Prayer Sold the House
When we moved from Iowa City to Grand Rapids in 1969 we bought our first house. It was a pleasant three bedroom home with a large back yard. It also had a free-standing double garage, a perfect home for our Labrador Retriever, Friendly. I loved it because of the spacious back area allowing for ample gardening and adventurous play for the children.
We did learn of a disadvantage of locating on a wide busy street. There was to be no crossing the street to play with other children. There was another problem for Linda, not for me. The busy avenue was noisy even at night. As time passed her sensitivity heightened until I was pressured into considering a move. I reluctantly said “OK” but shopping was going to be in her lap. She accepted the deal.
It wasn’t too long before she found a nice house for sale in the same school district, by people we knew. Linda fell for what she saw. I went and agreed it was a fine house. So we made an offer. Our offer was accepted and soon we were the de facto owners of two houses. It was January. Closure would be in May.
We listed the house we were in with a real estate agent, and confidently went on with life, aiming for the move five months later. We were comfortable with nearly a half year for selling and preparing to move into the new one. But to our dismay, as the date for taking over the new house, and taking over a new mortgage came closer, the house remained unsold.
Linda shared our predicament and terror with a friend who lived around the corner, Judy Gezon. Judy immediately offered to come over and pray with Linda about the problem. Linda accepted. Judy came over the morning of the day we were to go to the Home Loan Bank to sign the papers for the new house. Together they prayed for a solution; for a buyer. Then I arrived and the two of us went to do the paperwork. The prospect of having two loans to pay was a horrendous thought. It would be impossible!
When we arrived home I headed back to work. By the time I was back in my office a call was waiting for me. The message was that a lady had come over to look at the house, with the possibility of buying it. She did in fact buy it! She was only the second looker in five months, and had showed up the day of intense prayer.
Draw your own conclusions. I believe prayer was the facilitator.
When we moved from Iowa City to Grand Rapids in 1969 we bought our first house. It was a pleasant three bedroom home with a large back yard. It also had a free-standing double garage, a perfect home for our Labrador Retriever, Friendly. I loved it because of the spacious back area allowing for ample gardening and adventurous play for the children.
We did learn of a disadvantage of locating on a wide busy street. There was to be no crossing the street to play with other children. There was another problem for Linda, not for me. The busy avenue was noisy even at night. As time passed her sensitivity heightened until I was pressured into considering a move. I reluctantly said “OK” but shopping was going to be in her lap. She accepted the deal.
It wasn’t too long before she found a nice house for sale in the same school district, by people we knew. Linda fell for what she saw. I went and agreed it was a fine house. So we made an offer. Our offer was accepted and soon we were the de facto owners of two houses. It was January. Closure would be in May.
We listed the house we were in with a real estate agent, and confidently went on with life, aiming for the move five months later. We were comfortable with nearly a half year for selling and preparing to move into the new one. But to our dismay, as the date for taking over the new house, and taking over a new mortgage came closer, the house remained unsold.
Linda shared our predicament and terror with a friend who lived around the corner, Judy Gezon. Judy immediately offered to come over and pray with Linda about the problem. Linda accepted. Judy came over the morning of the day we were to go to the Home Loan Bank to sign the papers for the new house. Together they prayed for a solution; for a buyer. Then I arrived and the two of us went to do the paperwork. The prospect of having two loans to pay was a horrendous thought. It would be impossible!
When we arrived home I headed back to work. By the time I was back in my office a call was waiting for me. The message was that a lady had come over to look at the house, with the possibility of buying it. She did in fact buy it! She was only the second looker in five months, and had showed up the day of intense prayer.
Draw your own conclusions. I believe prayer was the facilitator.
My Father passed away suddenly last January. I had to put my parents house up for sale and move to a smaller home to take care of my mother. It has been very difficult owning 2 homes. I pray constantly for this house to sell. It will be a year next month. Please pray for this house to sell. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteWe had a similar experience about one and a half years ago. Intensive prayers by Rev. Robert A. Schuller, CC's online private prayer team and "the prayer community" participants within 6 months or so helped sell our house. While other sellers in the same neighbour during the same time had a few dozen lookers (2-3 times visits for serious ones), we only had about 4 (5 times visits in total). And the actual buyer one night just rang our bell without going through a property agent (we don't know them at all), had a brief meeting with us, paid the down payment by cheque and signed the contract next day!!! It's a miracle by God!
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