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In the last 24 months, have we learned to fly? I am not sure we are completely there yet.... or maybe I should say consistently there yet! But, we have made definite progress.:
We have learned that our weariness, our faint-heartedness, and our inabilities can be overcome with God’s strength.
We have learned that when we finally acknowledge that we have no strength of our own, God is there with all of the power we need to endure whatever we face.
We have learned that when we are weak, He is strong.
We have learned that when we try to rely on our own sufficiency, we WILL grow faint and weary.
We have learned the ridiculousness of trusting in ourselves, rather than God.
We have learned that God often puts His signature on His grace by using impeccable timing.
We have learned that FAITH, TRUST, and a commitment to seek GOD’S WILL for our lives brings the greatest strength, power, and peace into our lives.
We have learned that we CAN FLY when we rise above the challenges and difficulties of our earthly life by keeping our eyes on Jesus.
We have learned the secret to contentment in spite of our circumstances: We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.
I'm sure I've heard many of these things throughout my Christian life. But, I'm not sure I ever truly learned them until I was in the classroom of trials and difficulties. My faith has grown exponentially, and my love for God has deepened. Each day, I wake up and say to the Lord, "Whatever happens today, I still trust You." And, often I find myself praying and repeating that phrase again and again throughout the day. It is not just a physical battle for survival, but a spiritual battle. That is why we need you to continue to stand with us in prayer.
Thank you to each of you who have prayed for us, sent us notes of encouragement, generously shared food, clothing, money, work (odd jobs), or other gifts with us, thank you for loving us and encouraging us. Thank you to those who have been an example of faith and perseverance to us. Each of you have been been God's hands and feet in our lives in so many ways. May God bless you, bountifully, for your loving and caring hearts!
2 comments:
It was a muggy spring day, and I was busy waiting on a long line of customers at my part-time summer job. I was surprised when my husband entered the store, and it soon became obvious that he’d come to deliver difficult news. Moments later, the words tumbled out, “I was fired.” Our world was changed in an instant. In the previous year, we watched some of our friends go through it. This day, this moment, we joined those who were currently dealing with job losses of their own. There was certain camaraderie between those of us who had experienced it. Many people could sympathize with us, but only a few could truly understand what job loss means and how it affects a family. We quickly learned how unhelpful we had been when friends experienced job loss in the past and how differently we would handle the situation in the future.
When a person loses their job, they feel a lot like the Biblical character of Job. If you have never gone through a job loss, you may think I am being overly dramatic, but I believe it is an accurate comparison. Imagine yourself in this position: You lose your ability to provide for your family, your ability to fill your days with productive activity, and even your ability to answer the simple question, “What do you do for a living?” You feel like you are letting people down, and worse, those you love more than anything in the world are the ones you are letting down the most. You wonder if you’ll be able to buy groceries next week, if you are going to be able to keep your house and car, and if you can afford to take your child to the doctor or buy medicine. You don’t know when the situation will get better. Nothing is clear. Maybe you’ll get a job next month. Maybe you’ll get one next year. Maybe, the unthinkable will happen. Maybe you won’t be able to get a new job at all. The loss is great and the worries can be mentally exhausting.
The first few weeks, we were swept into a flurry of activity. Updating resumes, looking for job leads, trying to get prescriptions filled and doctor visits moved up while we had insurance and access to our flexible spending account, and figuring how we were going to manage to pay bills, since his former employer of 15 years didn't have the decency to offer a severance package. It seemed there were dozens of things to think of.
Just a couple weeks prior, Mark and I traveled to a homeschool convention where I was a speaker and we sold my state history curriculum. We still had a little money box with some of the cash profits from that convention inside. We decided that we'd very carefully use that money for our every day expenses, such as groceries.
God immediately began peeling things away from our lives that He did not want there. For me, one of the first was pride. In those first few weeks, I had to learn to accept charity. Quite frankly, I found it embarrassing and extremely humbling, but God reminded me of the scriptures where the early church would bring all they had to the church, and those who had much would share with those who had little. This is the way the church was supposed to work. God was using His people to meet our needs. I came to believe that it would be an act of disobedience to get between God and His work simply because of my pride.
Because it was summer time, our teenagers were committed to go on some youth mission trips. The trips can be somewhat expensive, especially when you have two teenagers going. So, we had been making payments towards the trips over the last several months. To continue paying towards those trips now seemed foolish, because it took everything to put food on the table and a roof over our heads. But, we soon found out that someone anonymously paid off the balance of our teenager's mission trip fees. This was a huge blessing and a relief for us. Yet, there were still things like spending money, snacks for the long drive, extra toothpastes, shampoos, etc., simple things we couldn’t afford. Our daughter and son had been putting some flyers around advertising their willingness to do babysitting, dog sitting, lawn mowing, etc., but didn’t have any luck. A few days before they were to leave on the first trip, my daughter came to me with tears in her eyes, "Mom, we still don't have any meal money for World Changers. What are we going to do?" I answered, "Don't worry! Pray about it. God will provide." In my heart I believed what I said, but heart also pounded with a bit of trepidation as I said it!
The next morning a friend from church called, saying she was going to stop by. When she arrived, her arms were loaded with some fun things she knew we wouldn't spend money on right now... like donuts, cookies, and popcorn. She also brought practical things like laundry and dish detergent. Then, just before she left, she handed me an envelope and said, "Use this however you want." When she left, we looked in the envelope and tears welled up in my eyes. God had provided a way for us to give the kids meal money for their mission trip. The money that was leftover was added to my little money box. Time and time again, little cash gifts would arrive in the mail, or we’d sell something, or do a little work for some cash, all adding to the stash. I think the money in that little cash box lasted us over 10 months. Sometimes it would get down to just a couple of dollars, but we would pray over it, and it would not be long before it was replenished. It was a modern day loaves and fishes situation. God kept adding to it, and multiplying the little bit of money, and made it last ten times longer than it should have. This was just the beginning of all that God was about to do.
This blog chronicles many stories that reveal God's care and power. I have shared dozens of moments demonstrating God’s generous provision, His abundant grace, His everlasting mercy, and His watchful care over us. There are stories about God’s people; those who were so in tune to God’s voice and were so obedient to His leading, that they became an instrument of God, producing a miracle in our lives at such a precise moment we knew it was from Him. I share painfully honest stories about moments of doubt, fear, and desperation, only to have it all thrust away with an amazing, mind-blowing display of God’s power and glory.
I would describe myself as a quiet, private person. I never would have chosen to share so much in such a public way on my own. Quite frankly, it feels somewhat embarrassing to share those moments of doubt and fear, moments when we have been recipients of charity, moments when we couldn’t provide something for our kids, and so on. In those first days, I started keeping a private prayer journal because I knew God would not allow this event in our lives if He didn’t intend to use it in some way. I wanted to be sure that I would remember everything God taught me and all the ways He cared for us. One morning, I read I Peter 1:6-7 during my quiet time and realized that if God was going to get the glory, I must be transparent and let others know what He was doing. That is when “I Will Learn to Fly” was born.
You may be wondering by now why this post is so long and why I am reminiscing. You see, Friday was the 2-year anniversary of Mark’s job loss. For some reason, the second anniversary is the day I had intended to conclude this blog. But, as the time drew near, it became obvious to me that God isn’t finished with this story yet. So, at least for now, this blog will continue.
You might remember that this scripture was the inspiration for I Will Learn 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
In the last 24 months, have we learned to fly? I am not sure we are completely there yet.... or maybe I should say consistently there yet! But, we have made definite progress.:
We have learned that our weariness, our faint-heartedness, and our inabilities can be overcome with God’s strength.
We have learned that when we finally acknowledge that we have no strength of our own, God is there with all of the power we need to endure whatever we face.
We have learned that when we are weak, He is strong.
We have learned that when we try to rely on our own sufficiency, we WILL grow faint and weary.
We have learned the ridiculousness of trusting in ourselves, rather than God.
We have learned that God often puts His signature on His grace by using impeccable timing.
We have learned that FAITH, TRUST, and a commitment to seek GOD’S WILL for our lives brings the greatest strength, power, and peace into our lives.
We have learned that we CAN FLY when we rise above the challenges and difficulties of our earthly life by keeping our eyes on Jesus.
We have learned the secret to contentment in spite of our circumstances: We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.
I'm sure I've heard many of these things throughout my Christian life. But, I'm not sure I ever truly learned them until I was in the classroom of trials and difficulties. My faith has grown exponentially, and my love for God has deepened. Each day, I wake up and say to the Lord, "Whatever happens today, I still trust You." And, often I find myself praying and repeating that phrase again and again throughout the day. It is not just a physical battle for survival, but a spiritual battle. That is why we need you to continue to stand with us in prayer.
Thank you to each of you who have prayed for us, sent us notes of encouragement, generously shared food, clothing, money, work (odd jobs), or other gifts with us, thank you for loving us and encouraging us. Thank you to those who have been an example of faith and perseverance to us. Each of you have been been God's hands and feet in our lives in so many ways. May God bless you, bountifully, for your loving and caring hearts!
Kelly,
Thanks so much for your honesty and transparentcy. You being so real is very encouraging to me. This July will mark the 2 year mark when my husband lost his full time job. It took almost 1 year for me to realize how bad things were. Believe it or not... things have actually gotten worse over the past year. Much of his side job/now full time job has dewindled away. Now it is worse than ever. BUT... I can honestly tell you that God has taught me so much about His character in his classroom of difficulties and trials. I, too, know that He would not have allowed this without a purpose. My prayer is that we learn what we are to learn and that we will be different at the end than we were at the beginning. I trust God's heart when I cannot always understand His hand. Thanks so much for being honest. His power is made perfect in our weakness.
Lynn
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