The Home of My Unimagined Dreams

I wrote this several months ago but didn't have the website ready to post it. I thought it might be good to go ahead and put this out there so you can see the whole story...how this season in my new home started. More to come. :)

It was all new. Bright and airy and welcoming. Homey. Clean slate. Fresh start.

I recently moved into a new home. Well, not new, but new to me. I’ve lived here in this new place since this past December. God coordinated everything to provide this home for me, and it’s beyond anything I could have ever imagined. Many moving parts all worked together to bring this about in a way that can only be described as miraculous.

It’s not a mansion. Not elaborate at all. Small, simple, yet so amazing. I’m not at all exaggerating when I say that it fits me like a supernatural glove. God gives the very best gifts. I am still an incredulous recipient of this home, His latest gift to me.

I knew soon after my dad passed away in the fall of 2021 that it would make sense to downsize at some point in the future, but I was thinking distant future. I had lived in the same mid-sized 3 bedroom home for over 30 years. My dad lived in the same neighborhood, which turned out to be a wonderful benefit when I became his caregiver for the last few months of his life.

Last summer, I began the process of checking out various smaller residence options, doing my initial preparation for this future (distant future) downsizing idea. I reached out to a realtor friend and explained what I was considering, and she kindly offered to come over and look at my home to give me any pointers on things I might need to do to help it sell (you know, in the future). We talked about the home and reviewed the research she had done to determine its value. She also told me that she had gone ahead and done some investigation into smaller homes in town in my price range and had come up empty. But then, God stepped in as she suddenly remembered, right there on the spot, that a townhome was vacant and was under contract to an investor who was going to purchase it, update it, and sell it, and she thought it might work for me. She only knew about this situation because the realtor handling the sale to the investor became ill and could no longer work. Word of this got out to other realtors because assistance was needed to finalize the sale.

Initially, I was very unsure about this. My hesitation had a variety of reasons, not the least of which was that this home would be available for sale much sooner than I planned to downsize and move. But the more I found out about the home, the more it seemed that God was in this, and I felt strongly that I needed to check it out. The investor had agreed to give me first shot at the home, so the day he closed on the sale I met him and the realtor there and then I did some seeking the Lord in prayer. I kept getting the same impression of His softly whispered answer which went something like this: Waiting to do this is your plan. This is My plan that you need to adjust to. The time is now, not later.

So I said yes, and God’s gifting began.

The gift of renovation: Because the investor was going to update the home anyway, he agreed to allow me to pick out almost everything. What a wonderful opportunity. Everything I chose came together and actually looked really nice, when this is so not one of my talents. God helped me choose.

The gift of paring down: Downsizing includes the hard work of doing some serious sifting through everything and making decisions. A whole lot of stuff can be accumulated when you live in the same home for 33 years. And living by yourself with a cat in a 1700 sq ft house gives you lots of room to store all this stuff you’ve accumulated and have much of it conveniently out of sight so you tend to forget you have it. I went through it all - from furniture to everything in it and on it to clothes to paperwork (a lot) to pictures (so many!) to books, to the garage and shed contents, to everything in between. I was able to be completely focused and motivated because I had a fast approaching deadline. I found this paring down to be an eye opening experience. It was like revisiting different times in my life, seeing where I had been and wondering sometimes how I dealt with what I faced, realizing the wonder of God’s grace. It was not easy, but it was so helpful to remember and reflect and realize anew how much I am loved by God. And it felt amazing to get it all done!

The gift of perfect timing of sale and purchase: God worked it out so that I purchased my new home and sold my old home just weeks apart. A buyer was located for my old home so quickly that it did not have to go on the market. This was wonderful even though I had to scramble to get everything done.

The gift of remembering so many details: I found the process of moving to be incredibly stressful, even without the added pressure of a quick deadline to get out of the home so the buyers could move in. When I moved 33 years ago I don’t remember all this stress, but I was young (in so many ways) and married at the time. This time around I had to think of everything, which means that God empowered me to remember more details than I can wrap my mind around, and I’m a detail freak so that’s saying a lot. I did forget a few things, but fortunately, nothing major. It was really crazy at times. But it all worked out just fine.

The gift of the perfect home: And now… oh, what a difference a new location can make. I love my new place. LOVE. This love began when I started to see the major changes that brightening up a dark dated space can have, and it increased a whole lot on moving day when the movers placed my furniture. One of the concerns that kept me up at night sometimes was that the furniture I knew I had to have would be too much and it would look crowded instead of open and airy. This concern proved to be unfounded. When they brought the furniture in and set it up, it was just right. A perfect fit. Of course, right? God would not give me this incredible gift of a beautiful new place to live and then have it look too closed in with furniture :)

The gift of community: This home is incredible. But that’s not all. This neighborhood is like a little island, a little mini cosmos of wonderful people who care about each other. And they also care about keeping up how pristine the neighborhood looks so that even though it’s not new, it still looks like it gets regular TLC.

I know this sounds cheesy, but it’s true: I literally think on a regular basis: “I get to live here!!!” I’m still amazed. It’s an over the top nice calming sanctuary. And yes, it’s a fresh start. I am so enjoying this unexpected treasure. I’m living a wonderful dream I didn’t have.

I’m so very grateful to God for this opportunity that was so obviously created by Him. And I think that He probably has something He wants me to do for Him here in this season, living in this new community. I await my assignment with anticipation of what He will do through me.

Update: Since I wrote this, there have been some changes that I surely would never have chosen. But I still love it here, and I look forward to sharing about the next phase of this season in what is still my dream home. "When God gives you lemons..." Stay tuned for my next blog post that should be up in a few weeks! :)