Thank YOU!

Dear Sister in Christ... thank you, again... your family has blessed us beyond measure. I cannot begin to say how you have helped or even tell you how many prayers your gift has answered... but I just must say thank you and I wanted to testify to everyone who reads this blog that God's promises are true. God shows us his power, His love and His provision every day. You can TRUST Him with every concern and worry and need that you have.

Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior,

who daily bears our burdens. Ps 68:19

Psalm 37

3 Trust in the LORD and do good;
dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.

4 Delight yourself in the LORD
and he will give you the desires of your heart.

5 Commit your way to the LORD;
trust in him and he will do this:

7 Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;

He Shall Supply All Our Needs

We are so blessed with continued ways God provides... when we ready to eat our dinner each night I am always amazed that we are yet again able to fill the table! If you knew the numbers you'd say it just shouldn't be so! But, we have yet to miss a meal. It is amazing. A woman who heard Mark was still unemployed gave us some venison. A friend gave us some delicious banana bread. My sister-in-law blessed us with a box of Omaha Steaks; meats and side dishes. Hannah's birthday is Sunday and I joked that it would be nice not to have to have our usual something-with-ground-beef entree!

My kids are performing in a Madrigal dinner that benefits the Pregnancy Resource Center. They needed costumes and I knew we couldn't afford to rent them. God provided again... Someone loaned Hannah a lovely medieval-style dress that fits nicely and I have an offer of a costume for Paul... from someone who also raises very tall boys! Parker's costume is taken care of, too, through the choir's stock of medieval guard costumes. Wow, so amazing!

Paul is graduating this year and we were to pay graduation fees at our next planning meeting and I prayed about that over the last month. But, I was just told this week that the group would like to cover our fees as a gratuity for my being the church liaison. I'm so thankful!

On top of that I got a very part-time job... I thought it was going to be impossible to find a 2nd job that I could do with Mark's varying schedule, the kid's schooling, and my church work. A job with regular daily hours just wouldn't work unless I could do it from home. But, this job is working for a caterer and will have the option of saying yes or no to each event... so it is flexible enough that I should be able to work a few times a week when our schedules permit... every little bit helps.

"And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Now to our God and Father be glory forever and ever."
Philippians 4:19-20

A Non-Update :-)

Since lots of you check this blog for job search updates I just thought I'd post a note today saying that there is nothing new to report! I wish I had more to share, but in spite of new resumes going out, there really have not been any new developments (so far) this week.

We are managing well in spite of the obvious challenges and are continually thankful for God's daily provision. I know I say this often, but please keep us in your prayers. As you can imagine, as each week passes it becomes more of a struggle to remain optimistic. Although we are trusting in God, we have to make a daily decision to basically ignore our circumstances and instead look to God for our hope. That's where your prayers come in.... it will help to hold us up when we are struggling to do it ourselves.

Thank you, to all of our wonderful friends.

Give us this day our daily bread....

Our church services were canceled Sunday due to the weather. Our son's church canceled services, too, but then "un-canceled" them when conditions improved, so we went there instead. The pastor spoke about prayer and he mentioned the Lord's Prayer and praying for our daily bread... and for some reason that scripture just jumped out at me and ministered to me. So, during the prayer time, I prayed about our daily bread.

A few days later we were having our umpteeth grilled cheese sandwich lunch and the kids were talking about how much they missed the good bread, especially tomato bread (great for grilled cheese!) that we used to get from St. Louis Bread Company. A variety in bread makes daily grilled cheese more enjoyable!

We used to get the bread from the bread ministry, but they had to stop due to a shortage of volunteers. The woman who ran it was sweet enough to let me take a lot of the leftover bread the last few weeks, so my freezer was stocked with bread for quite a while after the ministry ended. But, anyway, "our daily bread" was on my mind for days, and it is funny how God seems to have used this opportunity to show me that He is still our Jehovah-Jireh.

• We received generous grocery gift cards (one to Trader Joe's, which I love but haven't shopped at since the job loss!) and a real treat... a gift card to a nearby bread bakery.
• Mark had a real estate meeting where they had door prizes and his name was drawn and he won a St. Louis Bread Company gift card.
• Our son was at a friend's house rehearsing with his band and "the mom" sent a couple of nice loaves of homemade bread home with him.

We are set for our "daily bread" for a couple of weeks, I think! He is so good!

Wait

I've been studying 1 and 2 Samuel and something very applicable to my life finally sunk in yesterday. In 1 Samuel, Saul became king over Israel, but he was repeatedly disobedient to God. Because of this, God told Samuel he would replace Saul with a man after His own heart. He lead Samuel to anoint David, son of Jesse, as the next king.

But, David didn't become King right away! He had to wait years!! And worse yet, he didn't wait in comfort.... Saul became jealous of David and tried to kill him. Saul relentlessly pursued David for years and David was forced hide in the wilderness and caves. During this time, David even had opportunities to kill Saul and end his suffering, but David trusted God so much that he didn't attempt to take the situation into his own hands. He waited for God's time. David understood the sovereignty of God.

