The last time I actually slowed down enough to type a message was months ago! Life if flying by way too fast! Thankfully, that is actually a sign that life has been good...really good! I recently read a verse that grabbed my attention though. From Psalms 77:11 it says, "I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago." Today is September 11...probably not a coincidence that my mind is in a reflective mode today. It dawned on me that it is easy to remember the bad or the traumatic. It's sometimes harder to remember the good...we tend to forget God's goodness, His provision, His mercy, His grace. We're not too different from our ancestors who wandered through the wilderness for 40 year...we forget too easily!! So today, I'm going to scroll through my memory bank and reflect on all of God's goodness in our lives this past summer and start of a new school year...lest we forget!!!
1. There have been too many "random checks in the mailbox" to mention them all. That, alone, speaks completely of God's provisions. The monies have come from all kinds of folks...it's been neat to see who the Lord has used to be His hands and feet in our lives. I know that each person who has financially blessed us has done it with a pure heart and Godly motives. That brings us joy knowing that they, too, will be blessed!
2. Chris was hired at First Baptist Euless as the First Touch Ministry Associate. Talk about a blessing!!! This was one of those times where we didn't even know what God was blessing us with. This is an awesome, thriving church that operates like a well-oiled machine. Chris has been able to learn so much just by working there a couple of months. We are so thankful for this experience, and we feel even more affirmed that God truly has His hand on Chris and his ministry.
3. With Chris's job and school, he wasn't able to travel with us to Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee, but the kids and I made the trip anyway. We were able to see all of my grandparents, one of my best friends in the world and her family, my family, our Oxford Family, and Chris's family. For majority of the trip I pulled a not-so-small U-Haul trailer behind my car...boy was I glad to pull back into Ft. Worth in one piece!! We had goten some things out of our storage unit in Mississippi because we have moved to another rental house. Again, totally a "God-thing." Our landlord had decided he needed to go up on our rent, so we started looking for something different. This house we are in now belongs to some friends we met this summer through swim team. They had just retired from the military, so they were going to sell this house and move home to Missouri. With the market the way it is, they decided that they could rent it to us for the next 30-36 months and give the market time to hopefully come back up. They are letting us rent it for a great rate, and it is big enough for each child to have their own room. We also have the security of knowing this will be "home" through the duration of school. What an odd blessing...you may have never thought much about it...if you rent a home, your landlord can increase the rent from year to year, or he can decide to sell it. You never know if the house will be yours outside of your 1 year contract time.
4. Chris's 40th birthday came in early September...it needs its own separate post....it's a good one!!
5. Not too long ago, my paycheck posted on the computer, but it was extremely high. I had done some tutoring this summer, but not that much! As I looked into it, I remembered that I had gotten a surprise "sign-on" bonus when I was hired because I teach math. That was a huge blessing last fall, but I had forgotten that they only gave me half of it last fall. The other half was to be given in my July check at the end of that first year. What a nice thing to have forgotten all about!!
6. Most recently, I got a call from the benefits department from my school system. Last fall I had signed up for family insurance, but then I had them remove the kids from the policy because Chris's insurance through school was better. The benefits department had made the change with the insurance company, but they had failed to change it in the billing department. Basically, I had been over-paying about $240 a month for the past year. This resulted in them reimbursing me approximately $2500 in the same week that we payed (you guessed it) $2500 for Benton's braces. It was like God had helped us save that money each month without even knowing it. We were so thankful that God was so creative in His method of provision!
I know that none of this post has been very exciting to read, but what it has been for us is just a reminder. Like the Psalm says, I WILL remember His miracles...I Will remember that God is always good. We may not be able to see it at the time, but He is always so faithful. His ways are always better than our ways. Who are we that we would even think that we could give God advice on how to direct our lives and our circumstances?!?
Thank you, Lord, for always loving us, always meeting our needs, always drawing our hearts back to You. Help us never forget just how good you are!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment