What I Learned in 2017: A year of Testing and Blessing

Photo via Flickr CC: Jerry Dohnal

Two years ago it seemed like everything bad that could happen did. If you read my post from last New Year’s, you’ll see that I sort of gave up on New Year’s resolutions. Not in a bad way, but I realized that I needed to leave margin for what God wanted to teach me.

Last year I ditched my business plan, my cleaning schedule and everything else I had concocted in my gung ho efforts to be massively organized and productive. I assumed that since the previous year had been so difficult, that the lessons on endurance were over and life would return to normal.

Except, it didn’t.

It got worse.

Sicker Than a Dog

I started out January with a 14 week long case of Mono. I was sick in bed more often than not, the house was a literal disaster, and homeschooling was an afterthought. My son watched more tv last year than I’d care to admit. But at least it was educational tv, right?

It was exhausting and I didn’t know what was wrong with me.

Once the round with mono was over I thought I’d start feeling better, but I didn’t. Now I was sick in bed with extreme fatigue (still), intense nausea and vomiting. A few weeks into that fun journey I found out that I was pregnant.

My wonderful husband teaching our son while I was sick

Tough Decisions

We had been trying to get pregnant for almost a year so we were very excited, but it was still a tough time. During this time we were deciding what the future held for us as far as living arrangements. The past 6 years we were living with my husband’s grandparents in their home.

It started off as them giving us a place to stay after we lost everything from my husband’s back injury. Six years ago we were homeless with a new baby and 19 cents to our name. After awhile we decided to stay and help them, since they were growing older and needed the assistance.

Now that both of his grandparents were gone, we had a decision to make. We could continue to live there and buy the house, or we could start over and move somewhere else. The original plan in January was to purchase the house, but we discovered something awful while cleaning out the estate.

A Toxic Discovery

When we moved the cabinets in the basement away from the walls to clean, we found something we hadn’t expected. Toxic black mold. Everywhere. Apparently when mold is disturbed it releases a poison called mycotoxins that causes a long list of health issues, including death.

We both became very sick from the mold. And as we looked back at the health issues we developed over the years (especially my husband) more and more of the symptoms matched up with what we were learning about mold poisoning.

There were other things about the house I wasn’t so excited about, but the toxic mold was a deal breaker. We started looking for a house to purchase (that didn’t have mold), but that was also a seemingly impossible task! For the next 7 months we house shopped.

One of the ones that got away

House Hunting Woes

The market here is hot, so most listings were sold within 24 hours of being posted. With a new baby on the way we were running out of time, and it seemed like we would never find our home. We had lowered our standards several times, looked outside of the area we wanted to live, and still couldn’t find anything.

After 6 months of searching, we put an offer in on a home that we were both excited for and spent the night praying. This home was on a great piece of property, was cozy but just big enough and was in an ideal location. It had been sitting on the market for months (which was unheard of for our area), so we were sure it would be ours.

Just a few hours before we were supposed to close on the house, someone else swooped in with another offer. All cash, no questions asked. It was hard to lose what we thought was going to be our first real home, but we knew that God was protecting us from something.

God's Timing

The search began again. I got updates from a housing website on my phone that notified me once a house with our desired characteristics came up on the market. One night in August a notification popped up on my phone. My husband and I had just woken up from a nap, and I showed him the picture. He hadn’t even opened his eyes all of the way yet before he said,

“That’s it! Put an offer in.”

I convinced him to at least look at the house first before we agreed to buy it! But he was right. Within an hour we had a showing scheduled and the next morning we had our offer in.

I’m a writer by nature, and I really wanted to be sure that we had the best chance at getting this house. I wrote a cover letter to submit with our offer, telling the owners of our situation and why we wanted their home. Something must have worked, because that evening our realtor called and told us they had accepted our offer!

Testing and Blessing

That in itself was an act of God. After months of searching and properties constantly being sold out from under us, we were discouraged. This house was larger, nicer, in a better neighborhood and better location than any house we had looked at so far. We also have fantastic neighbors, one of which happens to be a fellow blogger! 

This house just happened to be listed for the exact amount we were approved for. Similar properties here sell for $30-40,000 more than what we paid for ours.

Last year God told me at the beginning of the year to expect a Job year. A year of testing and trials. A year of learning to trust Him for my very existence. And boy was it. I knew that at the end of it though we would be blessed beyond anything we could think to ask for.

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.” Ephesians 3:20

My two little blessings

Living in God's Grace

We moved into our new home in October, just a few short months before my due date. We’re starting the long process of healing from our exposure to the toxic mold. There are still struggles, however in the midst of the struggles there are blessings beyond measure.

I’m holding my newborn baby in my lap as I type this. I’m able to work (mostly) from home, as I’ve been blessed with several writing positions that make my dream career possible. And for the first time in our lives, after years of living with others or in crappy run down apartments, my husband and I get to enjoy our own home.

I really don’t know yet what 2018 will hold for us, but I’m excited to find out.