If you read my (Tiffany’s) last post, you will be glad to hear that we have officially landed in a new home to live in! We now have more space for OneLife to grow into and out of! It has been quite a whirlwind journey (kind of exhausting and requiring much patience). Nevertheless, God has been faithful, as usual. It all got started at the end of September when we had to move out of our apartment as new housing developments are taking over Nashville. Just the other day a friend sent us a picture of our old building which was gone.
At the beginning of September we were looking toward finding another place to lease but quickly knew God was leading us to buy a house. I thought that would be impossible, but God is the master at paving a way through the impossible! I lost count of how many “No’s” we got for receiving a mortgage loan but each day there was a “No” there was always a thread of hope… another possibility. We kept following in the way the Holy Spirit led us and doing what he was telling us to do and waiting. Lots of waiting. Meanwhile, we had to move out of our apartment and several friends kindly opened their homes to us, depending on where we needed to be, and when. A special thanks to each of them! We couldn’t have made it through without them.
By mid-October we at last had a lender willing to give us a chance, a non-profit called Affordable Housing Resources. They, along with our realtor, were very gracious and always pulling for us. We picked out several houses to look at but ended up buying a place that wasn’t on the list. It wasn’t even on the market yet when our realtor got us in to check it out. After we looked at it we stopped by a nearby park to pray. During our prayers, we felt like we were to continue seeking Him about this particular house. So we found a place to camp that night and spent the evening and next morning discerning what we should do.
In our own eyes… this was not the place for us as we had no plans to look in this area. It was everything opposite of where we were living. We really liked it there because it was in the center of things. This new place is technically in Nashville but it is literally on the edge. It’s extremely quiet. Instead of being able to walk to 10 coffee shops and ride bikes a couple of miles to downtown… we can walk to the lake. It’s not our kind of neighborhood. To top it off we didn’t like the house itself and it needed lots of work. Too many automatic strikes for me!
While we camped, we came to God with a lot of questions, asking him what to do. I definitely felt turmoil as my flesh said, “Noooo…” while God gently said, “Yes.” and reminded me of things he had told me over the past month or two. That next morning, I continued to submit it to the Lord and a peace came over me. No overwhelming feelings or excitement… but peace. Tim had already come to this place, but it was then that I knew it was time to move on it. We put an offer in that day and here we are!
Later, we discovered that not only had other offers been put in on this home, but someone had put a better offer in before us and yet… we still got it! Many small and big things like that have happened throughout the whole process to let us know that God is truly the one making it happen. I know there’s so much we can’t even see. Since moving in on November 15th we have been working constantly to renovate this place and make it into our home and a place for OneLife to grow in.
We have worked hard in this housing transition to get to where we are at today, but let me be clear: we literally could not be here if God had not been doing it! It has been hard, but it would’ve been impossible without God. He has worked it out and sustained us. He has given us resources we didn’t have and is still graciously providing. He’s moved mountains and given us helpful people when needed. Thank you to the friends, family, and strangers who have pitched in and prayed for us during this transition. Big thanks to God for paving the way and working it all out.
We still don’t fully understand why we are here in this particular place but we are excited to see where God is taking us! This area of Nashville is quite diverse and that is probably my favorite thing about living here. Oh, and being able to take a walk to the lake is a nice perk, too. 🙂
Tim wrote a blog on how we are sharing the vision of OneLife and discerning our missional context with our group. Hope you will go read that! Prayers are appreciated as we continue to work and look towards the future.
SENT2NASHVILLE 