if you read my blog last week, you know that we recently moved after living in the same house for over a decade.
we live in the same city, even in the same zip code.
we just moved 10 minutes away. yet right now, it feels like a world away with new people, new routes, a new school.
so much transition, but again, only ten minutes away.

so why did we move? after all, is life really that different 10 minutes away?
well, i could give you reasons why, but there’s one reason why we did this that you probably aren’t expecting.
God made it clear that it was time for us to go.
and here’s how it all happened.

about four years ago, we had our home on the market and no one wanted to buy it.
with three boys and busy schedules, it was incredibly stressful to have a home “show ready” at a moment’s notice. at the time, i told God, “if you want me to move from this house, then You’ll have to bring someone to buy our home.”

be careful what you ask for.

about six weeks ago, we received a random phone call from a realtor. the agent said that he saw our home in the expired listings and had a buyer for our home. we thought, “yeah, right. you just want us to list our home with you.” but resisting the urge for a sarcastic response, we told him, “send us some info” and gave him our email address.

the next morning we woke up to a contract in our email inbox. i had it checked out, and it was legitimate. an investment group wanted to buy our home to use as rental property. they wanted to buy our home at a reasonable price, and they wanted us out by the end of august. this was the third week in july.

i had some push backs on the original contract, and it was pretty certain it would kill the whole offer. it didn’t. they agreed.

we were really comfortable where we were. we had amazing neighbors. great setup. but when you pray a prayer like i did, and then God answers it in such a clear way—even four years later—well at that point you’d better go.

we accepted the offer and started a frantic search for a home.
and we added a new element to our search—my mother-in-law would be moving in with us some time in the next year, so the home we found would have to accommodate 5+1.

after two solid weeks of searching and some adjusted expectations, we finally found a house that met our needs.

now, it was a matter of dealing with the group buying our home and also getting everything in order to buy the new home.

each day brought new challenges—some were frustrating, others made us breathe out of a paper bag. but whatever came up during the day, by nighttime God had provided a glimpse of hope or a measure of peace.

God showed Himself to be the One who went before us and provided what we needed, when we needed it.

including boxes.
lots and lots of boxes.
and friends.
lots and lots of friends.
and prayers.
lots and lots of prayers.

10 minutes away and six weeks later, the view out of the back of my home is much different.
we gained a bigger house.
more room to simply be.
but this was never about a bigger house or even having something different.
this was about God saying, “Go!” and going.
and all along the way, causing us to lean into Him time and time again.

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