Loving our house

Many years ago, I moved from one part of Devon to another, having  remarried after being widowed. I didn’t like the area and the whole place  was out of my comfort zone, but circumstances meant that this was  where I needed to be. I prayed and gave love to this town and area in  spite of my unhappiness.

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Someone said to me once: “You have to love your house before you can  leave it.” I couldn’t get to that height of spiritual understanding, but I  tried. The area was known for being very depressed and industries were  closing down at an alarming rate, but I still kept praying for all in the  surrounding area which gradually came out of its depression. Still, we didn’t move.

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Seven years later our neighbours were given notice as the owner wanted  to put one of his sons in their house. We had become great friends and  we were all very upset.
Two years previously my husband and I had seen a cottage we really  liked nearby and as my husband knew the owner he approached him to  see if we could rent it. We couldn’t. It was not in a fit state to live in.

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This same cottage came to mind the day after the news about our  neighbours and although we ourselves had not been given notice it felt  important that we think about moving as the owner had other sons. I  asked my husband to try again. By now the cottage had been refurbished  and the landlord was about to put it on the rental market – in the middle  of lockdown – and said he would be delighted if we had it. We viewed the  cottage, loved, it and moved into it.

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It was such an incredible blessing for all; the neighbours were over the  moon as they were able to stay where they were as they loved it so much  and we were able to move into a new home we loved. I never did get to  love the house before we left it, but I worked on loving its surroundings a  lot during that time and I think that counts!
The extra blessing is that we are also only fifteen minutes away from our  lovely neighbours.