"Expect the Impossible" had to become kind of a motto for me when I moved back to Europe. You see, during my last decade in South Africa, I had lived on a regular income of around £200 a month. It was a unique window of time where prices were low in South Africa; the currency was decreasing in value and the favourable exchange rate of the pound to the rand meant that my missions support didn’t really need to increase for that whole decade. When I returned to Europe in 2007, it was a huge shock to realise that no one can live on just £200 a month in a European setting. I would need to see my income double or even triple in order to be able to move to Spain and find a home there in 2008. Not only would the rent alone be more than my total income at the time, most rental houses were unfurnished and so I would also need enough money to furnish the place.
Yesterday, 1st January 2023, I had a sinking sense of déjà vu as I began the process of scrolling through estate agents' websites in search of a new place to stay. Even the tiniest of places (one-roomed "studios" with no separate bedroom or kitchen) have a rental cost that is more than my current monthly income! I realised that my landlord's incredible generosity over the past seven or eight years has given me a completely false impression of the true costs of housing.
A Spanish friend told me it's generally cheaper to buy than to rent. Of course, that would be a total impossibility on my income - and, even if I did have more income, it's impossible to get a mortgage when you're in your sixties. But I took a look at houses for sale, anyway, just to confirm if my friend's information was true.
Well, it probably is true, but my sense of impossibility only increased even further when I saw that a one bedroom flat in Alhaurín would cost the same as a three bedroom house in South Africa.
And so, here I am again - setting off on an adventure of expecting God to do the impossible. I don't know what that will look like. (Will I amazingly find another home with a fairly low rent? Will God provide money in another way? Will there be a new housemate to share costs?) I have no idea what to expect. All I know is that I can trust God as I set out on this new adventure.
Watch this space!
