This too shall pass, just hold on, those are the words I
received from the Lord, March 2006. I was in the middle of Lent, saying a
prayer, when the Lord told me He was about to take me through several storms.
During these storms, He said I would lose everything but my home. The Lord said
I would struggle with my home because I willfully disobeyed His instructions. I
thought I heard Him incorrectly, but as time passed and things started to fall
apart in my life, I knew I heard His words correctly.
My relationship started having some serious issues, but I
fought to save it until I finally couldn’t take the drama any longer. I fell
behind on my car note and voluntarily surrendered my 2003 Nissan Altima back to
the dealer. So from March 2006 to now, I have had 4 cars. Then there was the
employment situation, I was terminated. Thankfully I obtained a temporary job 3
days later. By the end of the year I was working 3 jobs and going to school. My
house has flooded and has been hit by lightening. Every utility was turned off
at one time or another. We had to piece together meals.
Those were just some of the things that were occurring in my
life. But the biggest was my mortgage, each month I got further and further
behind. Thanks to Countrywide for racking up all the miscellaneous fees and
applying majority of my payments towards the fees. Each modification put me
further behind instead of helping me to get caught up. I spent one year paying
double payments and I still remained behind.
Then President Obama started initiating several Making Homes
Affordable programs. One particular program, I read about on the DC Sistagirls
group page. So I called Bank of America, which bought out Countrywide, and
inquired about the possibility of me being eligible. That call was last year,
but on Monday, July 30, my acceptance package arrived by FedEx. I was only able
to pull the paperwork halfway out of the envelope when I noticed the new
monthly payment amount. I dropped the envelope and started jumping up and down
screaming thank you, thank you. I screamed and jumped until I broke out in
tears of thankfulness. Tiger came barking into my room because he thought I was
being attacked. I called my best friend Jo, I was crying so hard she had to
help me get the words out. Every time I tried to tell someone about my
blessing, I would start crying.
Not everyone knows what all I have experienced these last couple of years. I’ve had one lady that insisted that I walk away from my home like she and her husband did. I’ve watch several of my neighbors, married couples lose their homes. I’ve had someone say I hope you lose your house for not sharing your money. But the biggest question, how are you able to maintain your home and still do all those activities. My answer, ask God why He has allowed me to keep my home. Because that was one of the questions I asked myself. Why me? I got my answer last year while sitting in church. Bishop TD Jakes answered it, because you are a tither. A tither. That name alone put my mind and heart to rest. I knew at that moment somehow, God was about to turn things around for me. I continually wondered how, tried to figure out how, guessed how it would happen. But never in my wildest imagination did I think He would wipe the past due amount away all at once, not small increments, but all at once. Past due amount gone, monthly payments dropped, and interest rate dropped by 2.25%. Effective August 1, 2012, my mortgage storm came to an end all because I trusted God and believed Him when He said “this too shall pass, just hold on".
