Hi Jason,
Speaking of protection of houses...this is long, but well worth the read. Enjoy!
When it all came out that my husband was having an affair with the wife of his best friend and he wanted a divorce and buy me out of the house, I knew I would have to move to a less expensive part of the country. I wanted nothing to do with the divorce so I never signed anything, nor went to court. It went through my default. I just let my husband do all the sinning.
I looked at houses on the internet in towns across the country where I already had a friend or relative. Unfortunately Illinois where I grew up had very high property tax rates due to the crime in government, and not much house for the money. (Guess where Obama came from?) I got advice from my old accountant in California that the south has more for you money and low property taxes. I had one friend in Tennessee, my ex-sister-in-law from my first (of two) marriage, I kiddingly called my "outlaw." She lived in Murfreesboro. So I looked at houses in Murfreesboro on the internet. Amazingly, the only job I could find in Arizona where my husband and I lived was WalMart - the only business in the area where I could transfer to Murfreesboro! So I went to the bank and obtained a pre-approved loan and they told me the highest price of house they would approve was $92,000 at 9% interest, the same as my husband's new loan interest. I was going to let God direct my steps. If I couldn't find a house in one area, I'd come back and look elsewhere. I printed off copies of fronts of houses for sale and saw most were with the same realtor. (Note: every time I was on the computer looking at houses I kept seeing a picture in my head of a backyard. It was like a pencil drawing. Large rectangle long yard with large trees at the far back and on each side was bordered with pine trees. It would just pop into my head. I figured it was my "wish.") So when it came about time to move, I called my "outlaw" and told her my plan. She offered to let me stay at her place while I looked for a house. So then I called the realtor and said I needed a two day appt. on Thursday and Friday of the next week (leaving Arizona on Tues. morning and told him the details of my loan allowance.
Tuesday morning came and my husband came into where I was sleeping sometime after 7:00 and said I had a phone call. It was one of my good Christian girlfriends in the area. She said turn on the TV - you can't move! So I turned on the TV in time to see the Twin Towers burning - it was 9/11. I didn't know what to do, but knew God was in control so at 3:00 pm I decided to head across the country driving my van. I figured, God can't steer a parked car.
I arrived at my outlaw's at 2:00 am in the morning Thursday and slept in the van. The realtor would be there in a few hours to look for a 3 bedroom, 2 bath on 1/2 to 1 acre.
The realtor whose name was Mr. Bugg (honest!) showed me a lot of houses, but they were all $98,500 or more. I was using $92,000 as God's ceiling also, to know which house He approved. Sort of as a fleece, and wouldn't budge higher. For two days we searched, looking at a lot of houses to get an idea of what I liked and didn't like, and the different areas of the town. At the end, nothing. It was late Friday evening. I told Mr. Bugg there was one house that doesn't seem to be on the market but I brought a picture of it from the web-site and was always drawn to it. So he took me to see it, and yes, it was in foreclosure but off the market for repairs. I thanked Mr. Bugg for all his help and was sorry I couldn't find God's house. He and I had talked and talked about the Lord, and he scolded me many times for thinking God actually leads us personally, and not just strictly through the Word. I just said, I can't go against this ceiling. So we left that last house, and driving out of the neighborhood, I saw one of his realtor signs on a brick home, and said, oh, look, their's one of your signs. He stopped and stared at the house and said he's never seen it before. He was puzzled and got out to get one of the flyers, and looked back at me, and said, I think this may be your house. It had been on the market for 102 days and no one had even looked, so it was reduced to $95,500, the closest to my ceiling. I could at least put an offer on it. So, we looked at the 3 bedroom, 2 bath, brick home with attached garage on 3/4 of an acre, and I told him to offer $92,000, and he drove me back to my outlaw's, and said he would call me. Saturday morning he called and got a counter offer of (95,000). I thanked him, and said, well I guess I'll have to head back to Arizona. So my outlaw and I went shopping all day and caught up, putting the dream of living there out of my head. We got back to her house and opened the door. I suddenly heard God interrupt my thoughts and clearly said "split the difference." I jumped, and told outlaw. I didn't know where the extra $1,500 was going to come from to secure the loan, but I called Mr. Bugg and told him what happened. So offer $93,500 and tell him I would split the difference. Sunday morning Mr. Bugg called and told me "Congratulations!"
Monday morning I went to the bank, which, of course, had been closed since 9/11, and told them I had found a house and my offer of $93,500 was accepted to see what she could do. She recalculated the loan, now using the new interest rate that had plummeted across America, and said, at the new rate of 6% they could fund the loan, the difference was $1,500. God is in control!!!
A week after I moved in I went out on my back deck and finally had a good look at the view, and it hit me! It was long and rectangle (200 ft of lawn from the back edge of the house, with a natural wooded area with creek behind the lawn, and large trees for 50 feet beyond the lawn. And there were 23 pine trees bordering the property on each side.
One day I got a phone call from my next door neighbor telling me there was a tornado coming so get in an inner bathtub and hope for the best. I thanked her, but told her God gave me this house, I'm going back to bed and am not going to worry about it. The next day there were trees down all over the neighborhood, even at my next door neighbor's, but not a twig down in my yard.
And I still sleep through tornado warnings. He's in control of this house and my life.
By the way, my husband's loan is still at 9%. Even though he married his mistress, he didn't want to refinance and share ownership. It is all his, and so is his sin.