We were Homeless and God is Sovereign
As I’ve reflected on the end of 2024 and what I want 2025 to look like, I can’t help but focus on homemaking. And in that process, I can’t help but reflect on the process of buying our first home. It’s not glamorous. It’s small (only 1200 sq ft and has one bathroom) and becomes easily messy. It’s old and is on an obvious slant. And, the people who flipped it didn’t do a very good job–and we’re paying the penalty for that.
But God.
God blessed us with this house exactly when we needed it. And for that, I am extremely grateful.
Buying our first house was anything but the glamorous HGTV experience that I was expecting. We began the journey in January 2021, fully believing that six months would be enough time to buy a house before our apartment lease ended in May.
We were so naive.
It's no secret that houses are being sold in the blink of an eye and for well over their asking price. It isn't really the ideal time to be a property virgin. Making a life-altering decision in a matter of a few hours would cause even Bobby McFerrin to have anxiety. However, there was no way to avoid it.
During the process, our original lender found us a closing grant. What great news! Unfortunately, that meant that we had to proceed using a bank instead of our individual lender. We decided to continue and make this transition even though we knew it might delay our home buying process.
I dreamt of a cozy, cute mid-century Cape Cod. We adored the original hardwood flooring, art deco staircases, quaint-sized living rooms, and natural wood molding. We fell in love with a house that had it all. Of course, we put an offer down. Buuuut, we didn’t get it. We lost it to someone only because they had a larger down payment. It was a turn-key beauty.
After searching online for hours, and seeing seven different homes in person, we landed our eighth home. And it's a dreamy, cozy, cute mid-century Cape Cod. We were on track to close on April 27, a whole month before our lease was up. And then our dream turned into a sort of nightmare.
Because I worked as an independent contractor with an online ESL company, there was a plethora of paperwork we had to do to provide for proof of income. The company's headquarters is in a different country, and although it is a very legal and legitimate job, the bank didn't like how I was paid (direct deposit).
For four weeks they requested document after document as proof of my income. It wasn't until six weeks after our offer was accepted that we even spoke to an individual on the phone. We were already two weeks behind schedule, and we only had two weeks left before we had to move out.
We didn't make it. Worries flooded my mind. Where would we go? How would I work? I need a quiet place to teach in the middle of the night. We have a dog; would others be okay having to accommodate us and her? Where were we going to put all of our food?
We didn't have a refrigerator and nowhere to store our pantry items.
I lived in fear that the bank was going to deny us our house because they hated that I was self-employed, but worked with another company. I envisioned the seller backing out of our deal because it had been eight weeks, and we still had no promise of a closing date. What could we do? Where could we go?
Praise the Lord that we have amazing friends that allowed us to move all of our belongings into their garage. As they left town, we were able to stay in their home and watch their dogs. It was an incomprehensible blessing because we officially no longer had a place to call home.
Now when Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side. And a scribe came up and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” Matthew 8:18-20 ESV
The home buying process has been one of the most humbling experiences that I've ever encountered. We were quite literally homeless. We stayed at our friend's home without knowing where we would be a week later. The Lord brought us to our knees so that the only place we could go to was Him.
Throughout the entire process, I battled the sin of pride. I wanted my home to be a sanctuary to anyone who walked in the door. I craved the compliments of others. I desired to have a house that felt like home to our neighbors and friends. I wanted to glorify the Lord and yearned to use our home to further His kingdom.
During the nine weeks that it took to close on our home, I prayed daily, telling the Lord that I needed Him to speed things along because there was nothing else I could do. But, He's already done the only thing I needed. He saved me. You see, the Lord works in mysterious ways. And He saw that it was fit for us to live as temporary nomads so that I could be rid of my pride.
While we had no home to call our own, the Lord reminded me that "The Son of Man had no place to lay His head." And instead of grieving my loss of a material shelter, I was overjoyed that I was able to share in the same suffering that my Christ had. He lovingly reminded me that "every good and perfect gift is from above," (James 1:7), and that "this world is not my home" (Philippians 3:20).
I believed that I wanted what pleased the Lord. I truly wanted, and still want, for our home to be used to host the lost and to make disciples. What I didn't understand is that I wanted these things to boast in my works. And while being homeless absolutely sucked, I'm thankful to be in closer union with my Lord.
After staying in our friend's home for three days, we got our closing date! On May 27, 2021, the quaintest little Cape Cod became our home. A whole month after our original closing date. But by God's sovereignty, our friends were out of town for the perfect amount of time that allowed us to move our furniture a second time, buy new locks, a lawnmower, and other first-time home expenses.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8-9
