Changed Lives Feature
– July 2005

God provides a home

Rolland and Marybeth Watenpaugh’s story

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow…
Matthew 6:33–34

Rolland and Marybeth discussed the situation and decided to find a way to remedy the situation. After a while, a new position opened up at the police department that offered Monday through Friday office hours. But it also came at the cost of a huge pay cut. So now there was a choice to be made. Should Rolland take the job but volunteer for the always available overtime to supplement the income? Should they cut back on their charitable giving in order to make ends meet with the lower income? Should they give up the single family home they’d been living in?

Rolland and Marybeth sought God’s guidance on this. After all, a large part of the reason that Rolland had decided to take the lower-paying position was to be able to attend church regularly and to be involved in the church family through such activities as FLOCKS, OBC’s small groups ministry. After some prayer and soul searching, Rolland and Marybeth made their decision—they put their house on the market and began looking for a place to live that would fit into a lower family budget—a family budget that was hundreds of dollars less than it had been before the new job. Rolland and Marybeth left this in the hands of the Lord and put their house on the market. In just one day they had a contract on their house for $25,000 more than the listing price. Although they didn’t know it at the time, this would be one of the many ways God would show his hand at work in the days to come.

Rolland discussed their situation with the best local real estate agent around, fellow OBC member, Matt Huggins. With Matt’s help, Rolland and Marybeth determined that they would have to look for a townhouse in order to be able to stay within their new budget. Because of their desire to be involved in OBC’s FLOCKS ministry, they needed a house large enough for a small group to meet in, access to a reasonable amount of parking, a somewhat large yard to enable entertainment outdoors, and the house needed to be close to Occoquan Bible Church. And for themselves, they hoped for a bedroom downstairs.

Rolland and Marybeth decided to make a bid on a house only if both of them agreed that it was the right house for their family. “We knew that God had a specific house for us,” Rolland said, “So we left this in God’s hands.”

The settlement time for the house they had sold came and went and the family had not yet found a new home. Although it’s not the usual picture one may think of upon hearing this word, the Watenpaugh family was now homeless. So Marybeth and the kids moved to Hampton, Virginia, to live with Marybeth’s parents until God provided a new home. Needing to stay near his job, Rolland moved into a bedroom in his parent’s house here in the Northern Virginia area.

For the next few months Matt Huggins found houses that fit into the Watenpaugh’s budget and needs and he took Rolland out each weekend looking at these houses. When something looked promising, Rolland called Marybeth and she made the trek back to the local area to look at the potential new home. Occasionally Marybeth thought a house was the right one but Rolland didn’t like it for one reason or another. At other times Rolland was attracted to the house but Marybeth was opposed to it. Rolland and Marybeth kept their relationship solid by bringing it all before the throne of grace regularly and remembering that God had a plan for their family’s future—even though at times it seemed like things weren’t working out very well.

Finally the right house was found, or so it seemed. Rolland and Marybeth agreed that the house was right. It didn’t fit all of their criteria, but then maybe they were being a little too picky. This townhouse was an interior unit rather than and end unit, which limited yard size and parking. But it was in a reasonable price range and otherwise seemed to be a good house for them. It had brand new appliances, a new floor, and even a bedroom in the basement. It fell through—another buyer was given the contract.

In order to spend more time with the family and to be more involved at church, Rolland had chosen much lower pay but—the family had now been separated for a month. Week after week Matt, Rolland, and Marybeth had run around the area looking at potential houses and when one finally seemed almost perfect, they didn’t get the house. What was God doing? Rolland and Marybeth took this seeming setback in stride and relied on their firm belief that God had exactly the right house for them.

Another month passed and no houses seemed to fit the bill. Rolland and Matt went out every weekend, but nothing was the right fit. Having looked at so many houses all in the same area, Rolland knew the floor plans of most of the local homes before he even saw them, based solely on the square feet listed.

Finally, early in June, Matt contacted Rolland about two houses that he thought might work out. Marybeth traveled back to the area and, with Rolland, headed out to the first house location to meet Matt. When they arrived at the location they had been given, they were sure it wasn’t right. These weren’t town homes—they looked like single family homes. They called Matt’s cell phone to find out if they had gone to the wrong place. No, they were where they should be, but these houses were duplexes, not town homes. The house they were looking at had a large yard. The house itself was a good size with 3 bedrooms and a nice deck. After Matt showed it to them, Rolland and Marybeth agreed that it was a great house. And to top it all off, it was only a mile and a half from the site of OBC’s new building. Could this be the house God had prepared for them?

They agreed with Matt that they should pray on it that night and let him know the next day what their decision was. The next day they told Matt to make a bid on the house. When Matt contacted the selling agent, it turned out that there were 10 bids on the house at this time. All of the other bids were well above what Marybeth and Rolland could afford. And the seller was planning to look at the bids in a few days to make the determination. “We knew that God would work things out if this was the one He wanted us to have, so we asked Matt to submit our bid, even though it was well below all the others,” Rolland said.

As it turned out, the seller didn’t want to sell even for the price of the highest bids. So the seller kept negotiating with the interested parties. All the parties, that is, except the Watenpaughs who decided to move on. In frustration, Rolland went to the internet the following Friday to check the lending rates to see what was happening in the market. He noticed some movement in the rates, but that didn’t seem to mean much since at this point there was apparently no house for them.
The next weekend there were no homes that fit their criteria so Rolland went to Matt’s house to help him with a project. Late in the day Matt’s cell phone rang. The selling agent for the duplex wanted to know if the Watenpaughs would raise their bid. Rolland told Matt about the movement in the rates and told Matt that they might be able to raise their bid depending on the current rates. Matt called his broker to check on the rates. It turned out that they had fallen a whole percentage point since the previous Monday. Matt knew the precise amount the seller of that house wanted. The lower rates were calculated and the amount they could now bid was the exact amount the seller was looking for. God was obviously at work here. Matt submitted the bid. Now they had to wait for the seller’s agreement, because on Monday the rates could very well go up again.

At 4:00pm Sunday afternoon, the selling agent called Matt to say that the house would be sold to the Watenpaughs on the condition that they could close on it within 10 days. After two months of living in separate counties and looking at potential homes each weekend, 10 days was no problem. Rolland and Marybeth closed on the house on the 13th of June (yes, that’s last month at the time of this writing). They moved into the house on the 27th (yes, last Monday at the time of this writing). They had left it in God’s hands, and God had worked the seemingly impossible. The house they had sold brought in $25,000 more than the listing price. The seller of this house refused 10 bids on the house when the Watenpaugh’s bid was the lowest. The interest rates dropped at the exact moment they needed them to in order to make the appropriate bid on this house. Rolland was at Matt’s house when the call came in from the selling agent allowing him to make a quick response that factored in the new interest rates.

Was God at work in this process? Absolutely. Sometimes God works behind the scenes and sometimes his guiding hand is obvious. Whatever the case, he gets all the praise. We congratulate Rolland and Marybeth on their new home and on the fact that they kept their priorities straight throughout a tough time of separation. And most of all, we praise God for his loving providence as he works in each of our lives to bring glory to himself.