“It’s not a blessing if you had to sin to get it.” Unknown
We’ve rented a townhouse for two years, but we’re moving soon because the owner wants to sell it. I happened to show it to a couple the other day that admired it from the outside.
When the wife got off the phone with their real estate agent, she asked if I had the owner’s contact information. Maybe they could cut out the middleman and cut the price before the townhouse officially went on the market. Even though I had the owner’s name, I simply said we rented through a realty company.
Her request flashed me back to 21 years ago. We had an opportunity to buy a house I didn’t think we could afford unless we dealt under the table. We would all come out better financially if we did it that way, well, except Penny, the brand new real estate agent who worked with us enthusiastically. She couldn’t wait for us to negotiate, sign a contract, and move into our dream home.
I almost justified stealing from her by telling myself …
We couldn’t afford the price of the house along with Penny’s commission, so she wasn’t going to get the sale anyway.
She only showed us the house twice at our request, so it’s not like she searched for it or even worked hard to get us there.
Her lack of experience inconvenienced us a couple of times, which made it easier to overlook the work she put in.
The day we had to make a decision, I couldn’t follow through with leaving her out. I said, “If God wants us to have the house, He’ll make a way.”
I wish my thoughts sounded as admirable as that statement. I really did believe it, but that’s not the reason I didn’t follow through. Fear is what got to me. God never blesses a wrong decision and I knew it.
He did, however, bless my halfhearted attempt to do the right thing, not because I’m good, but because He is.
We put a contingent contract on the house for the amount we could afford. The owner accepted our offer, our house sold in two weeks, and we got more for it than we expected. My husband and I were both offered positions in higher education shortly after that, which meant significant pay raises. We enjoyed flexible hours, work from home, and plenty of time off to renovate the nearly 100-year-old fixer-upper. Every time we needed home improvement help, the best and most reasonably priced people showed up out of nowhere. This Old House magazine featured our home in 2008. A few months later, we sold the place and made four times what we paid for it.
Until a random woman stood in my kitchen and asked about a wrong decision, I took a lot of credit for that old house. The memories flooded back until I was in tears, grateful ones. God knew I’d figure it out one day and tell y’all about Him.
Thanks for being here. I’d love to hear your stories of goodness.
In This Together,
Kim