recently, i was thinking about how the Lord has blessed us, and let me tell ya....it's AMAZING! with me not teaching this year, we knew life would be tight. so i started selling mary kay to try and help out...WHAT WAS I THINKING!?! this is a task that should be undertaken by very outgoing people who enjoy meeting random strangers and making sales pitches everywhere they go. uh, hello? when did that enter my personality profile? oh, that's right...NEVER! now this is not to say that i will be stopping selling mary kay, b/c i still make sales through referalls and reorders....now that's my kind of business.
so that wasn't working out as we had hoped and things got really tight. then out of the blue, a friend from church asks me if i'd be interested in taking over her babysitting....BAM! blessing numero uno! i can stay home and play with kids. right up my alley.
we had four showers for connor...church, fam, two surprise school showers from my first graders and nate's sixth. blessing numero dos! i haven't NEEDED to buy ANY clothes for connor since he was born!
and following closely on the heals of dos is tres......alicia, please excuse my rusty espanol spelling :).....the other day i cleaned out connor's closet of all clothes too small and found that it was quite empty!! yikes...might have to buy somethings.....but nay, blessing tres! i got a huge bag of clothes from my cousin nanette and another huge bag from darrin and cici. and gramma sanders just dropped off a cute little shorts outfit. wa lah! once again a FULL closet...even a new hooded sweatshirt for which i have looked at four stores.
and now the mother of all blessings. many of you know that nathan has decided not to return to teach next year. but what you don't know is that we've been praying about this for a few years now. nathan knew that he didn't want to continue in an elementary setting, but he also knew that he had to have a job to put food on the table. so every year we would pray and ask, "stay or go?". never having good direction as to where we might go, we would stay. and thankfully, nathan had a good time with the kids so it wasn't like torture to stay in the classroom for those years.
well, this year...since i wasn't teaching, and we knew that we couldn't do another year of stay....nathan decided to search out some job possibilities. i'm not kidding when i say that opportunities came out of the woodwork! he was getting "hey, send me your resume" left and right. NEVER has this happened when he's started searching things out before. God has clearly given him direction and proved once again that He ALWAYS keeps His promises. and that He WILL provide above and beyond what we can fathom.
so now we are praying about a solid opportunity. praying that details can be worked out in a timely fashion. but even though our last paycheck comes in just a few weeks. i gotta say....i'm not worried AT ALL. yeah, this is gonna be a bumpy ride for a few months, but this year was supposed to be a "bumpy ride" and i haven't seen the fasten seatbelts sign once.
if nothing else, this post will serve as a reminder to me that God loves us and will provide our needs. and as ace and i read and prayed last night...God ALWAYS keeps His promises.
8 comments:
thank you so much for this post. i recently found out that the office i am working in will be closing. kevin and i feel the Lord's leading, but we are just waiting.
this post is a reminder that i needed to today. i am really struggling this morning and you so graciously reminded me that God does (not did) keep his promises and will provided!!!
we will keep you in our prayers as the Lord directions your family.
that is really neat about connors closet always being full!! praise the Lord!
Amen and amen, Christina! Isn't it absolutely amazing, the obvious ways God leads? He is SO good!
heather,
i almost wrote this out in my journal, but i had some extra time so i figured i may as well share it with friends. i'm glad it was an encouragement to you and i will add you to my prayer list!! keep us posted.
carol,
thanks for your comment and mostly for your prayers.
and yes, he did toy with the modelling idea. of course, he knew his fame would grow too much and he really just wants to stay "grounded". we just couldn't make that sacrifice. :)
karen,
so true, but my question is...why was it so easy to remember that when we lived in the woods? :) funny how the busy rush of everyday living crowds out so much of what i learned at school.
That's great, Christina. Right before Josiah was born we went through a similar how-are-we-going-to-survive phase, and God clearly met all of our needs. We're not exactly set for life now, but God showed us that we can trust Him to always provide for us. Isn't He amazing? -Jenny
i can totally relate with you! sometimes i get so scared that we won't be able to cover all of our needs, but somehow it always works out. God is our Jehovah Jireh! we'll be praying for a job for nathan. God has just the one for him.
p.s. i also think it's such a shame that most christian schools can't offer a decent salary to a man who should be the breadwinner for his family. in our school, most of the male teachers have quit as soon as they start a family or they work another 20-30 hrs/week to help make ends meet. i wonder if this will ever change.
i can totally relate with you! sometimes i get so scared that we won't be able to cover all of our needs, but somehow it always works out. God is our Jehovah Jireh! we'll be praying for a job for nathan. God has just the one for him.
p.s. i also think it's such a shame that most christian schools can't offer a decent salary to a man who should be the breadwinner for his family. in our school, most of the male teachers have quit as soon as they start a family or they work another 20-30 hrs/week to help make ends meet. i wonder if this will ever change.
Good reminder! I needed that! Can't write out why or I'll start cryin' right here at my desk! And me with mascara drippin' down my cheeks is ALMOST as scary as me with no mascara! :)
Praying for you that things will be "finalized" soon! God is soooooo good!!!!!
Good reminder! I needed that! Can't write out why or I'll start cryin' right here at my desk! And me with mascara drippin' down my cheeks is ALMOST as scary as me with no mascara! :)
Praying for you that things will be "finalized" soon! God is soooooo good!!!!!
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