So...What's going on?

One question we get asked a lot is “Are you guys still planning to move to North Carolina?”, or some variation like, “I thought you were moving to North Carolina?” The simple answer is we still are planning to move. The hold-up is, and has been, selling our house. When we tell people that, we usually get some version of, “God can do it, even in this market”. I couldn’t agree more, I tell them. Then I mention that we have taken our house off of the market for a while. That’s where the fun begins. To understand where I’m coming from, we have to agree on a couple of things…

1) Nothing is impossible for or with God. I know—“Duh”. But seriously, this is very important to remember.
2) Nothing is harder or easier for God to do. To God, there are no “big” miracles. Raising someone from the dead is no more difficult for God than healing someone’s cold. It just isn’t. God is all-powerful.

We are trying to move to North Carolina, believing that is where God wants us to be. To do it, there are several things that need to happen, and selling our house is the biggest, but not the only, issue. There are foreclosures and short-sales in my neighborhood that have significantly driven down home prices. To sell our house for what we owe on it, we would have to sell it for about $30,000 - $40,000 above "the market". I don’t doubt that God can make our house sell for what we owe, even if that price is that much more than similar houses in our neighborhood. Of course, once our house sells, we will have moving expenses, maybe about $10,000 between moving, getting up there, and getting settled. Selling our house for $40,000 - $50,000 above the market price is no harder for God than $30,000 - $40,000, right? We will also need to raise support so that we are not a burden on the church. If we were able to sell our house for $100,000 over the average market price, we would be able to begin working in the ministry right away. God can make that happen.

Okay, at some point while reading that last paragraph you said something like, “Uh…yeah God can do it, but that’s a little ridiculous”. The problem is, someone else will read the same information and pick a different “ridiculous” point. Maybe yours is at the $30,000 mark and someone else’s is at the $50,000 mark. Who is right? I’m willing to bet almost everyone bailed at the $100,000 mark. And yet we will all still agree that nothing is impossible and nothing is hard for God. Keep in mind that we are not trying to be selfish—these additional monetary obstacles (moving expenses, raising support) are real and need to be addressed. They can be overcome with the sale or without the sale of the house. It’s all a matter of timing.

So, why did we take the house (temporarily) off the market? We looked at the circumstances (the housing market) and after praying about it, we felt that ringing up what the realtors refer to as “days on market” was not a good plan. Is that a lack of faith? We don’t think so. We are trying to use discernment, and at this point we believe this is the right thing to do. Frankly, it hurts to feel like we are not moving forward. We just want to make sure that we do this the way we are supposed to. We are working with our mortgage company. We are trying to pay down existing debt and not take on any new debt. We considered renting our house, but believe it is not the right thing for us to do. In the meantime we are trying to stay faithful and to be ready for when we are supposed to put the house back on the market. I hope it’s soon, but I hope even more that I don’t try to run ahead of God’s timing.

There you have it. What’s changed? Nothing. A lot. I hope this explains things a little more clearly. Please feel free to share your thoughts.