It happened just like that. Kinda.
Scrolling marketplace for land in the Ouachitas was a daily item on the checklist. Keyword alerts were saved and quickly viewed when prompted. Giving up on potential leads, real estate groups and The Montgomery County News classifieds, the feeling was to just let the idea, and hope disappear. The whole idea was to look where others didn’t.
On a crisp, and clear February morning (2021), after strategically critiquing searches, a listing meeting 80% of the initial criteria was posted. There were a-lot of elements that didn’t have to be available as it was more important to find a workable space to just get a start, and begin that coveted dream.
This whole process was almost an adult sized version of hide and seek!
Could it be? The listing looked promising. Rough, untouched land, great acreage, and nearby to the POI’s.
After discussing details with the seller, I headed out to see it in person. That hour and fifteen minute drive seemed as if it took forever.
Arriving at the location, I was met with the feeling that something just wasn’t right. So much so, I called the seller and made sure I had the right coordinates. After looking deeper, there was no way the photos in the listing were taken on this property. Most likely not even in Arkansas.
Driving the dirt road back towards the highway, a huge sense of disgust covered me thinking, “I was this close. Yet, so far away.”
We decided to drown our sorrows in a Burl’s Smokehouse sandwich, Lay’s chips, and a Diet Coke as we drove back towards home, with the unplanned detour and sight-seeing of the local backroads.
Those roads are therapy for a country boy who grew up on roads where you hit 3 potholes, after swerving to miss one. Good times.
As the roads wound through the Ouachita’s, it was the beauty itself that helped me remember the reason for the days travels. Curve after curve, and the occasional pause to look over a waterfall, proverbial “fork in the road” led to a decision of left or right.
In a feeling of a monumental magnetic pull, going left seemed to be the direction of choice. In the same quickness as the decision was made, there is was…a for sale sign. Stopping abruptly and in bewilderment, it felt surreal. Could it be?
Quickly pondering the what, why and how, I stood before a for sale sign, leaned over in a grown up yard.
Don’t think that my hands didn’t fumble my phone as I panically dialed the numbers. That moment set the tone for the three weeks that followed, culminating in finalizing the deal, which began this journey, that now includes this blog
The moral of this story is two fold.
- God is Always Good. He sometimes gives us what we pray for, gives us what we need or takes you a totally different direction. There’s also times where He teaches us through patience, and fake marketplace listings to put us where we need to be, not just for our personal wants, but for His ultimate purpose and plan. 1 Peter 5:6-7
- NEVER Give Up Hope. Through prayer, and believing for something not even half as good as this location and all it had to offer, including the awesome neighbors was something that couldn’t have been accomplished through any other path. The fact is, I was giving up hope when this event took place.
Looking back to each of the little elements of this story, it couldn’t have happened any other way. The people, the timing and elements leading up to that moment of seeing the for sale sign have now set a new path for this space to be enjoyed by more than what was initially envisioned.
A new life is exactly what this property needed, and what we were seeking as well.