God's Assurances

Mark and I were discussing some financial issues and had some decisions to make that I won't go into here... but the next morning Mark's quiet time just "happened" to be in I Kings when Elijah was fed by the widow. My husband felt that the Lord was telling him that our "flour and oil" would remain "un-empty" until the "rains" come again. We were blessed by this reassurance.
(You can read the text of this passage in the right hand column of this blog... if you can tolerate the narrow column. Otherwise, you can look up the passage in your own Bible!)

insurance

My parents decided that they wanted to pay our first month's COBRA, which is a true blessing. This will give us more time... which we really needed.... to figure out what to do about health insurance. PTL!

My husband was contacted about a job that matches his resume pretty closely. Pray about that! We pray that God will close and open doors according to His will, and that we will trust Him with the outcome.

toilets :o(

My husband shared this one: the toilet was clogged and he tried plunging for quite some time to no avail, then tried the auger, and it didn't work either.

He stopped and prayed and said, "Lord, It looks like we need a plumber, but you know we can't really afford one right now. I could use your help." He said that he then gave it one more thrust with the plunger, and it flushed!

Thank you, Lord and Master!

Food!

A friend called last week saying that she was thinking of getting us a bag of groceries, but wasn't sure what kinds of things we liked, so she didn't know if it was a good idea or not. Then, later that day, there was a drawing at her work and she won the drawing. The prize? A gift card to the grocery store right down the street from my house. She said she knew that God intended the card for us. So, once again, I thank Him for his provision. We are just about to the end of our stores (what I had in the freezer at the time of the job loss) so the gift card will come at the perfect time.

More Bread!

On Tuesday a woman from our church called and she had a surplus of day old bread that she wanted to get rid of. She thought of us, called and talked to my husband who went over to her house to get some of the bread. When I got home from work later in the day, I found the countertop loaded with bagels and bread. I put most of it in the freezer, and was very thankful for it. But, I became even more thankful when I went to get free bread on the regular bread day (Friday). Because of my work schedule, I couldn't get there until it was almost time to close their doors... and they were out of bread.

God knew that I wouldn't be able to get bread on Friday, so he provided it on Tuesday.

The Wallet

Two of my kids left on a church choir trip on the Sunday after job loss. Monday we got a phone call from someone who had found Parker's wallet (with a meager portion of what money we have left inside) on the side of the road just outside of a city about 5 hours from here. We called the music minister and he said that the church bus had a mechanical problem in that area and all of the kids had to get off the bus and wait on the side of the road. It must've fallen out of our son's pocket at that time. 

Does this not show how God is protecting our money? An HONEST person found it, she went to the trouble of mailing it to us immediately, and we received it the very next day.

You wanna hear an even cooler part.... :oD The person who found it folded a dollar into a cross and stuck it inside of the wallet before mailing it. So, it appears that the Lord even directed a sister in Christ to the wallet.

I cannot tell you how I felt when I opened the wallet and saw that little "dollar cross". It felt like sign from God that He is watching over our money... and everything else. I was so eager to write the woman who found it and tell her how much it meant to me!

The Dress

I had to go pick up my daughter's bridesmaid dress for my son's July wedding a couple days after finding out my husband lost his job. When they told me how terribly expensive alterations were I was very, very worried and my husband and I prayed that the dress would not need any alterations. Because there is boning in the bodice, I knew the alterations weren't anything I could do myself. When Hannah got home, I had her try it on....it fit perfectly and looked beautiful.

God gave us a very generous gift on this one!!

Money!

I used my last $7 at Aldi this week getting a few groceries and then remembered the kids needed some snacks for for a mission trip they were going on with our youth group this week. When I got in the van to go somewhere a short time later I found $4 on the floorboard. I've never, never, never leave money in the van, and I really don't know how it got there... but just enough to buy some snacks for the kids!

Bread

The day my husband lost his job, I received an email from an area church saying that they are giving out free bread on Fridays. I knew about the bread ministry there, but had kind of forgotten it. How timely (a God thing) that I'd receive this email on the very DAY that my husband lost his job.

This is very good bread that St. Louis Bread Company is donating... they bake everything fresh daily, so what is left at the end of the day is trash to them.... but this church is getting their leftovers to give away on Fridays. When I got to the place, there weren't many people there and so they loaded up three bags packed full of Bread Company bread for me. I put most of it in the freezer... we won't starve. :o) AND the kids had to take a sack lunch to eat on the bus as they left on the trip, and I made them grilled cheese on StL Bread Company's tomato bread... which is really yummy. Coldcuts are so expensive I wasn't sure what I was going to feed them... but I ended up sending them with something that was really a treat.

Praise the Lord!

I Will Learn to Fly

On 6/6/06 my husband lost his job. We are a family of 6, and we depended on my husband's income to meet most of our basic needs. We are learning a lesson of trust. This blog will be my testimony as to how the Lord has cared for our needs as we go through this trial. The name of my blog comes from Isaiah 40:31 and from a Third Day Song, called Eagles. The lyrics go like this:

My pain and problems keep me chained
And my troubled heart makes me weak
I'll wait for You to comfort me
And in You I know I'll find my strength

I will soar on the wings of eagles
I will learn to fly high above this world
And I will soar on the wings of eagles
I will learn to fly
I will learn to fly high above this world

I tremble with this heavy weight
And I'm buried underneath my grief
I'll run to You and not grow faint

And I'll lay my burdens at Your feet