People say that moving house is a bumpy ride, that it is one of the most stressful things you can do in life, and at the moment I definitely agree! After the initial high of accepting an offer on our house, reserving our new house and starting to look at everything ready for moving, we hit our first bump in the road.
The survey on our house came back with a few problems. Problems that I know God will sort out and that will are a test of my faith in Him, but problems non the less. My first reaction (as I am sure many women out there will relate to) was to cry - why couldn't it all go smoothly and nicely without a hitch!!! But after talking to my mum, the estate agent and my dad I managed to calm down a little and think about it reasonably. We are now moving forward on our plan to deal with the issues in the survey and get things going forward positively again. After all, they are good buyers who want to buy the right house for the right price and we are good sellers who have nothing to hide and just want to sell to move on to our new life.
I must admit, however, that some angry thoughts about the buyers did cross my mind along with thoughts of us losing the sale and our nice new house. But then I was reminded of a passage of scripture that me and Rob had read the week before in our devotion time together:
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust (and damp!) destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust (and damp!) do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal" Matthew 6:19-20 (with my own words added...)
As important as I had built up this house sale in my mind, it is not more important than my relationship with God and the work that I do for Him here on earth. We have the most important thing right - we are saved for eternity - and everything else is insignificant.
The passage goes on - and I believe that God always speaks the words you need to hear into your life at the right time. We read this before the storm hit and the worry set in so that we could be ready for it:
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food and the body more important than clothes?.....Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?......But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:25-34
God provides us with all that we need, and I personally have evidence of him providing in my own situations in the past (like our last house move where we had planned to move over a good few months before Rob started college, our house purchase fell through and we ended up moving in two days before he started - but before he started which we really didn't think would be possible!). It seems so silly to worry when you read this passage and remember who our God is and what His character is, but I am sure we all still do it. At the moment I have a house, I have food on my table, I have clothes on my back, I have money in my bank and I have friends and family around me. Anything extra is just a massive blessing from God, and that is how I am looking at this house move.
It is not easy to stop the worry from setting in, but God has given us a solution to that - to focus on the day that you are in, and let him sort out tomorrow. So that is what I am doing - today I need to work, I need to eat, I need to look after my Son and I need to love my husband. Tomorrow and all the house moving stuff will be sorted by my amazing God who is more than powerful enough to deal with a bit of damp (He dried up the earth after the big flood didn't He?!). So all I ask is that you join with us in praying for this to all be sorted, for the sale to progress, but most importantly that our family can keep focused on our treasure in heaven through it all.