The Spiritual Discipline of Home Buying

Some of you know this already, but Mandy and I are in the process of buying a new home. Barring some very unforeseen circumstances, on May 10 we will become proud residents of the Brentwood neighborhood of Bozeman, and will be moving all our belongings about 10 blocks east of where we currently live. We feel incredibly blessed that we are able to use the increased value our current home to afford a slightly larger home that we can stay in for a long time.

We’ve hesitated in sharing this news too openly, however, because there are a million hoops to jump through and you never know when the whole process might fall apart and send you back to square one. Even now, we aren’t completely out of the woods. Buying and selling a house, simultaneously, has proven to be a much more complicated process than we experienced when simply buying our home five years ago. Double the inspections; double the appraisals; double the offers and counter-offers; double the hassle.

Throughout this process, however, God has been teaching us a lot about patience, trust, mindfulness, and seeking His will. Buying a home is a constant process of ‘hurry up and wait.’ You make a million quick decisions…that are immediately followed by the need to patiently wait with almost no control over the situation. So, we’ve had to learn to trust God’s leading and guiding with each step of the process. We’ve had to learn to listen to what he might be communicating to us, paying attention to how our hearts feel about decisions that need to be made, trusting that the Spirit often works through these sorts of gentle nudges of either peacefulness or discomfort.

I didn’t expect buying a new home to turn into a process of spiritual growth.

May we always be open to how God might want to speak to us and shape us through the ordinary things of life like buying a home. May we have the eyes and ears to listen to God’s prompting and allow him to mold us into more devout followers of Jesus. May we be molded by God into people of patience, trust, mindfulness—people who seek and follow God’s will.