It is warm outside. Plus 10 in January. Very unusual for Montreal. Considering that we had ginormous amounts of snow in December, the warm weather is resulting in a lot of water for everyone to contend with. Rain - melting snow - fog. Great for getting rid of all the ice and snow on the roads, not so great for orderly and well-managed drainage. Last night Dean went downstairs to make sure the sump pump was doing its job and he discovered a tiny patch of wet carpet near a rear wall. We set up a dehumidifier (an exercise in futility as the humidity was not high enough to trigger it) and manually turned on the sump pump a few times and when we had done all we could, I freaked out! I had a real estate agent coming the next day to appraise our house and potentially put it up for sale and this was just a bad, bad turn of events. I lay in bed, utterly convinced that the good life was just about at an end, unable to concentrate on reading one of my favourite authors. Finally, I set the book down and prayed over and over and over for God to fix our foundation.A hairline crack had developed in our foundation over the summer and usually this is no cause for concern, but with all the build-up of water, well, that's a lot of pressure on a foundation, more than the drainage system is equipped to handle. So the water started to seep in. And I could see it getting worse as the rain continued all night and was not scheduled to let up until late the next day. This morning, Dean got up and checked the basement. I waited, not wanting to get out of bed, knowing this was going to be an unpleasant and disappointing day. When I heard him come up the stairs, I braced myself. He informed me that it was much better, the carpet was practically all dry. What? With rain coming down all night and no sign of it subsiding for hours, the basement was drying?
The real estate agent came and went this afternoon. I was honest about the bit of seepage we had experienced last night and she seemed unfazed. She said some of her clients had water coming in their basement windows - one just had to be vigilant and remove the snow and aid drainage as best as one could, considering the unusual circumstances. And she appraised the house at a higher rate than I thought feasible!
All day I have been marveling at the drying happening beneath me as all around is wet. Today's Bible reading included this phrase: a trusting life won't topple (from Isaiah 29 - The Message). I am humbled that God would answer my unbelieving, whining prayer to fix my foundation and do something about the leak. I also feel his gentle nudge that he took my prayer to include much more than a slab of concrete. It is my life's foundation that needs fixing as well. One of the areas is finances. I think we personally make too many decisions based on monetary factors. I am not condoning reckless money management, but what is my bottom line? Profit? Getting ahead? Good investments? Or investing in the kingdom of God, trusting him to supply everything I need, so much so that I can actually hear him when he chooses to supersede the financial system of this world we live in. Do we trust in our own abilities to provide for our households and secure a future or do we recognise the ultimate benefactor in our lives without whom none of us would even draw breath? "You can't serve both God and the Bank." (from yesterday's Bible reading, Luke 16 in The Message).
Anyone want to buy a house?
This is my bathroom sink, draining.
Comments