This beautiful farm house with the barn and property that I fell in love with at first sight was not to be ours. No deal. No discussion. No farmhouse and barn. I was so disappointed, but God had whispered in my heart "Do you trust Me?" and I had responded "I do". And I did. But not without arguing, not without tears, not without questions. "Anner the Planner", as my dad used to call me, had the perfect plan and though I'd surrendered to God's perfect plan in the past, and I knew that I knew that He is good, this plan on mine was very hard to let go.
As I looked up....
God began changing my heart. Can you imagine my relief when I discovered that the property that I dreamed of, though it was not for us, was for no one else either! After the property had been on the market for a short time, the owners were able to cash in an investment, redeem the property from short sale destiny and take the house off the market. I was so relieved, because maybe, perhaps in the future, the owners would decide to list the house again. Of course, I wrote them a very sweet note congratulating them on being able to enjoy their beautiful home and asking them to please keep us in mind if they ever thought about selling again in the future. I left it there. In God's hands and theirs.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch (literally, the brick ranch), I set about sharpening my plan, our finances and my search.
In addition to creating wedding flowers,
and hosting Garden Room Sales in our sunroom,
I took on a part time job with a local farm and again began to search for the perfect place. Nothing compared to what we had already found and lost. Some friends knew of my journey, and I would get calls about locations. Some even prior to them going on the market. Beautiful places. Places with potential...
Places that Tony and I went through and though they were beautiful, they were not "it". Other places, I would look at online and completely dismiss. The barn looked too small. There wasn't enough land. It just didn't compare to what we had already found and missed out on.
In the midst of all of this, I would hear about other places opening up. Places that I've since been blessed to provide flowers to for wonderful couples and beautiful weddings.
(a property that was purchased, but had not hit the real estate listings sites)
(a property that had been in the same family for
generations. Photo from their facebook page)
I continued to wrestle with God over my ideas of what was best and my sometimes ugly envy. He would gently remind me to look to Him when I would become consumed with what could be. He asked me to turn my heart toward Him. I continued to surrender. He continued to work in my heart.
In December of 2012, 1 1/2 years after our offer on what I believed to be the most perfect place, we received a call from one of the owners. The wife. She told me that they had to sell. They were going to list the house in the spring. The house would again be in short sale. What we had offered in the past was the ball park of what they had in mind for price and... that their marriage of 30 years was on the brink of ruin. I prayed with the lady on the other end of the line. We prayed about her marriage. We prayed about her home. We prayed together and cried together. I thanked her for calling and I knew we would talk again.
...To be continued in one more post :).
Anne, I wait with bated breath to hear the next installment!! Beautifully written, beautifully illustrated with your photos! So great to "catch up" with where you and Tony have come through the years since we were neighbors.
ReplyDeleteSusan, So wonderful to hear from you!~ Thank you. The next post is coming up very soon!~ Hugs to you, Bob and the girls.
ReplyDelete