Answer to Enduring Prayers of Faith

Dave (my son-in-law) and Ellie (my daughter) decided to move to Maryland to be near his parents because Dave was concerned about who would care for them as they aged, and I told them the Lord would bless them for doing so, but it sure didn't seem that way at first. (Trials are necessary so we learn to exercise faith in prayer and speak with authority.) They started out renting a room from one of his brothers, then found a house they thought they could afford to buy. That's when the housing bubble really collapsed, Dave lost his job and they had to put the house up for short-sale and find a place to rent.

However, renters are being gouged because of the tight market. Dave and Ellie have paid over $44,000 in rent during the past three years. The place they're renting has had multiple sewer backups that each time left sewage and human waste in the basement, which they had to clean away themselves. The garbage disposal can't be used because it puts filth into the dishwasher, which also can't be used because there's no way to prevent the backup from the garbage disposal. The heating bills ran $1,000 or so per month, even though Dave and Ellie kept the house at 58 degrees. They finally just decided to use kerosene heaters.

Ants have colonized the walls behind the sheet rock, with the worst infestation in the kitchen. Every Spring they got worse and worse, no matter what they sprayed or what bait they used. Nothing that's left on the counters is safe and when in desperation they were going to have an exterminator come out at their expense, he told them multiple treatments would be needed. Every outlet and light switch cover would need to be removed so he could spray multiple applications behind the walls. It was cost-prohibitive. We're guessing that the ants probably came in years ago through the ivy growing over the outside of the house because they were there before Dave and Ellie moved in. I won't bore you with the rest of problems, but the house is a pig wearing lipstick and since the owners are upside-down on it, they do the absolute minimum after arm-twisting to make it rentable.

Well, Dave and Ellie were in a bad financial situation for quite a while. David Eells and I spoke a little about it on the phone and we prayed for them. I told him that money wasn't their problem and that God was going "to do something spectacular" for them. It was August 2011 when I got serious about praying for them but by September things were even worse. When Dave lost his job, he had to become self-employed because he couldn't find work that could support the family. Dave is an electrician and his one employee totaled the work truck. Another previous employee sued Dave in an extortion attempt. The replacement work van broke. The computer they used for both work and Ellie's school got fried. Mice invaded their house. Then, ironically, their house lost electricity. The trailer he needed to haul generators had to be replaced. A supply house he used apparently faked signatures for thousands of dollars of supplies that Dave never bought. The signatures were of people they said were his employees but Dave didn't recognize a single name. The supply house knows Dave can't afford a lawyer to fight them and Dave and Ellie have been slowly paying off the bill that isn't theirs. (1Co.6:7) ... Why not rather take the wrong? why not rather be defrauded?

There were medical emergencies and one dental emergency with the children. The family van broke down. The 1996 car, which was the only vehicle they didn't have payments on, needed a new clutch and brakes. They considered filing for bankruptcy, but didn't have the money to do that either. So those are just the things I can remember and when I tried to speak faith to them, they were too broken and couldn't receive it. To quote Ellie, "The hits just keep coming". (Always try to keep speaking the faith for what you have prayed or you can dig your own grave. Moses spoke for God, saying, "As you have spoken in my ears, so shall it be unto you". Jesus said, "Be it unto you according to your faith" and "As you have believed so shall it be unto you". {Psa.34:19} Many are the afflictions of the righteous; But Jehovah delivereth him out of them all.) (2Co.4:8) [We are] pressed on every side, yet not straitened; perplexed, yet not unto despair; (9) pursued, yet not forsaken; smitten down, yet not destroyed. Although there were many, many miracles of timing, provision and encouragement that took place during this period, they were all barely enough to keep Dave and Ellie going. (Php.4:19) And my God shall supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

Over the past three years, Dave and Ellie have been looking for a house they could afford to buy, but without success. Anything in their price range pretty much needed to be torn down. They actually even considered a house where the septic system had backed-up and filled the basement, but even that was out of their price range, too. Then the miracle began. (I say "began" because it has taken five months to complete.) They learned that a tiny 111-year old farm house, one they drove by almost daily, was on the market. It needed a lot of work, but was the best out of all the houses they had looked at. It had set empty without being listed or having a "For Sale" sign for 2 1/2 years and the Lord protected it from major vandalism. It was as if the house was invisible. (Remember Deb's spoken word of faith: "God is going to do something spectacular".) About the same time that Dave and Ellie found the house, it got listed online, so they had to act quickly.

