December 2014

Here's a little story I've got to tell about how amazing God is and how HE provided for my family this month! My heart is so full!

The end of the year has been a doozie!

Going all the way back to August: Finally found a doctor who gave me the option of a hysterectomy to finally be rid of my health issue I had been dealing with for almost 4 years. I can live a normal life again! Thank you Lord for allowing me to finally get in to see Dr S!

August was financially tough because we had to work hard to save up the money for my surgery, fast!

September I didn't get much done as I was healing and unable to really go anywhere for a few weeks.

October, almost done healing but only able to go out for very short shopping trips to the grocery store.

November: Here is where the fun begins!

At the end of October (I think) Jessi had a sleep over at a friends house. Well that night Levi was watching a movie in her room and discovered that water was leaking from the ceiling. And it wasn't raining. uh-oh.  
We learned it was a condenser or something that has to do with the A/C in the crawl space above her room. We were able to stop the leak but there was still water in the ceiling, this is not good.
So we notify the landlord. No reply.
A couple of days later the spring breaks on the garage door.  Notify landlord, no reply.
So a couple of days later he writes a long email basically saying repairs like this have always been our responsibility and if we didn't want to be responsible for taking care of the property then he would let us out of the lease because he doesn't even want the house anymore.

A couple of days later John sees a man in the driveway of the vacant house 3 doors down and he goes to introduce himself to see if he can get some side work for extra Christmas money.  The guy turns out to be the homeowner. After talking to him for about 10 minutes John is handed the keys and has a job fixing up the place and also an offer to rent his house for the exact same rent we were paying with his work as a deposit instead of money!  Who does this? GOD DOES, that's who!

So November began the moving process: No school this month because we have two houses to prepare for moving out of/into.

Halfway into November while sitting in church both John and I were convicted about the fact that we have never been faithful in tithing. We would tithe probably once or twice a year for one or two weeks and then "oh not this week because we need every dollar from this check" And of course next week we did too...

But this time we vowed to begin tithing and not stop for ANY reason.

During this time Johns work started forcing overtime and 5 ten hour days a week, plus a Saturday here and there.  Well with all the work needing to be done at home John ended up calling off of work every Friday in November.

DECEMBER:

The first Tuesday in December John was in a very minor, no injury, no damage accident at work and was suspended pending investigation.

The next Monday he was notified that he was fired because it seemed as if he was no longer taking his job seriously. After 10 years of being the safety conscious guy at work he gets tossed aside like trash when he needs this job the most. But oh well... this story isn't over!

So I immediately jump on Facebook pleading for work of any kind to help get us some money coming back in asap. Within a couple of hours John had several jobs lined up. Hanging Christmas lights, fixing things, moving rooms, and helping with a house remodel.
We had money coming in at exactly the pace we needed it!

Not only that but, we received a couple of cash gifts to help us out that were more than we "needed" from both our church family and our neighbors!
We also had a couple of surprise meals that came upon us from neighbors and our church family! They always came at the PERFECT time!

A side note, when John lost his job we had to explain to our kids that due to the surgery/healing/moving and now the job loss there would literally only be 1-2 gifts under the Christmas tree for each of them this year. Their reply,  with all their confidence and not the slightest hint of disappointment or wavering in the least... "That's okay"   I LOVE these kids!

What's funny is God's amazing timing. The day we sat down to work out our money and bills and said we have enough to get through this month one of the biggest cash gifts appeared in our hands!  It was so much that we were able to give some of it to someone else in need at this time. We got to work with her for a half a day cleaning a house together. :)

And then God's timing was amazing when we sat down one evening and I asked John what the plan was as far as looking for work.

He was going back and forth between looking for a job or trying to see if he could make this side job/handyman thing a full time business. And he was so busy with all the little jobs that he didn't have time to look for a job. 

This is where the union became our friend.  His name had been passed on to another company and they wanted to hire him but we had to wait to hear from them.

So this evening while we were talking John said something to me and my reply was "But what if that is not what God has planned?"  And less than a minute later the phone rings, at 5:30 in the evening, asking John to come in for an interview in 2 days!  

So as it stands today, with all of God's providence and love and support from family, friends and church family we had an amazing Christmas! I have never felt so loved in all my life! We truly are grateful for all God has done and the relationships he has built for us through this month.

Today John is working with Mike on finishing up that remodeling job, they are putting in flooring together. That job single handedly paid our rent this month. Although it was a tough job working for some difficult personalities the job was such a blessing! We are so thankful.

As of now all of our bills are paid as needed. And John starts his new job in 2 days.

We have food in our house to get us through a few more days and then a surprise check awaiting us at Republic will no doubt be enough for a few more groceries. We also have another grocery gift card waiting to be delivered to us probably on Tuesday from a dear friend.

During this entire time we have not stopped tithing, we have been faithful to God and trusted in Him to take care of our every need and He did!  Just like he promised because of our faithfulness.
We were prepared to trust Him no matter what happened. We prepared for the worst but God gave us the best! There are so many things my heart is feeling after all of this and none of it can I seem to express with words.

I have cried more this month than I have in years due to the overwhelming sense of fulfillment, satisfaction, LOVE, JOY, PEACE, and other feelings that I don't even know what to call them!

GOD is GOOD! Seek him and you will find him. And once you find him hold on with every ounce of your being to Him. He won't let you go, for any reason.