Wait for the LORD;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the LORD.
Psalm 27:14

A Quick Update

Things have been kind of crazy-busy here so I haven't had time to update. Mark's Mom and Dad were coming for a visit, but turned back because of the weekend weather forecasts calling for multiple waves of freezing rain/sleet, which turned out to be mostly inaccurate. We were all disappointed that they didn't come and are a little ticked at the weather guy. ;-)

Yet, the weather was bad enough.... The ice storms we did get, and the wide-spread power outages caused some havoc! A dear friend lost power for several days, so she came over to keep warm a few days. We kept our power but one of our large trees had a problem... it split at the top and a large branch fell on the house and a large branch fell into another large tree next to it. These are precariously perched high up, being supported by other branches. Because they are so large and so high up, we cannot take care of it ourselves. So, yep, tree service with crane is necessary. Ugh. We don't see any structural damage to the house though, for which we are thankful for!

Mark didn't get calls from the various places we were expecting to hear from in January. But, Mark contacted all of them and basically there is nothing exciting to report. One company has been non-communicative, one is just a no-go (but did ask if he'd be interested in freelance work) and another was "going another direction" but will consider him for a position they will be hiring for in the future. He has had a few more job calls since then, too, so I am still hopeful that something will materialize soon.

Pray for our endurance, strength and energy to continue the "fight". God is still faithful and has not allowed our flour and oil to become empty!

I want to FLY!

This post is from yesterday but I was feeling unsure about putting it up here, partly because of the length and partly because I am such a "private person" it is hard to reveal so much of my weaknesses. But, here it is... maybe it will minister to someone!

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I shouldn't have expected it today, but I was.... I hoped one of the people Mark's been in touch with about jobs would call. But, the phone never rang. I know it is Monday... the week has barely begun... but I was still hoping.

After hours and hours of nothing, I decided I just couldn't put off going to Wal Mart any longer. I had a gift card I'd been nursing little by little. Since we were out of so many things, I knew I'd use up the card balance today. I was feeling anxiety about using the last of that gift card which was compounded by the anxiety of Mark still being jobless.... so on my way to the store, I prayed. I told God my frustrations and fears. I told Him I was needing His reassurance again. I am ashamed to ask again and I feel a lot like an Israelite. During the Exodus they would SEE God's glory and SEE his miracles and provision on a daily basis... I used to get so frustrated reading about that.... I couldn't understand how they would witness the pillar of cloud and fire guiding them every day, survive on the provision of God's manna every day, drink the miraculous water from rocks.... but then, not trust Him, not obey Him, and GRUMBLE!

But, here I am acting like an Israelite. I've seen Him bring us food out of nothing. I've seen Him multiply our "loaves and fishes". I've seen Him provide things at the precise moment we needed them. I've seen Him provide "Christmas" for our kids. I've witnessed His hand move in our lives over and over. But, I'm still asking for reassurance and telling Him that it SEEMS like He is late! It sounds a lot like the Israelite's grumbling.

Oh, my human-ness!

As I drove, my prayers went through a cycle of tantrums and questioning, but in the end, He worked in my heart and I again laid down my will and told Him I would trust Him. And, He renewed my strength and comforted me.

When I arrived home, the mail had come. In God's impeccable timing, another Wal Mart gift card was waiting for me to replace the one I had just exhausted. The phone still hadn't rung, but it was okay. And even though I had been behaving like an Israelite, God chose to reassure me of His provision with that card. Another example of undeserved grace.

A short time later I was scrubbing my sink with Comet and was commenting to Mark how thankful I was for the Comet! Maybe we didn't see a job materialize today, but we did get some Comet and other things we needed... and just like salvation, I didn't deserve it one bit, nor did I do anything to earn it. It was a gift.

Today I just needed to lay all my worries at God's feet again, then walk away, leave it there, and TRUST. But, even better yet, I needed to be thankful, completely and totally thankful, and not demand anything more or anything different. But, just be content because of Him, and say thank you for what He has chosen to give us each day.

Once again, I needed a refresher on the lesson... and He shows His grace.

I don't want to be an Israelite anymore! I want to FLY!

"...but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." Isaiah 40:31"

Your Prayers

"On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many. "
I Cor. 1: 10-11

Please keep us in your prayers this week. As Mark follows up with some job leads, we need patience and the ability to remain content in spite of whatever may happen. Pray that God might open up one of these opportunities to us. We are desperate for a job, but these companies are in no hurry... like Mark said, "It is a priority for US, but not a priority for them."

We are now at 7 months and I can hardly imagine that the Lord would linger on this any longer... but every time I think we can not possibly make it any longer, HE shows me that He is the worker of miracles and that anything.... no matter how unimaginable, IS possible with Him.

I confess, I've long ago run out of my own patience.... I am simply drawing on HIS. And am now praying that He would give me an extra portion this week.

Thank you, friends, for your prayers.

Braces!

I know, my posts are irregular, but God's provision is not! We still have not missed a meal, we are in our warm little home, etc. He is true to His promises.

Hannah was supposed to get her braces off this week. It was a good/bad thing for us. Of course we'd be happy for her, but she is missing a tooth and when the braces come off we will need to have a false tooth made for her relatively quickly. The orthodontist made a space for the tooth but that space will begin to close up and teeth will shift without braces holding it all in place (if there isn't a tooth inserted there soon). We don't have dental insurance right now and it is expensive to have that kind of work done... I prayed God would show us what to do. God's answer was different than I expected... she went for her appointment yesterday, but her teeth were still 1 mm off, so the orthodontist couldn't take her braces off after all. I feel bad for HER, but that buys us a little more time, so PTL!