It was such a disappointment. My husband and I were already in love with this smaller house that would have made such a great retirement home! It even had a mountain view, which was something I had always hoped for.

We had already started doing the paperwork, which was rather extensive, as this home had been foreclosed on. But we still looked forward to settling into it by spring. I loved the 12' x 20' family room, which faced south, promising winter sunshine to a room we would have used much more than the small formal living room.

To be sure, it had its deficiencies. The closets were small, there was no laundry area on the main floor, and we would need to partition off the semifinished basement. There was an existing laundry area in the basement, but at our age we didn’t want to walk up and down the stairs with loads of clothes. So we knew we would have to relocate the laundry area.

If we wanted to use the basement as a guest area, it would have needed a full bathroom. So putting one in the old laundry area seemed the most logical option. We hadn’t figured out how we could remedy the small-closet situation.

But then it happened. After our initial offer was accepted with additional paperwork, we discovered another offer had come in that weekend. After a day or two it became apparent that we were not going to get the house.

Even though we’d prayed that the Lord’s will be done, we certainly had been hoping that His will included obtaining the house, which had seemed so right for our retirement years. But we finally accepted that the Lord was definitely saying no.

Within a few weeks we started looking at other homes. There was one we had previously driven by but not felt interested in seeing. This time we went back with the real estate agent to take a better look. Strangely, the advantages started hitting us in the face. Here was a house, which already had a laundry area in a large five-foot closet with bifold doors, right in the kitchen near the garage. This house also had large closets—a distinct advantage over the first house. In addition, it had a basement bathroom already installed, which would save us considerable money, of course. But what about my mountain view?

Later on, during the course of the inspection process, we discovered there was a mountain view, which would be evident during the winter when the trees were stripped of their foliage. We also realized that with more square footage, a larger garage, plus another drive-under stall in the basement, we would have many more advantages than we would have had in the first house we thought we couldn’t live without.

“Dear Lord,” I prayed, “You knew all the time what we needed.” Here was our new home, but we couldn’t see that until enough time had passed for us to realize it must have been God’s answer for us all along.

How wonderful it is to know we have a heavenly Father who anticipates our needs even before we know them—Someone who is patient with us and brings us along His path while we are still struggling to get our way.

Dear Father—help us never to question Your leading, but to realize You know best even before we recognize our own needs.