In November, I posted this blog entry –
Monday night, a week later, Kevin was conducting family devotions. He asked us to consider what our answer would be if Jesus said we had two choices for 2010:
A. We could have any Christmas or birthday gifts we asked for; we’d have no arguments or unpleasantness with any friends or family; pretty much everything would go our way… but we wouldn’t get any closer to Him, we’d have no spiritual growth.
B. It might be a really tough year; trials and tribulations might abound, but no matter what happened, we were going to be much closer to Jesus at the end of it.
The next morning, the Tuesday before Thanksgiving week, Kevin lost his job. My first thought was that God had already provided encouragement for me to strengthen my faith, when I found and posted that blog entry the previous week.
When we told the kids Kevin was unemployed, Brendon asked, “OK, who chose ‘B’ last night?!” Everyone but him had chosen ‘B,’ and he never revealed his choice… I told him he might as well choose it, since he would have to come along on whatever ride the rest of us were taking.
In January we deduced that God wanted us to give a large percentage of any income, gifts, etc. that we received. This amount is far beyond tithe, and more than we’ve ever consistently given before no matter our circumstances. Finances/giving is the only area we see in Scripture where God dares us to try Him and see what He will do in return.
We were finished with any severance $$ in February. Now, at the end of April, there is still no job for Kevin. But as of this date, every regular bill, car payment, rent, etc. is current — because God has provided. I’ll admit to wondering what His plan might be about May’s rent, but in a calm, conversational way, not in a “Lord, do you remember we’re down here?!” way.
Sometimes the words to a Larnelle Harris song goes through my mind. “Children, lift your voices! The Father hath provided again!”
Copyright 2010 by Tammi Mossman.
