Let me tell you what the Lord has done for us in the last little while. We needed to sell our home, or renovate it to make it accessible for handicapped use. Through the March of Dimes program we were approved for a grant to do renovations. This grant was to be accepted before the end of July 2007 or would no longer be available. The grant covered changes inside the home such as the widening of doorways and a total renovation of the bathroom. One of the conditions of the grant was that we, at our own expense, build a new 57” high deck at the front of the house connecting the driveway to the front door. We also needed to purchase a porchlift which would be placed on the driveway making access to the deck possible. All this involved a lot of expense.
One of our sons suggested that we would not do all these costly renovations, but instead sell our property and buy a home already adapted to handicapped use, such as a condo.
Somewhat reluctantly we set out to look at all the condos he had already previewed. Because our grant was due to expire soon, we had started removing the massive reinforced concrete front step to make place for our new deck.
To our surprise, we did like the condos we saw, but could not change our plans at the last moment, and decided to go ahead and renovate for several reasons:
1) We would need to sell our house first in order to be able to buy another home, and bridge financing plus expenses for two homes would cost $ 2500.00 per month for an undetermined period of time.
2) We would lose the grant immediately if we did not renovate.
3) We had to either sell or renovate since my condition was steadily deteriorating and I would not be able to get in or out of the house if nothing was done.
We believed the Lord had shut a door, and that we at this time should do what was required to renovate our present home.
We had not seen how we could ever make this switch to a condo at this time, and were thankful to the Lord for the grant, and the provision of a porchlift.
A bobcat was required to work on taking down our front step, and our front lawn and landscaping disappeared leaving ruts and huge piles of concrete. (Some years ago I had poured this step myself with concrete containing fiberglass intending it to last and last!)
A remarkable turn of events stopped our renovation in its tracks.
To our surprise, an anonymous brother offered, through an intermediary, to lend us the entire amount required for the purchase of the condo. There would be no contract, no paperwork, no signing of anything, no interest charged, no terms, no repayment schedule. Repayment was to be made when the present home was sold, whenever that would take place.
As you can see the Lord provided a solution which we could really not have imagined. His gracious providence was beyond what we could ever have hoped. It is clear that the Lord has all power on heaven and earth, and that this is only a small thing for Him. Our trust in Him was confirmed and strengthened. The Lord is good and a great Lord. We bought the condo (with a cash offer) right away. We had no written confirmation of the coming funds. We actually had no idea where the money was to come from, all we could do when the closing date arrived is trust in the Lord that the funds for the purchase would actually be there on the appointed day. Our trust was not misplaced. The funds were there.
Believing we had followed His leading in buying the condo, we also believed that the Lord knew we needed to sell our present property. We already had a conditional offer after two weeks, and we saw His hand in that. Then the conditional offer fell through, and we had to trust the Lord even more. We received another offer, an unconditional cash offer within three weeks, for the exact same amount as the first offer. The Lord was again showing us that our trust was not misplaced. So our house was sold within about a month, and because I had handled the sale myself, no real estate commissions were due. Another blessing. The buyer who made the cash offer to us received an offer on his house the very next day, the first day he put it on the market.
We experienced the help of many church members and those of our children who live in Ontario in cleaning up the mess in our front yard, landscaping and the building of a new front porch. After the purchase we moved into the condo very quickly. An army of volunteers from our church moved us in a couple of hours. Our street was lined with vehicles to transport our belongings. We thank the Lord for His goodness, and thank each for tangibly expressing their love for us through their deeds.