First, the Lord brought two unexpected "angels" to provide the financing and Dave and Ellie were very excited and put in an offer, but it was turned down. A higher bid was accepted. (The house was a Fannie Mae foreclosure property and they have certain preprogrammed parameters that the computer can accept or not.) A greatly dejected Ellie called me to tell me the sad news and I commented to her that the sale hadn't gone through yet. (Stubborn determination to believe; sometimes called steadfastness or patience. {Jas.1:2} Count it all joy, my brethren, when ye fall into manifold temptations; {3} Knowing that the proving of your faith worketh patience. {4} And let patience have [its] perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, lacking in nothing. {5} But if any of you lacketh wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all liberally and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. {6} But let him ask in faith, nothing doubting: for he that doubteth is like the surge of the sea driven by the wind and tossed. {7} For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord; {8} a doubleminded man, unstable in all his ways.) I was speaking faith, but I'd also been given a dream and seen another sign that made me believe the house was theirs. It perplexed me somewhat that their bid hadn't been accepted. (Hold fast to promises in dreams, if you want them to come to pass. {Heb.10:23} let us hold fast the confession of our hope that it waver not; for he is faithful that promised.) Meanwhile, Dave and Ellie continued their house search.

A few weeks later, Ellie called me up. She said, "You and your dreams! The contract on the house fell through!" So Dave and Ellie rushed to put in another bid, but no matter what they tried, the computer wouldn't accept the forms. So then Ellie rushed to the realtor's office to see if their computer could process the required attachments, but during the time she drove over there, another bid went through and was accepted. I was perplexed yet again; however, I saw the pattern developing and began to understand that God was using man's system to lower the house price. (He is working all things together for our good, if we will just cooperate and believe it.) Each time a sale falls through, the price is dropped by a certain percentage. During this time, the Lord gave Dave a dream that they got the house. Now I was just waiting for this bid to fail and, sure enough, after weeks of nail biting, it fell through. The price was now in Dave and Ellie's range, just barely, but it was there.

Once again, Ellie rushed to the realtor's office to put in their bid. The next day, the bank made a counter-offer. Now while all this goes on, the property is still on the market and someone else could make a higher offer and Dave and Ellie would be shut out, so they were quite tense about everything. (Time to confess and praise the Lord.) But when the realtor suggested a lower offer than what Dave and Ellie were intending to make, they went with his suggestion. That was early on Friday but there was no reply from the bank on Friday. I told Ellie that it was all my fault because I had asked the Lord for the lowest possible acceptable price and I prayed that we would all hear the good news before 10:00 a.m. on Monday.

Yes, Dave and Ellie got the house! Praise You, Father! On Monday, the realtor called Ellie, who called Dave, and then she called Willard (my husband) while Dave called his mom with the good news. Finally, Ellie called me at 9:59 a.m.! How's that for timing? One more minute and my prayer that we would all hear the good news before 10:00 a.m. on Monday would not have been answered!

Update - 4/24/12

In waiting for Dave and Ellie to close on the house in a few weeks, the Lord laid it on my heart to pray that there would be an unexpected blessing in the house and the Lord has multiplied that prayer. So far, everything that should have been a problem, or that looked as if it would be a problem, has turned out not to be.

1. There was a discrepancy in the listing of the true plot size. Some of the paperwork listed it as 1/2-acre with a parcel divided from it and some of the paperwork listed it as 0.86-acre. It turned out to be nothing more than a clerical error and the true size is 0.86, so there is no need to provide right-of-way to the back of the lot for another property, nor pay back taxes in order to buy that piece of property. As a matter of fact, there are no back taxes owed at all. That's money saved.

2. There is no lead paint in the house. Some previous owner had diligently stripped all the wood, etc., and repainted, which means Dave and Ellie won't have to pay for a professional to come in and take care of lead remediation. That's more money saved.

3. The metal roof, which looked so bad, according to the contractor is actually in phenomenal shape. It only needs to be scraped and repainted. That's even more money saved.

4. Instead of having to immediately insulate the entire house, the contractor says replacing the windows alone will make a dramatic difference in how the house holds the heat. He suggests waiting to insulate until when the siding is replaced. That would let them properly Tyvek-wrap the house at that time and get Dave and Ellie some financial breathing space. That frees up more money to do more interior repairs.

5. All the rooms will not have to be gutted down to the studs. The original horse hair plaster is still solid, except where there is water damage from the bathtub. They're going to gut the kitchen, which they already knew they would have to do, the bathroom and the poorly-enclosed front porch. The bathroom can actually now be updated instead of patched back together and the enclosed front porch (after it's repaired) will add valuable living space.

6. There is a 15-year moratorium on any new construction for that zip code due to an antiquated water system but this house has its own working well -- a major utility savings because water was almost $200 per month in the rental house.

Dave and Ellie have gone through approximately six years of being trodden down by the world system during this trial but the Lord kept them from completely giving up. They made a point of trying to handle each set-back according to Biblical principles. They kept using what resources they did have available, to help others who were in even worse shape. And, yes, they murmured in the wilderness but the Lord forgave them. While we were waiting to see if the second contract on the house would fall through, Ellie commented that if it did, indeed, fall through, then she would know that God really loves them. I think they have their answer!

Printer-friendly version