Article July 18, 1994 Issue

Be not dismayed

Helen Lapp

At a time when I was inexperienced in handling business affairs, I was advised to sell my little house and buy an attractive duplex. The idea was that I could live in one side, and the rent from the other side would cover the monthly payments on the mortgage. To me a mortgage was a frightening obligation. So I had been trying to trust that God would provide the necessary tenants to enable me to make those monthly payments.

As an unpromising beginning, the resident tenants left at the same time I took over as owner. But I used this opportunity to do some much-needed cleaning and decorating. The advertisement I then ran in the paper brought several inquirers but no takers, until one day a young couple came and decided this was the right place for them. I was so relieved. I slept well that night for the first time in a while.

But the next morning I received a call from the husband to say that they had changed their minds and decided on a different course of action. I was devastated. How could God do this to me? I had worked very hard to clean and beautify the house and set a rent I felt was fair to both the tenant and myself. "What more could You expect me to do?" I demanded of God in my anxiety.

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