In Other Words for January 19

It's not easy being the sole bread winner in the family in this economy. Trust me, I know. My husband and I had a healthy combined income, was in the final stages of buying a house, had a baby on the way and two daughters already – one each from previous marriages, we really just seemed to be doing more than ok. Then, out of the blue, my husband called me in July, letting me know that he'd gone in to work that morning and was told his crew was laid off, along with a couple of other crews.

We lost the house. The house we had our hearts set on that would have been built on a couple of acres in the country on land that was perfect for gardening. It was quiet, peaceful, had lots of fruit trees already on it. Had all of the hook-ups already on there. We would have had our room, the girls could have had their own rooms, there would have been a guest room and a little nursery attached to the master bedroom.

Instead, we were stuck in a small two bedroom apartment with not enough space for even what we had then, not to mention the baby that was coming.

My husband has been looking for a job ever since in his line of work and has not yet been able to come up with one that wouldn't require him to be away from home 95% of the time. I'm not saying that it hasn't been stressful, living on my income. In fact, we lost more than 50% of our income when he lost his job. But somehow, only through the Grace and Mercy of God, we have been able to make ends meet.

I've gotten a refund check from my insurance for over charging on some visits to my diabetic perinatal doctor when I was pregnant with our son. Have you EVER heard of such a thing from an insurance company? An anonymous person at my work gave me the $600 needed to do my ultrasound and testing that I otherwise would not have been able to do, but that was crucially needed due to my being a Type 2 diabetic and having gestational hypertension. We received over $1,100 from my wonderful co-workers to purchase needed nursery items for our son. Items we did not have, being that his daughter is 11 and mine is 8, and we didn't think we would have another child so baby items were a thing of the past. My husband reconnected with his mom, through the death of his grandfather and she has been more than willing to help pay some of the bills until he finds a job. MORE than a blessing!

While one would think that the happenstance of not having a job would have a detrimental economic impact on a (now) family of five, God has provided for us beyond anything we ever could have imagined. We're still in the small two bedroom apartment, but this circumstance of our lives also has allowed my husband to be able to be there for our son's traumatic birth – he was, for all intents and purposes stillborn as the cord had been wrapped so tightly around his neck they couldn't get him out all the way without cutting it first, but, again, by the Grace of God was revived and took his first breath several minutes after birth – and to take an extended visit with his family several hours away during my maternity leave.

It has allowed my husband and I to really grow together and show that we have what it takes to stick out the difficult times. It has allowed me to more fully and deeply trust God and know that we ARE in His hands. That His promises in the Bible to never leave nor forsake us, to care for those and meet the needs of those who love Him even moreso than He does the birds of the air or the lily's of the field, are not issued in vain or void.

The world says, "blame God for your troubles, for the loss of your job, income, marriage, loved one, etc." God says, "Trust Me. I WILL take care of you for ALL things work together for good to those who love Me." All things. Good and bad. Big and small. Everything that happens to us is a chance to just trust God. If God has brought you to it, then He is going to bring you through it.

We can choose to make a Monet from a Picasso by trusting God to carry us through the rough spots or we can choose to make a Picasso turn into an Edvard Munch by trying to do it on our own and listen to what the world has to say. Which one will you choose?

Monet:

Picasso:

Munch:


To view more "In Other Words" participants this week check out Expectant Hearts. Thanks to Kathryn for hosting this week! This is my first time back doing the IOW in a couple of years. :-)