Dear Ones,
All of us have times in life when we struggle so badly with ordinary things. Such was a time when I originally wrote what I post for you today. There is value in keeping a prayer journal or a "God Box" into which you put prayers to God and the eventual answers He provides for those prayers.
My journaling serves that purpose for me. Several years ago our family went through an incredibly hard time. Circumstances so bizarre that they could not even be made up. My husband had taken a new job in a well established place and left a well paying job with security to do so. This was to be a move up for him. After one week, he was laid off because the company had no money to make payroll and they hired him and 3 others under false pretenses.
It was winter, and here in the upper midwest, it gets cold! We were having a tough time making ends meet and I was quite frightened that we were going to lose it all. With this as background, I share my little story with you today....for the glory of God!
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It snowed like crazy here today! We got a foot of snow canceling work and schools and making driving treacherous.
We live on a corner lot- a double lot which means we have lots of sidewalk. We also have two driveway approaches and a wide driveway.
We own two snow blowers, one smaller one and a larger one for the driveway. Both of them are broken. We spent the day trying to fix them and shoveling. The cost to fix the snow machines is more than they are worth, and we cannot afford to spend money on new ones because of the job loss.
We got one driveway approach cleared out and then the plow came by. The pile of snow in front of the other approach was at least 3 feet high with heavy wet snow boulders.
After over an hour of shoveling (for the 3rd time) I was just done, finished and pooped! My husband went to get our son who wasn't able to drive to work this morning due to the snow, and I tackled the 3 foot high pile of hard heavy wet snow the plow kindly deposited on the driveway approach.
By this point I was ready to stick a 4 Sale sign in the yard. I am so wanting to be done with all this and start over. It is dark outside and cold and windy and the snow continues to fall... I was tired, my back and arms ached and tears were not far off. I was on edge already.
So here I am feeling really sorry for myself struggling to hold my emotions in check and tackle that huge mountain of snow, and here comes the guy from across the street with his snow blower! He clears out my whole approach and cleans up the sidewalk does my driveway and won't take a dime.
While he was snowblowing, I ran in the house to get the last 10.00 I possessed. I had to at least pay him for the gas he used! When he finished the job I shook his hand, thanked him and tried to hand him the money and he said to me, "No thanks, my reward is in heaven."
I just lost it and right there in front of a stranger I broke down and bawled my eyes out like a baby. I could not believe what he had said to me! After he did a little more clean up on the sidewalk we chatted a few minutes and I found out he is a believer and we had the nicest talk and I told him that before he came along I was completely discouraged and overwhelmed by the daunting task in front of me. He smiled kindly and told me he was so glad to help and went on his way, to clear another driveway for the woman down the block.
When I came into the house I fell on my face and just sobbed and sobbed. God so knew that I needed some encouragement and that I was at the end of my endurance for the day. He is like that, you know. Just when you reach the end of yourself He swoops in to the rescue and saves the day! God knows exactly what He is doing in our circumstances beloved. Nothing happens to you or I without His purpose or plan going forward.
I continue to need prayer for the willingness to focus on Him instead of my circumstances. I pray God will strengthen my heart with faith for this continued testing that I might glorify Him as we go through this.Labels: Finances, Hope