When we hear a "no"

How we respond when something we really hoped for does not happen tells us much about what we're hoping in.  Two nights ago, as our Care Group was walking into our home, we received news that the home we tried to purchase in Crestview, FL had been snatched up by another buyer.  We felt sure that home was for us.  Our realtor even thought so. She said how unusual it was that it had lasted this long on the market.  ("That's because God's been keeping it for us," we thought to ourselves).  Then BOOM!  It was gone.  Back to the starting line again.

This is a small thing in the large scheme of life.  Though our desire is not to rent again after 3 years of living in someone else's property, we humbly realize it is not purely up to us.  God has a plan.  Perhaps renting is best, though we cannot see it now.  Our girls have expressed their desire to "settle in" somewhere, paint their walls and actually hang some photos.  Our oldest is hoping to have a picture of what "home" is before she moves away to college in a few years.  But God may not have that for us.  The lesson of finding our real home in God alone is one Keith and I have been learning all of our married lives.  Wherever we land, whether we rent or buy, it will be our ninth dwelling place as a couple.  Yes we long for something long-term and stable, but God alone can truly provide that sense of "home."

It is hard to know whether I was born with a desire to "nest" or whether the desire was born out of so much moving.  I love to set up a home, decorate it, and make it better than it was when we moved in.  It truly is a delight for me.  But God may have another year (or more) of not settling in.  These two years in Nassau have been so interesting in this regard.  It is the first time we lived in a home that was so big, but also came completely furnished...down to the pictures on the wall.  The only things we brought were kitchen items, books, and a few family photos.  Not a single design idea was mine.  Not a single paint color was our choice.  Yet people walk in and say, "Oh, I love your home."  Or, "What a neat color for your kitchen."  I just laugh and say, "Yes, our landlord has great ideas." 

So as we wait and pray we consider; where is our hope?  As the Lord would have it, our weekly memory verse for church memorization is Colossians 3:1-3.  I'll "recite" it for you now:

"Since you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.  For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God."