Hello family and friends!
Most of you know that Andrew and I have recently been looking for houses in the smyrna/murfreesboro area because we feel like that is where God is calling us to put down roots.
Again most of you know it has been a challenge to get a loan for a home because we are both self-employed. However as one of our teaching pastors says, the Lord's history with His people is full of "But God". We were able to get a loan through a bank in the Boro. Our approval letter is dated August 10th (our original anniversary) and we received the letter on our 2 year anniversary the next day.
We were gone and unable to really walk through the loan and what would be required of us until this past Tuesday. We met with the man assisting us and we walked away feeling much more confident and went straight to meet our realator and friend, Tanya, to look at a few houses.
The next time we went to physically look at houses at all was day before yesterday, Wednesday the 2nd. The first 2 homes we went to were good homes but one of us, Andrew or I, were left.. off by the house. We pulled up to the 3rd house and before we even got inside, Andrew wanted to know what I thought. He really liked the neighborhood and the location (which was a shock to me bc I loved it to!) It all just went up from there. We both loved the house.
On our way to see a 4th house, Tanya had called the realator for the house we liked to ask her a question. It had only been back on the market a week from having a contract on it. Tanya was concerned as to why their contract had fallen through. It had nothing to do with the house BUT someone had called in an offer on the house that very morning.
So Tanya, Andrew and I talked and prayed in the kitchen of the 4th house we were supposed to be looking at about what we should do. After running numbers, lots of discussion and prayer, Andrew and I put an offer on the house that afternoon.
Last night, Tanya called to say that the owners wanted to hear the "highest and best" from each of the potential buyers. Tanya said we should hear something late tonight or in the morning.
Within an hour, Andrew called "we got the house." :)
Some of you knew this already and were praying and waiting with us over that intense 24 hour period, some of you were clueless but had been praying through this journey. Now we are asking for your prayers again.
The home inspection is on Monday at 4:30. (Amazing to me someone would work on Labor Day for us...AND its Andrew's birthday- what a gift that would be!!) Could you please pray that God will continue to guide every single step we take? If the home inspection reveals something that says this is not the house for us, as Alicia so wisely shared with me, that is God's protection of us. Pray we see His will no matter the outcome. We are so grateful to experience this no matter what because His glory is all over this process. I know its silly but I am just so blown away how intimately He reveals that He is a God of details. He cares about our house, our neighbors, our commute to work.. Truly everything is in His oh so capable hands.
Would you please pray these words would be true of us no matter what? Whether this house is it or He has just gone through this process with us to show us He is trustworthy in ALL matters; we truly desire to be obedient, faithful and trusting to His ends.
"Commit to the Lord whatever you do and all your plans will succeed. The Lord works out everything for His own ends." Proverbs 16:3-4
"He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast trusting the Lord." Psalms 112:7
"For I know the plans I have for you, 'declares the Lord. "Plans to prosper you and not to harm you; plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11
Please keep this as private as you can. We covet the prayers, but you all know how hard it can be to come back with... not bad news... but a change of plans to multiple people who may not know the whole story. If you don't mind, if you want to share this with others, just shoot one of us a text or email and ask 0:) We appreciate your grace, love and understanding so so much.
We are so grateful for you, more than you'll ever know :)
-Andrew and Em
OK so, that was then... and this is the one I sent today.
Hello sweet friends and family-
Well., needless to say it has been a crazy couple of weeks!! Since the last e-mail I sent, we were preparing for the house inspection. The house inspection actually went REALLY well. The house is 16 years old so there were a few things that could be expected, but the few things that we really wanted them to fix they agreed to take care of!
So… all was set to close tomorrow, BUT it seems that the appraisal is taking a while to get back. So… not tomorrow, but Tuesday. Our friend and realtor thinks that everything is going to be OK because the sellers want this to work out AND they’ve agreed to come back for Tuesday. (They’ve already moved out of town.)
We really believe this is the house God has intended for us. He’s asking us to trust Him yet again (doesn’t He everyday?). In this, I just keep thinking about something God revealed to me through Beth Moore’s study of Esther. When Esther was faced with her choice to approach the King, she had to choose courageous faith. Something Beth talked about to us was that courageous faith is not living in denial that our worst fears could come true, its living in the reality that they could and very possibly might, but that God will still be on His throne. She had us fill in blanks for realizing our worst fears that looked like this: If______________ then God _________________.
For those of you who have bought a home before, this very well could be just part of the process, which if it is, awesome. But even if it is just “part of the process” Andrew and I want to invite the Lord to lead that, and more importantly lead our hearts in that. I want my courageous faith statement to say if this house is not the one and we lose it then God protected us, STILL has a plan for us, a BETTER house for us and He is just as present in this closed door as He is in open ones.
This may seem silly to those of you who have maybe done this before… but for me… I don’t want to think of it as preparing for the worst… I want to think of it as preparing for what is HIS best. Either way, inviting Him constantly into this situation, HE receives the Glory either way. HE is the source of the celebration and we are amazed at His wondrous works or HE is the comforter. HE is the author of life. "He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast trusting the Lord." Psalms 112:7. HE is still on HIS throne.
So even if your prayer sounds like “Dear Jesus, I pray for Emily to get a grip and take a note from her always calm and patient husband. Amen.” Then it will be an appreciated and needed prayer. But most of all, please pray that Andrew and I will courageously trust Jesus and His provisions for us and our future.
“He leadeth me: O blessed thought! O words with heavenly comfort fraught! Whate'er I do, where'er I be, still 'tis God's hand that leadeth me. He leadeth me, He leadeth me, by His own hand He leadeth me; His faithful follower I would be, for by His hand He leadeth me.” We love you and we’re thankful for you.
-Em (and a traveling Andrew)
So.... there it is. And now we wait... and pray...
