After three years of apartment living, our dream came true. My husband and I were the proud owners of our first home. I was content but my husband was not satisfied. The yard was too small. He grew up on a large double lot and wanted the same for his family. The land behind our property was available. We did not have the funds to purchase a lot valued at $14,000. We started saving and hoped we would be able to purchase the lot before the builders developed the property.
After a year of saving, our savings were depleted by unexpected expenses. I told my husband that buying the extra land appeared impossible. The next day, I opened my Bible to Matthew Chapter 19 for my morning devotion. I read, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Hope flickered in my heart as I shut the Bible and headed out the back door. I walked onto the property and poured my heart out to God. I opened my eyes, hoping for some sign God had heard my prayer – nothing.
Months later, I came home to find a letter attached to our front door. The letter was from a local bank. It stated they had acquired the property behind our house. They invited us to make them an offer. I thought the letter was a joke and threw it on the kitchen table. Later that evening, my husband read the letter and agreed. This was too good to be true. I tossed the letter in the trash.
The next day, a neighbor stopped by our house with the same letter. He found it attached to his front door and wanted to know if we thought it was a hoax. We soon learned that everyone on our street had received the same letter and were puzzled by the generous offer.
Someone reserved a meeting room at the local gymnasium for a neighborhood meeting to discuss the mysterious letter. Apparently, all of us were too stunned by the letter to call the bank. After much discussion and some debate, we selected a candidate to investigate.
The next neighborhood meeting revealed good news. The letter was legitimate. The builders had encountered financial difficulties and paid off a debt by giving the land to the bank. The bank wasn’t interested in developing the property and gave us first option to purchase. The only access to the land was through our yards, which substantially devalued the property. The bank sold us the land for $2,000. The exact amount we had in our savings!
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