Fr Robert Hendrickson
How are you trusting God these days?
It’s an odd question but it’s one I need to remind myself to ask now and then. It’s not that I don’t trust God per se — it’s just that I forget to turn things over to God sometimes. I like to force things to happen — or think that I am.
We’re in the middle of a house search. We’re not quite to the point of being able to buy a house — ask any kids or grandkids about their house buying plans and they will probably look at you with a blank stare or laugh a bit. Student loans have become such a significant part of most people’s lives that home ownership rates have taken a dive among young professionals.
So, we are doing a search for a rental home. We’re doing this a year earlier than we had planned (our landlords are moving back to town). It’s also a year or two before we will have those aforementioned student loans paid off. As an aside, after a little research I discovered that from 2000 to 2017, average student debt has more than tripled. So this is an accelerating trend as home ownership is delayed by more and more folks given the rapid increase in education costs.
Aside from macroeconomic trends, we also need to stay near our current place because of schools and services and the like. We also have family that visit and lots of other complications — like everyone does at some point or another.
So I tend to comb every site — Zillow, Trulia, Realtor.com, Redfin, Rently, HotPads, and more. I have listings from every major realtor that deals in rental homes. I have alerts set to my phone and iPad so that as soon as a home that meets the various parameters we have is posted I am alerted immediately.
Kind of a perfect house popped up yesterday. If I had described exactly what we wanted, this house would have popped up. I called. Yesterday, someone submitted an application. So we’re starting over. Again.
I said to Karrie, “I feel terrible that I somehow missed that one. I should have had alerts set up for that site.” She said, “Every time you do this. And every time the right thing comes along. There’s a reason this one wasn’t it. The right thing will come along.”
How are you trusting God these days? I needed that reminder that I always get stressed about finding a house — and it always works out — it has for the 20 years we’ve been married and it will this year!
But we all need those reminders to trust, don’t we? We need those reminders to look back, remember all the times that God has been faithful, and not assume that suddenly God’s faithfulness will come to an abrupt end in our lives. It’s easy to think something we do or don’t do will change what God will or won’t do — but that’s a lot of pride and too little faith talking.
So, if you, like me, need to trust God a bit more these days (despite macroeconomic or pandemic related trends), I do not think we are alone. Let’s pray for each other and let’s remember that each and every day is our new chance to be faithful, to trust, and to hope. God is good. All the time. Let’s never miss an opportunity to remember — and let’s never pass up a chance to be reminded.
How are you trusting God these days?
Yours in Christ,
Fr Robert