Heather Gerwing is a member of a Christian writer’s group I joined a year or so ago. She’s a blogger, a student of Scripture, and an all around wonderful human. Welcome, Heather!
When my husband and I were newly married 12 years ago, we purchased a starter home that we planned to live in for five to seven years.
It was meant to get us through until we were ready to build our dream home. The one that my husband had imagined designing and building since he was a young boy.
We are now more than half a decade beyond that original timeline, our family has grown to six people, and we are still in that starter home.
Sigh.
Soon after we bought our home the housing market crashed and our property depreciated beyond belief. We wondered if our house would ever be worth what we paid.
We sat on the sidelines waiting for our home’s value to increase while watching several families we knew play the “short-sale” game and get out from underneath their mortgages. That approach never sat well with us, so we continually worked hard at chipping away at our mortgage.
Waiting.
As years passed, we watched our home’s value slowly climb out of the valley. We refinanced and continued to aggressively work to pay down our mortgage. During this time, God reinforced through Scripture that he would fulfill our dream of a family homestead.
Now, as our house has recovered its value and we have saved money to make purchasing property a reality, we are ready to see the next steps of our dreams come true.
A year ago, after over a decade of casual Zillow browsing and property drive-bys, we started actively looking for land.
Each of our family members has started to verbalize their dreams for our new home.
My husband is dreaming about trees lining our landscape. My kids are dreaming about a tree house and zip lines connecting those trees.
I am dreaming about relaxing in a big bathtub.
It has been joyful this last year thinking about all that will come with the new property, and eventually, a new home.
Yet, as our oldest is now ten, we feel an urgency for this to happen while the kids can still enjoy it and remember it as “home.” It is disheartening for us that it has taken years of waiting for our house value to recover, years of saving, a year of active searching, and yet we still aren’t at that next step.
We are still waiting.
Isaiah 30:18 (NLT) states:
So the Lord must wait for you to come to him
so he can show you his love and compassion.
For the Lord is a faithful God.
Blessed are those who wait for his help.
It is hard work, waiting.
It is especially hard when you feel you did things the right way, maybe even God’s way, and are still left waiting.
It is hard not to lose hope.
I am trusting in God’s words from Isaiah 30:18.
When God has us in the waiting, it is for a season and for a reason. He has not denied us an answer or left us alone, instead, he is continually drawing us to him. Waiting for us to come to him.
As I seek him more and more each day, I feel his love and compassion more abundantly. God is faithful. I know we will not have to wait forever. I know he has the right property already picked out for us and I can’t wait to see his hand as it comes to fruition.
I see trees, zip lines, and a big bathtub, in my future.
What’s in yours?
Heather Gerwing lives in Michigan with her husband Jeff and their kids. She is passionate about her family and living the life God has blessed her with to the full. You can find more of her musings on her blog or Facebook.
Courtney Ellis 
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