pray for our housing search. Pray that we will follow and trust God in everything, even in this housing search.
We've had to shift our mental gears back to looking for houses.
More walking around the city.
More hours looking online.
More phone calls.
More house viewings.
And more opportunity to live out the Gospel in our lives.
To be continued...
