The Rest of The Story…

Linny Saunders33 Comments

This past week was a week that we will never forget.

Just a few days ago I was beyond giddy because I had done something out-of-the-box-crazy by putting an offer in on a house without Dw even seeing pictures of it.   {All your guesses made the time even more giggly!}  
I didn’t wait for Dw to get home to see it because I knew such a perfect home would not last long on the market.  But as it was the offer was not presented immediately.  Before long we heard that there was another offer as well as ours. 
When we told our kids their previous enthusiasm drained out.  But I followed it up with, “I feel the Lord has told me that this is going to be like Isaiah’s adoption.”   
Isaiah’s adoption was miraculous in every way.  The entire Chinese government office said, “NO!” to us adopting him after telling us we could {because our agency messed up big time}. 
But we knew Isaiah was supposed to be ours and we also knew that we serve a Miracle-working, Mountain-moving, Awe-inspiring, Gasp-giving God, who loves to do above and beyond all we could think or ask.  Precious friends near and around the world prayed and fasted with us.  Even those working in China said, “China never changes their mind”….yet 10-1/2 weeks after submitting our appeal we received word that China had reversed their decision and Isaiah could come home to us.  
So after hearing that there was a competing offer with ours, we then heard that there was now a third offer as well.  
Sweet friends, when we have seen Almighty God show His power in the past, we can have confidence that He will move whatever mountain stands in the way of His perfect will.   When I heard there was a third offer, I whispered to the Lord, “Thank you.  Now I know that it will be ours.  The bigger the impossibility, the more your power is manifest.”  
On Friday, all three offers were presented.  And the homeowners said to the agents, “Take your offers back to your people and tell them to come back with their best offers.”  
Dw and I prayed and talked.  
<

Anyway, we knew that the Lord had showed us early in our marriage to get out of mortgage debt so we would be able to do the things we needed to do without a mortgage payment hanging over our heads.   He has always blessed us so much!>>

So when we had presented our first offer, we had pretty much taken the proceeds {when it closes} and rolled it over to offer on this house.  When we were asked to come back with our best offer, we pretty much had already given our best offer.   We could only raise it a teeny-tiny speck.  
Dw suggested I write a letter to accompany our new offer.   I tweeted for prayer for wisdom as I sat down to type.  {Thank you friends who tweeted back: Jessica, Kara & Mindy – that you were praying!}   Dw sequestered me away to pray and type.   I shared how much we love their home and if we had another $100,000. we would give it to them because their home is beautiful, but we don’t, we could only raise our offer a tiny bit.  
And I also shared that if they should choose another family to purchase their home we would always be grateful for the privilege of seeing it and dreaming for a few days that it might be ours.  
I put a PS on the letter:  
PS. On a humorous note: Our 8 year old, Isaiah, keeps asking us about the home status {the kids are praying earnestly that it will be our next home}…so today, Isaiah asked what was going on. I started to explain that there are multiple offers and that it was requested that we would submit our very best offer. Only it was noisy and he didn’t hear me quite right and instead he thought I said, “We needed to present our best outfit.” To which he got all excited and said, “Your best outfit? Can I pick it out Mom? Please? Because I am really, really, really good at picking out outfits.” haha.
We sent it to our realtor who forwarded it on.  
And we waited.  

We heard that all the offers had to be in by noon on Saturday.  We wondered how long we would wait to hear.   But I have to say, I had total peace.  I just knew that that beautiful home was ours.  He just loves, loves, loves to show Himself strong with what seems impossible.

In fact I told Dw, “If it’s not ours, I will eat my shirt.”    

He laughed. 
We were shocked when about noon our realtor called.  Isn’t it just the worst waiting while your husband is on the phone and your ears are straining but all he is saying is ‘Uh-huh.  Uh-huh.  Uh-huh.”?  Then Dw turned to me and said, 
“There was another offer that was better than ours.  
But
they
accepted
OURS!!!”
I started to weep.

I couldn’t even talk.  

Faithful God.  
Three offers.

All cash.

One better than ours.

But they took ours.
We are humbled and forever grateful to the Lord and to the gracious homeowners.  
Amazing God.  He just love, love, loves to put up the ‘worst case’ and then no one can deny it was all Him with His mighty power!
Now, of course, it has to go to the banks for approval.   
But we are rejoicing, praising Him and praying!

Inside our Memorial Box we will put a copy of the letter we sent to the homeowners that accompanied our best offer. 

Memorial Box Monday – the day we set aside to remember the faithfulness of God and His power.  Please share the permalink to your Memorial Box Monday story below:

33 thoughts on “The Rest of The Story…”

  1. The Lord is Amazing!
    It's kinda funny to think "hehe I knew this :)" It was so funny when you told mom and dad and the literally screamed… They never do that! Haha 🙂

    Reply

  3. I love this story and the amazing faithfulness of our Jesus. Moves – buying and selling houses – gives us A LOT of opportunities to trust in our Mighty God. So happy for you guys.

    Reply

  4. A great story! And a good reminder that our "best offer" isn't about us, it's about God. And in HIS economy (and it's all really His economy, isn't it?!) it isn't about money. It's about the heart. God will bless that seller beyond their belief because they are blessing the favored of the Lord. And they responded positively to His prompting.

    Reply

  8. Praising God for His faithfulness….praising God for your faithfulness! So happy for you guys. Can hardly wait to hear about the house. Renee at Adventures In Faithful Living

    Reply

  10. Linny, you have NO idea how I needed to read this story today. Almost EXACTLY what you wrote is what we are going through right now…an offer on a home that is a short sale (been on the market a year) and multiple offers just HAPPEN to be in right now (like, um, where were those 9 months ago?) There are offers better than ours but we trust that God led us to this house. Thanks for ramping up my faith!:)

    Reply

  32. I just knew it!!!!!!!!!!!
    Do we get a tour?
    I love that you gave your best the first time!!! AND curious of what outfit I. would have chosen for you!

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>