His Ways are Higher

I wanted to update everyone regarding our house in Reading, PA. Way back in April I wrote a post talking about how we were moving to Greenville. We knew that God wanted us to move, so therefore He was going to sell the house. I think my heart was in the right place (I knew God was moving us, so He'd take care of us and do so by selling the house), but my assumption was that God's care equaled selling the house.

Part of the insanity of last month involved the selling of the house. Our realtor believed that without lowering the price even further (we were already listing more than 10% below what we paid for it), we weren't going to be able to sell it. She recommended that we look for renters. We had toyed with this idea before, but now there was a little bit of momentum behind it.

Before we moved out we mentioned to our neighbors the idea of renting the house if we couldn't sell it. They lived in the unit right next to ours. They have 3 kids (1 out of college, 1 in college, and 1 in high school). We had had the opportunity to go to one of the kid's volleyball games and started to have a small relationship with their family. When we moved out, we exchanged phone numbers & email addresses, and we promptly lost the list into some box somewhere.

A couple of months later they emailed us to see how things were going with the new place and to ask about the kids. So, now we had their email address. When the realtor mentioned looking for renters, Amber and I prayed about contacting our neighbors. We did. There was a good deal of back and forth regarding making it a lease-purchase, but in the end, they decided to rent the home from us!

So, there was a lot of quick learning about law, taxes, depreciation, interest, business expenses, passive ownership, multi-state income, etc., but it's just exciting to know that God has provided in this way. I made a quick trip up in early November to install a washer and dryer and do some other work around the townhouse with my Dad's help. We signed the lease documents. Over the Thanksgiving holiday they moved in, and on December 1st it all became official!

Now we're excited not only have the fiscal burden released but to have the opportunity to serve this family. We're looking forward to getting them Christmas presents and sending them notes now and then. So this is God's plan for the moment. It comes with more complexity than just selling the house outright, but it also comes with the opportunity of investing in other people for God's glory. We appreciate your prayers as we learn to be landlords, invest in the tenants, and handle the most complex tax season I have ever seen!

"For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:9