You Made Your Best Offer. Now What?

There is a particular kind of torture reserved for people who have just submitted an offer on a house.

You hit send.

And wait.

Then check your phone.

And wait.

Check your email.

And wait.

Maybe you casually text your realtor asking if they've heard anything acting as if you haven't been staring at your phone for hours willing it to ring.

And as the 24 hour decision deadline approaches, you'vre convinced yourself it's not the one.

In August, my husband and I submitted our fourth offer on a home.

By that point, you'd think I'd have been an expert at waiting.

I was not.

We had done our homework. We asked questions. We reviewed documents. We considered the numbers. We talked through the possibilities. We prayed.

Then we put our best offer forward.

And suddenly, there was nothing left for us to do.

Which, if you're someone who likes to do something, may be the hardest part of the entire process.

And somewhere in that waiting, I realized:

This feels remarkably similar to sending a proposal to a potential client.

You Hit Send. Then Your Brain Takes Over.

If you own a business, you've probably experienced this.

You've had a great conversation with a potential client.

You understand what they need.

You create the proposal.

You carefully consider the scope and pricing.

You explain the value.

You make sure you've communicated clearly.

Then you hit send.

And wait.

That's when the questions begin.

Did I charge too much?

Did I explain the value clearly enough?

Should I follow up?

When should I follow up?

Maybe I should have included...

Stop.

The proposal has already been sent.

Much like the offer on the house, there comes a moment when you have to acknowledge something uncomfortable:

The decision is no longer yours.

Know What Is Yours to Control

There are things you can control.

You can prepare.

You can ask good questions.

You can listen carefully.

You can understand what the other person needs.

You can communicate your value.

You can make a thoughtful offer.

You can operate with integrity.

You can pray for wisdom before making the decision.

But you cannot control the response.

And trying to mentally manipulate an outcome after you've already done everything you can isn't strategy.

It's worry wearing a business suit.

That's an important distinction.

Confidence Isn't Knowing They'll Say Yes

We often talk about confidence as though confident people somehow know everything will work out exactly the way they want.

I don't think that's confidence at all.

Confidence is being able to say:

I prepared well. I made the best decision I could with the information I had. I put my best offer forward. Now I can release the outcome.

That's true when you're buying a house.

It's true when you're pitching a client.

It's true when you're applying for an opportunity.

It's true when you're launching something new.

And it's true when you're taking a step God has been nudging you toward without giving you the entire roadmap first.

Confidence doesn't require certainty.

Sometimes confidence looks a whole lot like surrender.

When You've Done Your Part, Let God Do His

This may be one of the hardest lessons for those of us who are accustomed to taking action.

We want another lever to pull.

Another email to send.

Another conversation to have.

Another way to influence the outcome.

But eventually we reach the boundary between our responsibility and God's sovereignty.

That's where faith gets real.

Not when we know the answer.

Before we know it.

It's easy to say, "God had a plan," once everything works out beautifully.

It's much harder to say:

"God has a plan," while you're still waiting.

That's the work.

And Sometimes the Answer Is No

Our first three offers weren't the ones.

That's worth mentioning because surrender doesn't guarantee the answer we want.

A prospective client may choose someone else.

The speaking opportunity may go to another person.

The partnership may not happen.

The house may go to another buyer.

That doesn't necessarily mean you failed.

Sometimes the answer is no because the opportunity wasn't aligned.

Sometimes timing is wrong.

Sometimes there's something you don't know.

Sometimes you learn something from the experience that changes how you approach the next opportunity.

And sometimes we may never understand why a particular door didn't open.

Faith doesn't require us to understand every no.

It asks us to trust God enough to keep walking.

Three Questions to Ask While You're Waiting

When you've made your best offer and your mind starts running laps around every possible outcome, ask yourself:

1. Did I do everything that was mine to do?

Did you prepare, listen, communicate clearly, and act with integrity?

If the answer is yes, stop rewriting the decision.

2. Am I gathering information—or feeding my anxiety?

There's a difference between appropriate follow-up and refreshing your inbox every three minutes.

Ask me how I know.

3. Can I trust God with an answer I may not like?

Oof.

That's the big one.

Because surrender isn't saying, "God, I trust You—as long as You say yes."

It's saying:

"I've done what I believe You've called me to do. The rest belongs to You."

That kind of faith changes how we wait.

Put Your Best Offer Forward

Whether you're waiting on a home seller, a potential client, a publisher, a partner, or an opportunity you've been praying about, there will always be things outside your control.

Your job isn't to guarantee the outcome.

Your job is to show up prepared.

Listen.

Communicate clearly.

Act with integrity.

Make the best decision you can.

Put your best offer forward.

Then release it.

Because sometimes the greatest display of confidence isn't pushing harder for the yes.

It's knowing when you've done enough to stop pushing at all.

Clarity tells you what to do.
Confidence helps you do it.
Faith helps you release what happens next.

And perhaps that's one of the most important lessons waiting can teach us.🧡💚💙

P.S. About that house... 🏡

Remember that fourth offer I mentioned?

Yes, we got the house. 🧡

And after all that waiting, praying, wondering, second-guessing, and learning to loosen my grip, apparently God finally said, "This one."

Funny how quickly the waiting room becomes the living room.