Its been over a month since I have been able give an update on my home building journey, but I am back today with good news - I have a foundation!
Concrete has been poured into the footers and forms and has now set into a beautiful and solid slab. It certainly doesn't look like much, but this unassuming patch of concrete will one day support my home!
The process of getting a foundation has been much longer and more difficult than I ever thought possible. It seemed as if the entire world was against me at times. The record breaking amount of rain in my state this year made it impossible to get the ground dug and forms in place. Equipment malfunctions set us back during the few days of good weather we did have. I spent more nights than I care to admit lying in bed staring at the ceiling wondering if I had actually made the right choice. Maybe selling my house in the city to build my own tiny home wasn't the right path for me. Maybe the rain, the breakdowns, and the setbacks were all God's way of telling me that I was going in the wrong direction and needed to turn around. Maybe I should give up.
But then I read something that changed my entire perspective. 1 Corinthians 16:8-9 says, "But I will remain in Ephesus until Pentecost; for a wide door for effective service has opened to me, and there are many adversaries." When I face challenges and setbacks my first instinct is to run the other way. If so much is against me God must be trying to tell me this is not my path. In this verse however Paul is saying the he will stay on the path with the opposition specifically because there are so many adversaries. Why?
Because the opposition is not from God - the opposition is from the enemy. God loves us and he wants to see us succeed. He will not throw countless struggles at us for the intent of breaking us and making us give up on our path. There are forces in the world that do want to see us defeated though. When we are on a path of greatness and heading in a direction that will truly lead us to a wonderful place in life that is when the enemy will be working its hardest. They will be doing everything in their power to stop our progress and make us give up on reaching the wonderful place we are working towards. Opposition and setbacks are not a sign from God that you are doing the wrong thing - they are a sign from the enemy that you are doing the RIGHT thing and that you must carry on.
Paul knew this. He knew that adversaries were the proof that what he was doing was good and he was exactly where he he needed to be so he stayed on his path. I will stay on my path too. The opportunity to have a home I own outright with no monthly utility bills would provide me with the greatest stability in life. It would give me the freedom to actually live instead of just survive. This is what the enemy does not want me to achieve. This is why I must keep going even though I know I will face many more struggles building the rest of the house like I have while building this foundation. The journey will be hard, but the reward will be worth it!
A Pause in Progress
I am more determined to build my own home that I have ever been about anything in my life, that doesn't mean the path there is straight ahead though. I will continue on the path of building my own home (enemies be damned), but I must first take a brief detour.
Every year I work a temporary job in the fall. I have done this for the past seven years and am really looking forward to continuing this year. I am not going to share where I work for obvious reasons, but just know it is a great place and I am so happy to return for another season this fall! This is the biggest money making job of the year for me and over half of my yearly income will be made between now and November. As such this job takes a lot of my time. I won't be able to work on my house and work at this job at the same time. As much as I would like to, I don't want to spread myself thin and end up doing a poor job at both. I would rather step away from the house for a few months and put everything into my job and then return and put everything into my house again when work is finished. I am very blessed with parents who are willing to let me live with them a bit longer than originally planned while I work my job and then build my home.
Just because I am stepping away from my home doesn't mean I am going to stop progress on my life in general. I still have big plans for myself outside of my house and I think these next few months are a great time to get started on some of my side goals! I will explain more in a future post, but for now just know that there are great things on the horizon!
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