Our house sold!!!... & error on the side of grace

Over the past week or so we have been working with a young couple to sell them our home. They attend another church in the area and profess to be committed Christian. This would be their first home and their first really big purchase. The gentleman is a little timid and has struggled with the process because he doesn't want to mess it up or get taken advantage of. Because of his timidity he has had three mortgage people and two realtors and finally decided to fly solo. They don't have a lot of money and would be making some sacrifices to afford our home. In fact they asked us to help them with closing costs and have had to ask some friends to help with the inspection and appraisal.
The first time we sat together without to discuss the deal I asked him if we could pray for the process and God's blessing. He was really blown away by this and said it set the tone for our whole process. From that point on he has been waffling about the contract and how to proceed. He finally invited a third realtor friend to give him some advice and help him write the contract.
He dropped by the offer while I was at church. When I finally got home and had a chance to read the contract I noticed that he offered no earnest money as set the contract deadline for 1:00 - just as our open house was to begin. I felt a bit pressured and bothered that he was asking so much of us and didn't even offer us the common courtesy of earnest money. I wrote it into the contract to buy us some more time and waited for him to pick it up.
When he noticed my change he was devastated. He said that he had just enough cash on hand to pay for the inspection and appraisal and that $1000 earnest payment was not going to be possible right now. I asked him to take the counter offer, talk to his realtor friend and think about how he might make this work... then he left, discouraged.
For the next two hours I sat at my house and entertained a few guest for the open house. The whole time I kept thinking about our interaction. I remembered being young and asking a total stranger to help us afford their house. I remember praying and stretching to make our budget work around the FHA guidelines. I remember asking friends for a loan just to cover closing costs. Most of all I remembered praying with the buyer and asking God to bless the process and honor Him. While I felt that allowing the deal to move forward without earnest money was a bad idea, I felt God asking me to error on the side of grace. God gave us this house five years ago in response to a prayer that it would be a ministry to those around us. Our home has truly been a light in our neighborhood and a blessing to many. Now as we leave God was asking me to make my home a blessing as I minister to this young couple. And He seems to be extending the blessing this home has been beyond our ownership to another young Christian family.
I called the buyer back and apologized for making the process difficult. I asked him to rewrite the original offer and return later in the evening. He was blown away. I explained to him all that God was telling me. He agreed to return with his wife and work out the finer details.
When they returned to our home and sat at the table we again prayed and asked God to bless this process. The rest of the evening we all enjoyed the blessing of God's presence. We are so excited to pass our home onto this couple.
And... if I made a mistake... it was on the side of grace.

Amen