In the spring of 2007, the Lord was talking to my husband and I separately about selling our house, downsizing and simplifying. When we talked together, we knew God once again was testing us, and asking us to walk in obedience. When we bought our house, we felt like were were home for the long-haul. And as soon as God spoke, we began to step out in faith. We immediately started on a wild adventure to sell our house and buy another one.
The Lord immediately led us to a new house. One day, our family took a drive with the Lord. And listening to the Lord together, He led us to our new house! That was truly an amazing story - I will share in another blog in how He spoke to us and led us.
So, we bought the new house which was half the size of our other home. And we knew it was time to put our house up for sale. We were totally walking in faith that we were hearing God. And hearing that not only was He telling us to sell, He was telling us to buy. It was a total faith walk.
We knew the market was dropping because we got an awesome deal on the new house - free pool and all sorts of perks! God was very gracious to us. And yet, people were desperate to sell and the market was in a rapid decline. Fear and chaos were everywhere, and speaking through everyone.
So, we as a family all prayed together, and the Lord gave us a very specific dollar amount to sell our house for. We took this dollar amount to the realtor who was assigned to us to sell our home. (part of the deal on the new house was they paid for a realtor to sell our old house)
Immediately she was like, “no way will you ever get that for your house. The market is dropping, there are so many other houses on the market, and your house will never sell if you list it at that”. She pulled out all the diagrams describing the market. It was quite depressing.
We were then challenged with, do we believe what God was saying to us, or do we go with what the realtor was saying? So, we spent more time asking the Lord if this truly was His will for us concerning the dollar amount to list the house at. And as I was praying, the Lord really was in a hilarious mood. Funny actually. Just thinking of Him makes me smile. He kept calling us to trust Him.
I remember having a conversation with Him about all this and He said to me, “Lori, who do you think is bigger - me or the market?” His question brought conviction to my heart. Like, dah! He is GOD. He continued, “Lori, what are you trusting in, Me who sits high above the market, or the market itself. The market is not Lord, I AM LORD.” Ok, by this time, I was giggling so hard. He has a funny way of speaking truth that wipes out all unbelief and fear. The Lord then told me, the person buying the house would buy it for the pool. So, we as a family talked about what the Lord was saying to me, and we chose to believe God and step out in faith and stayed with the dollar we felt the Lord was saying to go with.
So, the realtor came back and once again tried to convince us about the condition of the market and to convince us to not sell our house with what the Lord told us to sell it for. She did not have a relationship with the Lord. And before I knew it, I began to speak to her about Jesus and about how He was the God who sat far above the market and how we were going to put our trust in what He told us. I asked her in love to not speak any more negative words over our home (the market and our home).
The house listed for what the Lord told us to list it for. And in less than 10 days in a declining market, with a surplus of homes on the market, we got a call from our realtor. Her first words were, “you are not going to believe this!” and then she paused and said, “oh yes you will! your house sold for your asking price....I think your God was right!”, and then she added, “oh and by the way, they chose your house because they love your pool”. I just grinned. She had no idea that the Lord had told me that! Whenever I see those secret prayers come alive - I can’t help but grin. Jesus loves to talk to us! We have to believe that we can hear Him and that He wants to talk to us about ever detail of our life!
Oh, how I love the voice of the Lord. Walking through life with Him is such an amazing adventure every single day. He loves to talk and He loves to listen. And this is for everyone, you just must begin to ask Him by faith. And then beginning listening.
