Part 1 – Discerning God’s guidance
In the last month, I have moved 1800 miles to Colorado. My husband and I have transitioned to part-time ministry, which we can do remotely for the most part. We bought a house within 45 minutes of our oldest daughter and her family. Proximity to family was the goal of the move. We are delighted with the home we chose and with the opportunity to see them more frequently. We have begun to settle into a weekly routine, which anchors us just a bit in what has otherwise been a disorienting period of change.
The whole process of buying the house built my faith in God’s love and provision. In the two years leading up to this move, we talked together and prayed for God’s guidance. We had not changed jobs in over 35 years, and our last big decision had been over whether or not to get a dog in 1997. I mean that in all seriousness: a dog is a big decision, not unlike having another child. Our dog, Mason, a sweet yellow lab, required time and training to become as sweet as he was. Since that was so long ago, I don’t remember how we made that decision and I was worried about how and even whether God would guide clearly, since both Bill and I usually do not expect “handwriting on the wall.” And truly, we both think of ourselves as weak in faith in matters having to do with discerning his guidance. So we prayed and we talked very honestly with one another and with others who were affected by our decision. Then we took practical steps to gather information.
For two summers, with listings provided by a realtor, we drove around in mountain neighborhoods within two hours of our daughter. In unity we concluded that we needed to be within one hour of her home. We wrote out what we wanted in our home – we slowly pared down our ideal property from 35 acres to 5 acres to 1 acre. We realized we didn’t want isolation, but community. We reckoned with our age and increased need for goods and services. I had to come to terms with the fact that staying put for 39 years had closed the door to a different and more rustic middle portion of life. This was all part of the process God used to guide us, though at the time, it wasn’t this clear. Nevertheless, God was working.
Last January, we were ready to tour houses with our realtor. We had, in unity, decided this would be our last year full time in Princeton. The inventory in our target area of Colorado wasn’t plentiful, but we weren’t in a hurry to buy. We expected this to be merely an exploratory trip. There were five houses within our preferred price range, size and distance from our daughter. We met Nick at #1. The location was lovely, but the house was “meh.” I said I could live there. Bill said he could not!. We went to #2. It was way up Conifer Mountain, on a lovely wooded lot, three stories with a deck on the middle level. I think there are a lot of houses in Colorado like this one, because #3 was largely the same. They both had a very chopped up layout, with the master bedroom RIGHT off the kitchen. In one, the master bathroom was also the laundry room and the throughway to the back door. At that third house, the driveway was dirt, and an ascent which made two switchbacks. Snow had fallen and since the house was empty, it had not been plowed, so we accidentally got stuck in a snowdrift backing out of the driveway. I prayed and we shoveled furiously to get the car out of the drift. God answered and extricated us without damage to our daughter’s car. We were in harmony that neither of these houses was the house for us! # 4 house was listed as a cabin, perched on a gentle hill with a gorgeous view from 4 acres. We wanted to love this house. It was interesting, not a typical house at all. But we quickly discovered it was not an “age appropriate” location for two 66 year olds. Half the heating system was provided by wood burning fireplaces. I thought to myself that this was not something our older bodies would find sustainable and the open fireplace in the living room – big enough to be in the kitchen of a medieval castle with an animal roasting on a spit – was dangerous if I were ever to host my grandchildren in winter. This house too had a weird layout and was not “move-in” ready. Again, we were unified that this was not our house. I began to pray that we would love the interior of house #5.
We pulled into the paved and relatively flat driveway of the last house on our available list. The night before Bill had asked our daughter if she thought having a view mattered. We were pretty sure this fifth house had no view. Our daughter answered tentatively, “Well, I really like my view.” So our hearts fell a bit. This house was not perched atop a hill with a panoramic view. But we walked into the house, where a gas fireplace was burning with a welcoming warmth. We immediately noticed the hardwood floors and the lovely layout, with the master bedroom down a hall on the main level. We went downstairs and imagined our guests enjoying large rooms and their own bathroom (which we have never had in our beloved home in Princeton). And down there, I looked out the front window, up at a gorgeous mountain, rather than down. When I returned to the main floor, I realized the living room had the same beautiful view and I marveled at the detail with which God had answered my prayer. From there, walking around the flat wooded yard only confirmed my sense that this house was not only a sustainable place for two 66 year olds, but also a place where all my grandchildren could ramble and frolic. There was even a treehouse with electricity. And as we talked with our realtor and thought this over together with our daughter and with our other kids by phone later that evening, we realized we were united in believing we should make an offer on this house.
I still tear up just thinking about the clarity of that day, and now, writing from that house, I continue to feel God’s confirmation of our relocation here. I will have more to write about ongoing and more important aspects of our location. But here, I simply want to testify to God’s goodness in guiding two challenged children of His to make a consequential decision. Glory to Him!