Chapter 6: The Promised Land (Part 5)

If you've followed the first four parts of our unforgettable house-buying saga, you'll appreciate why, as we reach the story's gripping conclusion, we were feeling good about things. God had come through for us in astonishing ways, not least of all His miraculous provision of a mortgage, and so our house purchase felt like nothing more than a formality. And in one sense it was - do not fear, we did buy the house - but it did end up being a bit more complicated than we'd anticipated. In this final part, I share the unexpected twists and turns our path made before we finally crossed the metaphorical River Jordan and entered into our own promised land.

When God Shows Off

Let's start with a fun story that unfolded shortly after securing our mortgage. It was now the end of March, and we had another dilemma. The notice period on our flat was two months, which meant that if we were moving in May - as Melissa had felt from the start - we would need to hand our notice in at the start of April. We prayed, and again felt God nudging us to take this latest step of faith, even sensing there was something urgent about getting the timing right. So we phoned our landlord and informed him we would be leaving in two months.

This is where God really began to show off - not through our own faith journey, but through the faith journey of a friend of ours. We had got to know her over the previous months, and though she lived forty minutes away she was now a regular visitor to our flat and had become a precious friend to us. Every time she came round she remarked on how much she loved the flat, and at one point arrived at the flat and without thinking began rummaging in her pockets for the front door keys - only to remember she didn’t actually live here. She had joined us in our crazy journey over the previous few months, constantly praying with us and encouraging us, and we had begun to dream together that she could even move in to our flat as we moved out.

Well, on the day we handed in notice, we texted her to see if she really did want to move, offering to put her in touch with our landlord. She came back with a reluctant no, as the practical implications of moving to Reading just didn’t seem quite right - or at all sensible. However, that same evening she texted again. She had been to see some friends, who had unexpectedly prophesied over her, “You’re ready for Reading!” That was enough for her - she was in. Delighted, we texted our landlord straight away, and two days later they had the chance to meet. Our friend was amazed at how accommodating our landlord was to all her concerns and needs, and it was so clear that God’s favour was on this move. She began the formal process of applying for the flat, with the view of moving in mid-June, and then incredibly, a week later, her own landlord suddenly informed her that she would have to move out of her current flat at the end of June. God’s timing was astounding!

The 29th May

The weeks that followed were peaceful, as house searches began and other boring legal processes chugged on in the background. So confident were we that everything would work out exactly as we were expecting, we started praying and declaring that we would complete on Friday the 29th May. This was a week before our tenancy expired, but crucially a few days after our government bonus would arrive in our Lifetime ISAs, meaning an extra £2k to go towards our house. And, of course, it tallied with Melissa's declaration from a year ago that we would be moving in May. We couldn't fathom things working out any differently.

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Well, the week of the 29th May arrived - we were waiting for one small thing to be confirmed on our side, and the seller was also nearly ready. The timings weren't quite as comfortable as we'd been hoping, but nevertheless we were still full of faith that we were moving at the end of the week. We had friends (complete with van) lined up to help us move on the Saturday and we were beginning to pack up our flat, and so we continued to wait expectantly for the confirmation we needed from both sides to go ahead with the move.

Out of the blue, at five minutes to six on Tuesday evening, our estate agent emailed. There were delays on the seller's side that could mean another couple of weeks before we could complete. We replied instantly and received an out-of-office informing us he would be back in the office on Thursday - the day before our proposed moving date. To make matters worse, our solicitor was on holiday that Wednesday as well, leaving us confused and disorientated as we tried to make sense of all that was happening.

The Unexpected Miracle

We were still determined to move on the 29th May. It had to be, as far as we were concerned, both to fulfil Melissa's prophetic word but also to avoid the enormous stress and inconvenience of having to move out of our flat without anywhere to move into. As far as we were concerned, there was no other option but to somehow, impossibly, move on the Friday.

Well, Friday morning arrived. Our house was all packed up and the pressure was on. Melissa was resolutely determined; I was, in all honesty, becoming less and less certain that we would be moving. Lunchtime arrived and by this point even Melissa had to admit there was no way we'd be completing today - there was simply too much that needed to happen in too short a space of time. She was still full of faith that something would happen, but we again all we could do was wait.

In the afternoon a miracle happened. Not the miracle we had been praying for, but a miracle nonetheless. The seller, without even being asked, offered us the use of their garage as storage while the house purchase finalised, and was even happy for us to move on the Saturday. Just when it looked like the road ahead was blocked and we'd have to take a horrifically complicated and inconvenient diversion, yet again God opened up a path for us that we hadn't seen. The next day we moved as planned, and the seller even gave us a key to the garage so we could access it when we needed. We were reminded of the keys God gave us six months previously, and despite everything, we couldn't help but feel that God was in this. We didn't have the house, and it didn't all make sense, but we did have a key, and we had, in one sense, moved in. Now we simply had to wait for the full promise to be fulfilled.

Protection and Provision

The month that followed was a strange time. It was a time of great peace and provision, but also a time of huge opposition in different ways. A spirit of robbery seemed to be following us - from the delays to our house move, to packing up our furniture and discovering moths had eaten through our carpets, to an extra month's rent leaving our account, to our mailbox key snapping the day before we were due to return it, to my parents suddenly being unable to look after our children for the entire month of June, and even to days before completion when our solicitor massively overcharged us on our final invoice - it felt like so much was coming against us. And yet, in the midst of this, we were protected. We were able to move in temporarily with my parents while, as I mentioned, we stored our belongings in our garage-to-be; we received our full deposit and the overpaid rent back; people stepped forward to be able to help with babysitting; and our solicitor's mistake was quickly rectified and the correct invoice sent through.

The other grace - and opposition - we also experienced in this time was towards my parents. At the start of June, quite out of the blue, my Mum needed to have an operation, and my parents suddenly found themselves faced with the very real possibility of not being able to leave the house for weeks. With us unexpectedly moving in, despite the chaos of having two small children charging around, it meant we were able to help out around the house and assist with normal day-to-day activities that my Mum and Dad wouldn't have been able to do otherwise. Towards the end of the process we began to daily declare Psalm 91 over ourselves, and it spoke to us hugely - the reality of resting under God's care even in the midst of attack and chaos. We knew that the battle was won and the house was ours. We simply had to rest in God's arms until it was completed.

Exchange and Completion

Finally, on the 30th June, after weeks of waiting, wondering and living out of suitcases, our house purchase finally completed. Everything happened as it needed to, and God had kept His word. We were homeowners!

Final Reflections

It's fair to see we still don't fully understand why everything on this long house-hunting journey happened the way it did, but at the same time, we're beginning to see more and more the wisdom of some of the paths we ended up taking. We've been reminded that while it's good to dream and to make plans, it's also vital to lay these plans before God, because ultimately He sees far more than we do and is far wiser than we are. Over the last couple of months we've seen so many of our plans change, but every time we've seen the blessing of God in the unexpected ways He's led us.

We learn to trust God more by journeying with Him, and it's also fair to say that in the stretching and the waiting of the last six months our faith has grown and our trust in God deepened. We have another marker in the ground to look back on and remind ourselves of God's faithfulness for when the next impossible faith journey comes our way.

And ultimately, at the end of it all, He's the one who gets all the credit, not us. He reveals His faithfulness through our faith, His power through our weakness and His wisdom through our surrender. We're in awe of how God brought us into the perfect house at the perfect time, and we now have another story of His love and goodness to share with others.