Answered Prayers

With the falling prices of housing over the last few years, Tracy and I began to think and pray about potentially buying property. With the way prices have been over the past few years of our marriage, we came to the point of contentment with renting indefinitely. As the prices have fallen, we began to realize that we actually might be able to purchase something after all. We recognized that since God is the owner of all things, that He would have to give us a home and that we would not be able to afford one without his help. Tracy said it best when talking to someone that if God doesn't provide us a house and if it isn't His will, that we don't want it as it would only bring trouble. We thought through our list of needs in a house and began to pray specifically for them. We talked to a realtor and friend of the Herman family who helped us think through our options. We continued to pray specifically and began looking at neighborhoods and properties on our own. The time came for us to go look at places. We selected six and began looking. Only one of those properties met all of the needs we had been praying for. It had the lowest home owners association fees and had the least damage internally. We prayed about it and talked to some more people before making an offer this last Tuesday. Our realtor called the sellers on Friday to get a status check on our offer. We had placed the first offer, but four others had followed. The property is bank owned, and the selling realtor had been authorized to accept the highest offer. He looked and we had the highest offer - by a few hundred dollars. God came through and provided us a new home. It proved to us that God is the owner of all and that He gave us this property. One person told us that this was an example of being faithful with little and being given something greater (with more responsibility) in response to this. This process has been a great opportunity to trust and God and see Him answer prayers specifically. We hope that our experience can be an example of God's faithfulness and the power of prayer. We will keep you updated as the process moves along, and I will do my best to keep this blog updated more consistently. Thanks for reading and I hope to see you soon. Oh, and our place is the one in the middle by the lamppost.

2 down, 7 to go

Well many of you have pointed out that we need to update our blog. Yes, we very much do! I was trying to post at least once a month, but school got a bit crazy and I haven't been able to get it done. With my duties as an officer for my class, leading a community group, being on the sight and sound team at church, staying on top of my studies and going to class, I got a bit pushed to my limit. I developed shingles due to my stress among a few other physical symptoms of stress. I buckled down and did my best to do everything with excellence and tried to persevere under the pressure, knowing that perseverance will build character. The temptation under duress is to bail on responsibility or cut corners. I have been encouraged in the past to endure under these times of pressure and to rely on God for strength. He uses these hard times to develop and strengthen us for even harder times to come. With some encouragement from others and a lot of hard work, I made it through. My shingles cleared up and I got good grades on my exams and for my final grades. I am now working full time for 3 weeks at Salinas Physical Therapy and Sports Medicine in Yorba Linda. I am learning a great deal and thoroughly enjoying my experience. Working with and helping patients has reminded me why I wanted to be a physical therapist. This experience is truly re-energizing me and I look forward to going back to school to learn more so I can become a competent therapist.