The Campbell-Whites
Declare His glory among the nations…
Letting go of a blessing: Moving and letting go
We put our house up for sale on a Saturday. By Monday we had our first offer. By Wednesday we had accepted a full price offer. I should have been rejoicing, and part of me was. We made money on this house. I should have been overjoyed to see God at work on our behalf (we were making money on this sale that God could use). A big part of me was. But another part of me wept. I sat in my car and cried. At first I told myself that I was just overwhelmed, it was all happening so fast. But, it was more than that. I felt like I was selling my blessing. This house that we live in was God’s blessing to us. We were able to buy it at the bottom of the market (literally the rock bottom). As a result, when money was scarce and budgets were stringent, we were okay. Our house payment was ridiculously low. Our home was heated with the wonderful warmth of a wood burning stove and the garden provided an over-abundance of produce. This home has been a place of refuge, a sanctuary and a place of peace and calm. It has been a blessing. The thing is, it was meant to be a blessing for a specific time not forever. It was what we needed to have and, for a time, God used this blessing to increase our knowledge of Him and to grow our faith.
It reminds me of the time Jesus and three of his disciples went up a mountain. There Jesus was glorified. There they saw Moses and Elijah. It was a huge blessing. It revived the souls of the disciples who were there. It increased their faith and they grew in their knowledge and understanding of who Jesus was. Peter wanted to stay on the mountain, to live in the blessing, to make it his home. But it was not to be.
Our blessings, with the exception of our Lord himself and an eternity in heaven, can never be our home (even if the blessing is a house).
The Bible tells us that this world is not our home. Right now the journey in the presence of Jesus is the closest thing to home we get. And it’s more than enough.
So, I dried my tears, thanked Jesus for the blessings that had been, and released them back to Him so that I could receive the blessings to come. Not just the profit from the sale of the house, but whatever God chooses to send our way. As we pack items and mark items to give away and sell, I can thank God for the use of these things in my life, but these things are not representations of our life here or possessions that express who we are, they are just things. Our life, what we’ve done, where we go, who we are is Christ and Christ alone. The gifts are His, they’ve always been His. And gifts from God’s hand, whether they coming or going, are always good.
The Campbell-Whites 
Oh, friend! What a beautiful message! Thank you for sharing that perspective. As I sit here still wrestling with feelings of sadness and excitement at your upcoming departure, I can’t help but be thankful for the blessing that you all have been in our life. It has certainly been a blessing for a time!! It makes me happy amidst my tears to know that, unlike your house, the blessing of our friendship will go on and on. And even though I don’t get to see you all and share the day to day, I know that forever is a really long time! So I will rejoice in the forever friends that God has blessed me with in each of you! My heart goes with you…❤
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