The call back

So where are we up to in the timeline of our story so far? Well, the last few blog posts describe different things that happened during the Easter Holidays earlier this year...it was pretty full on.

Hopefully, you'll remember that we had agreed to call B&E back regarding selling our house to them at the end of the holidays.

So we did. Or rather Tim did. I was too nervous.

Tim called them and spoke to B. We had rehearsed what to say and what not to say and we felt confident in God that this was the right decision. Tim explained that we had indeed reconsidered our timescale and were prepared to sell our house to them and move in 2017. B asked if he could discuss it with E and call us back the next night.

Errr....do you have any idea how stressful those few days were?!! The next day came and went and no phone call, but a text saying they would call the next night. Well honestly, I just did not know what to do with myself! And then the next night came. It was Friday. We didn't hear the phone at all. When we noticed there was a message on it, Tim listened to it and I tried to read his expression as he did so. At the end Tim shook his head and said...

'Annice, they don't want our house.'

What? We were so upset, we sat on the bed and cried. It had taken so much courage to decide to move a whole year earlier than we thought, taken so much emotional energy to step out in faith knowing that we couldn't afford to move, even with the sale of our house. We were gutted. B had explained on the message that he had been offered a job just the day before, which took him too far away from Aylsham to commute. The day before?? So in between us calling them and them phoning back. Wow.

It was a hard weekend. It was hard for a number of reasons. Firstly, it felt like the first part of the plan now wasn't falling into place Secondly and maybe the harder thing was that we were now absolutely certain that we needed to move this year. As we prayed about it and gave it to God, we gradually felt more peaceful about it. Sometimes God wants to see our obedience but then intervenes because there's another way. (We only have to read the story of Abraham & Isaac in the Bible to see that) Maybe this was one of those situations. Maybe not. But we felt that we were being obedient to our Father in deciding to move in 2017 - we felt that direction had been really clear.

When I went to church on the Sunday morning, feeling pretty low, a friend of mine, Natalie, came up to me and said...

I had a picture for you a few weeks ago and kept meaning to send it to you, but then I'd forget, so anyway, do you know in the film Indiana Jones...the bit where he gets to the ravine and there's no bridge to get across - it's called the leap of faith. He has to take a step out and then the bridge appears underneath him. I feel that's what God wants to say to you, that He's got you and isn't going to let you fall.

Ok, so if you've read all the blog posts, you will know that this is an identical picture to the one my friend Vicky shared with me only a few weeks earlier!! God is amazing. And Natalie may have kept forgetting to share this with me, but actually the timing was perfect. I really needed to hear those words that morning.

So, that was that. There's no ill feeling at all towards B&E. God used them to change our timescale. If they hadn't put the note through our letterbox in the first place, none of what followed would have happened.

Thank you Father for B&E and bless them mightily.

Next Blog Post: The 'dream' house