A few months ago, Zach and I clearly heard the Lord tell us it was time to sell our house. It was very scary to step out in faith not knowing where we were going to move or what the future held, but we did it. We listed our house and had an over-asking-price offer on it the next day. We took that as a sign that we had done the right thing.
In all this, I was confident that God was going to open up the perfect house for us the day we sold ours. I just knew it. Well, weeks later and we still had no prospective houses on our horizons. Our closing date was nearing and I began to come to the realization that the “perfect plan” I had in my mind, wasn’t going to happen. Man, was that a hard pill to swallow. It was so difficult to pack up our entire house not knowing where we were going next. There were definitely some tears shed, but honestly, I still had a peace that God was working, even though it wasn’t the exact way I wanted Him to work.
5 days before closing, my family came into town to help us move our stuff into our pod. A few days later, our entire house (other than some last minute things) was packed and my family had gone back home and taken the kids with them so Zach and I could finish cleaning the house and go to our closing. That night, I had a break down. I mean, an ugly cry, sob-until-your-abs-hurt kind of a break down. I felt like my world was falling apart and I had no power to stop it. I was powerless, helpless, and was losing my hope. I remember crying out to the Lord saying “God I trust you and I know you’re working this out for our good, but my heart is so troubled. I need to SEE that you’re working. Please, give us some answers before Christmas.”
The next morning, I was feeling so tired and had a crying headache from the night before. The last thing I wanted to do was go to church and pretend that all was well with us. But my sweet, wise husband said he felt like we really needed to go, so we went. After the service, a dear friend of mine and her husband came up to us and started telling us about her husband’s mother’s house and how she had moved into assisted living and it was available if we wanted to look at it. We told them we might and then once we got in the car and started thinking about it we realized that this might be exactly how God works a house out for us. I had a deep nudge in my spirit telling me to at least go look at it. We text them and they gave us the address.
We rode by the house after lunch. We were only able to go look at the outside since the house was locked up, but we could already tell we loved the neighborhood and the land. The house looked like it had been well loved and well taken care of and we could see all the fun the boys would have in the woods surrounding it.
We text our friends and asked if we could see the inside, they said yes, so we set up a time the next day. We got to the house and immediately fell in love with all its character and charm. It was also a lot bigger than it looked from the outside (200 more square feet than our previous house) which was a welcomed surprise. There was brick throughout which I was already envisioning some type of German schmear or white washing on.
There was also these gorgeous wood beams in the living room and master bedroom and some amazing windows throughout. I kept thinking how beautiful and rustic those beams could look with a little sanding.
We also loved the fact that it had a whole bottom floor with amazing potential. There was another living area down there with an office, giant Landry/storage room, and another bedroom and bath. I could already see the living area down there being such a fun media/theatre room and the office was the perfect space for a homeschool room.
There was definitely a lot we knew we would want to do to the house, but thankfully we knew we would clear enough from the sell of our house to be able to do ample repairs/updates on this one. Before we left that day, we told them that we loved it and were seriously interested. By the end of the day, we had called them telling them we wanted it and they said it was ours! We were in tears that entire day. We just couldn’t comprehend how God had orchestrated all of this so perfectly. The only thing we were concerned about was the price. Our friends didn’t name a price and we were worried they might want a lot for it since it was in such a great neighborhood and in such great shape. But before we let our fears take over, Zach took my hand and we prayed together. We prayed that if this was the Lord’s will that He would work every single detail out for us, even the price.
The next day, our friends called and asked if they could stop by the house to discuss the house. We said yes and they arrived soon after that. They sat down with us and said that they really just wanted to be a blessing to our family with this house. They talked to us about our budget and about things we were wanting to do on the house and by the end of the conversation they had offered us a price that seemed too good to be true. It was exactly what we needed financially and was far beyond what we expected. ONLY GOD!
They left and we cried. Partly because we were exhausted from moving the last 4 days, and partly because we were just so in awe of God’s goodness and how He had so intricately worked out every single detail for our good! We began to see His plan in all this so clearly and we just felt such an overwhelming sense of gratitude and humility. This had been the greatest time of testing that we had ever been through as a family and knowing that we were on the other side of it was also such a relief too. God had answered my prayer of giving me answers before Christmas.
Our friends were so sweet to let us get in there and start working on things soon after that, even though they still had a lot of stuff to move out. We were just so excited to get to work. We started painting the fireplace, taking out doors, pulling down cabinets, ripping down wallpaper, putting up paint samples, measuring for furniture.
We signed the contract this week and are excitedly awaiting our closing at the beginning of the year. We are living with my parents while we wait on our house to be ready. In the meantime, you can find us working busily on house projects like building a kitchen island, painting all the doors and switching out the hardware, painting ceilings, walls, and trim, changing out all the light fixtures, refacing the kitchen cabinets, and installing new flooring.
We definitely have our work cut out for us, but I know that we will have this house looking beautiful in no time! Keep a check here and on my IG stories as we take you along on our remodel journey. We plan to document it all. Thank you all so much for your love and support this year! You all mean the world to us! Thank you for sharing in our joys and our sorrows and being an encouragement to us. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Love, The Bruce Family
