Anxious about nothing....harder than it sounds
The more we look into this particular house we're interested in, the more questions arise. Will she take our offer? Does she like us, enough to let us purchase her house full of memories? (It is for sale by owner, in case you didn't know.) Can we find enough furniture to fill it? Will our current house be able to sell in time to move in before the baby's born? Will we have time to do the interior improvements before baby, too? Are there too many stairs in this house (for toddlers, I mean)? Will anybody come see us anymore since we'll be a little farther out?
These floodgates of "what ifs" have opened, and I intend to stop them.
If this is the house that God intended us to inhabit, then He will allow the doors to open so that we can walk right into the foyer and call it home. If we are supposed to raise our two kids there, from now on up through the time they leave for college, then it will happen. If we are supposed to sell this house soon, it will sell....the perfect buyer will come along and adore it, just like I did three years ago.
I sometimes feel as if I'm jinxing something that could possibly be very good by thinking so many negative thoughts about the barriers to that happy ending I so crave.
There is absolutely nothing I can do to help this house sell. I can bake cookies right before it's shown, so the aroma can fill the nostrils of the passers-through and make them linger. I can most definitely keep it clean and tidy, and Ken can easily spruce it up to make it in tip-top shape. Yet I can't force anyone's hand to sign the dotted line.
And I can't force the owner of this prospective house to like us. I can't force her to leave this house if deep down she wants to hang onto it. I can't rush the process of moving in, and I can't have it the way I want it with just the snap of a finger.
This will all take time. And most importantly, it will take an act of God. We get so busy with the piddly things that we neglect to see how big His hand is, how much He's got in His grasp already. He begs us to let go so He can take up the slack, so He can haul the load.
"Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life." (Philippians 4:6-7, MSG)
"If GOD doesn't build the house, the builders only build shacks. If GOD doesn't guard the city, the night watchman might as well nap. It's useless to rise early and go to bed late, and work your worried fingers to the bone. Don't you know he enjoys giving rest to those he loves?" (Psalm 127:1-2, MSG)
These floodgates of "what ifs" have opened, and I intend to stop them.
If this is the house that God intended us to inhabit, then He will allow the doors to open so that we can walk right into the foyer and call it home. If we are supposed to raise our two kids there, from now on up through the time they leave for college, then it will happen. If we are supposed to sell this house soon, it will sell....the perfect buyer will come along and adore it, just like I did three years ago.
I sometimes feel as if I'm jinxing something that could possibly be very good by thinking so many negative thoughts about the barriers to that happy ending I so crave.
There is absolutely nothing I can do to help this house sell. I can bake cookies right before it's shown, so the aroma can fill the nostrils of the passers-through and make them linger. I can most definitely keep it clean and tidy, and Ken can easily spruce it up to make it in tip-top shape. Yet I can't force anyone's hand to sign the dotted line.
And I can't force the owner of this prospective house to like us. I can't force her to leave this house if deep down she wants to hang onto it. I can't rush the process of moving in, and I can't have it the way I want it with just the snap of a finger.
This will all take time. And most importantly, it will take an act of God. We get so busy with the piddly things that we neglect to see how big His hand is, how much He's got in His grasp already. He begs us to let go so He can take up the slack, so He can haul the load.
"Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life." (Philippians 4:6-7, MSG)
"If GOD doesn't build the house, the builders only build shacks. If GOD doesn't guard the city, the night watchman might as well nap. It's useless to rise early and go to bed late, and work your worried fingers to the bone. Don't you know he enjoys giving rest to those he loves?" (Psalm 127:1-2, MSG)
Comments