J & S Penny

Sarah and I have been married for almost 6 years and we have three delightful children under 5: Isaac, Hudson and Heidi. After half a lifetime of renting we feel extremely grateful, privileged and blessed to have just moved into our first home in a great neighbourhood with friends close by. I started saving with Liberty Trust in my late 20’s but wish I’d started sooner. As a real estate agent, every day I see people putting themselves under the power of the banks for bigger and better homes and so with our house choice we've opted for small but perfect.God’s word tells us not to worry about where we’ll sleep, or what we’ll eat or wear and since becoming the main bread-winner in our family I've found this to be a bit more of a struggle. He also promises to give us the desires of our heart and the more I get to know Him, the more things seem to fall into place and the easier it is to find peace. Our desire is for financial freedom for our family so that we can go out and live in the fullness that God promises. I want to teach my children that bringing the Kingdom of Heaven into the here and now is a giant adventure. It’s not God’s will for us to be held back by a mountain of debt. I wasn't looking for a home but shortly after our loan became available a lovely Christian lady in our old street took me to see her neighbour’s derelict house. They’d been minding it for the owner for three years since he’d gone home overseas and he’d finally decided to sell. It was a 95msq home with two levels and four bedrooms but leaky and mouldy, with illegal lean-tos on two sides and all on a defective cross-lease section completely overgrown with trees but it was just what we needed. After agreeing on a fair price we bought it and with the help of an outstanding builder from our church and many long-suffering friends and family we have since set about redeeming the property from the ground up. Do-ups can sometimes be a risk but from my research, I knew that this was a good investment for the location and the only way for us to buy a house that we wouldn't grow out of. The folks at Liberty Trust were great to deal with despite the roller coaster ride we had in purchasing the house. The overseas owner had very little English and much was lost in translation.

I have always been a fan of the tiny house movement and Sarah always wanted a house to rescue. We replaced everything but the foundations and the frame. We've made it as environmentally friendly as possible with full insulation, double glazing, rainwater tanks, gas hot water, and there’ll even be a small green roof over the entrance. We hope to have it on solar power by the end of the year and my goal is to eventually be off-the-grid in the middle of the city. It’s still a work in progress but we've been amazed at how God has given us a home that is so much more than we could ever want or imagine.

I think as a nation we spend too much time focussed on the question of where we will live and how will we pay for it. Liberty Trust is God’s answer to that question. By making house buying a cash purchase rather than a credit transaction, Liberty Trust rejects the media driven discontentment, instant gratification model to promote saving and living within ones means. This leads to contentment followed by freedom and peace. Praise God and thank you Liberty Trust!

14 April 2015