After years of negotiating and trying to keep up with our repayment plan, we lost the house we fought so hard to keep. Throughout the last few years, our mortgage payment continued to escalate along with other bills. My husband and I have two precious daughters, who at the time, were three and five. It seemed like we could either pay daycare and household bills or the mortgage.
Every morning debt stared us in the face. Two weeks after we got the foreclosure papers in the mail, my husband ended up in the hospital with complications caused by stress. Still, we pressed on, believing that God would provide a way to keep our house. We talked to foreclosure prevention counselors, we fasted, we prayed, we rebuked the enemy and pleaded with God to help us.
He did help us,but I never imagined that would mean letting the house go.
I have watched my husband suffer from depression and respond in ways that damaged our marriage. The stressful environment has caused me to snap on my children whose only crime was acting their age.
When the phone call came and we found out the house was foreclosed — after all we have been through — my husband and I did something I never imagined we would do. We sat down and laughed. Have we cried too much? Were we in denial? No, we were finally free.
The earth and all that's in it belongs to the Lord. God had a new place for us physically and spiritually. No house, job, or any amount of money is worth a broken family. We are the righteousness of God, and he has called us to live life more abundantly (John 10:10). I never thought I would be happy to move from this house.
I am convinced that this trial was sent to make us stronger, increase our ministry, and glorify God through our testimony. He had a new home for us. God kept us and loved us through this entire process. Even as we had to disclose the foreclosure to family and friends, I felt God’s love. Rather than be ashamed, I tried to focus on the story of Mary and Martha when their brother Lazarus died. They both said to Jesus, “If you would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.” He assured them that their brother would rise again; then Jesus prayed and thanked God that others were standing by. Before their eyes, he performed a great miracle: he brought Lazarus back from the grave. God can use even our darkest moments to reveal his glory.
Remember, we should not conform to this world (Romans 12:2). There is nothing on this earth that can satisfy us and make us whole. Only God can truly fulfill us. When we wake up in the morning, he should be who we meditate on, because he in control of everything.
God’s will came to me in a way that I didn’t expect, but I welcomed it and embraced it just the same.
As we packed our earthly possessions in this house and looked for our new home, I knew my family was covered in the peace and love of Christ. Although my address changed, I was confident that “goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our life: and we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (Psalm 23:6).