All Things Are In His Hands - Part 4

So here I am..... Back in the house I was in four years ago...... And I thought I should finish the story I started months ago.

Of course, life is always a process and the story never really ends for each of us.... But this chapter on financial crisis has finally come to a close. PRAISE GOD

Last time I wrote, we had sold the big beautiful dream house and moved back to the smaller place but there was still no permanent job yet. Dave, my husband, was still scrounging out a living and we were living on a wing and a prayer. Faith was the name of the game..... And the way we were surviving.

In the beginning of July an email came from a member of the church we belong to. Our Pastor had left a year before for the mission field and moved to Greece. In the email he was requesting a group to come to Greece and help them build a church.

As I read the email, my heart sunk. This mission trip was something that Dave should be involved in but there was just no way it could happen. Here we were, barely hanging on financially, just moved back to our old house, behind on credit cards, still no permanent work, no insurance but surviving. How could he go to Greece? It just wasn't possible.

Or was it possible?

Turns out, nothing is impossible with God.

I read that email on Sunday morning right before we walked out the door to go to church. I mentioned it to Dave in the car and we both knew it was wasn't an idea we could entertain. At 9PM that evening, there was a knock at our front door. In enters a couple from church that are friends of ours with something they wanted to discuss.

"If we raise the money for you to go to Greece, would you go?" was the question they asked Dave. They continued.... "We were at our Life Group tonight and everyone there (ten people) thinks you are suppose to go on this trip. We want to make sure you have what you need to go."

How do you respond to something like this? First you pick your mouth up off the floor. Then you take a week to digest the whole thing and pray about it. Which is what we did.

I knew he should go, but was it Gods will? Was God really wanting him to do this? No job.... No money.... No security..... Pick up and go to Greece. Hey, why not?

To say Dave was hesitant is an under statement. He was reluctant to even entertain the idea. But God had a plan and it was in motion.

The next week after church service was over, up walks a man who is in our Sunday School class. He knew nothing about the previous conversation with other members of our church. He needs to talk to Dave. "Are you going on the Greece trip?" He asks. "If you are, I feel like God wants me to sponsor you" He proceeds to tell Dave that he felt like God was telling him and his wife felt the very same thing at the exact same time. They had gone looking for each other at the same time to tell one another.

The following week, this man walks up to Dave again after church and tells him that he had gone to the church that week to pay the money and found out that someone else, completely separate had already paid the plane fare. Evidently, a third party was now on the scene and had paid the fare in secret. They had been called by God and left the glory in His name. We still don't have a a clue who it was. The following week an envelope of money was left at the church with our name on it to cover expenses at home while he was gone.

To Greece he would go.... "But Dave, before you go, let me settle a few more things for you" said God.

Three weeks before the trip a phone call. It's an interview. To say Dave didn't have his hopes up would be putting it mildly. There wasn't even a hope on his radar screen. He had so little hope that he hadn't even mentioned he had an interview to me. Surprisingly, the interview went so well that a glimmer of light started to shine. Call me next week, the man said.

Tuesday the following week, Dave calls the man. "Nothing yet" he say. "I don't know if we are getting the contract yet."

Unfortunately, the job Dave had applied for was contingent on the company securing a contract to build a large project. Down Dave's hopes went again. The glimmer of light was gone. He had tried, struggled, looked, applied, striven and now pretty much given up hope that a job would come.

You know that saying "it's not gonna just fall into your lap?" Well, sometimes it does. Sometimes when we finally quit trying to do it ourselves and begin to put it in God's hands, he places what you desire in your lap.

Wednesday.... The very next day after this man said "Nothing yet", the phone rang. "Dave, I need some help, can you come to work?" It was a friend of his from church, that he served beside on the building committee. This man works for a construction company doing the same job Dave has done. He has been wanting to get Dave on at his company for some time but the availability hasn't been there. But now, he is overwhelmed with work and needs help. "Can you come in tomorrow?" he asks. "I can't be there tomorrow but I can on Friday" Dave tells him.

Thinking its just a temporary thing, contract work to pull the guy out of a crack, Dave shows up bright and early on Friday. As the day wore on and he was filling out W4 forms and insurance paperwork, he wondering.... "Is this a permanent position?"

Turns out, it was! No interview.... No talking to anyone..... Just a job, doing what he has always done, paying a good pay. With insurance starting the following week. Knowing full well that he would be gone for 10 days in just a few weeks to go to Greece.

Sometimes, it is just given to you. Sometimes, it does just fall into your lap. Because God does hear. And He takes care of His people. Only, it's in His timing, not ours. And we are required to just keep on going, trusting in His provision until He brings about the right thing at the right time.

So Dave's back from Greece now... School has started.... Routine has set back in....

Dave goes to work each morning. Brett goes to school. As for me? It's back to writing and waiting.... for the next part of His story in our lives.