God is Good!

Really, truly, I have led a very blessed life! I have done absolutely nothing to deserve it and unfortunately I don't always give credit to the One who deserves the credit. I've been blessed with a great family, great friends, a great husband, great kids, good health. I am provided for beyond my needs and for oh so many of my wants.

Why is it that sometimes while you are being so blessed, you still complain and look at the negative. As many of you may know, our house in Omaha is just a sore spot with me. It drains our money, it robs me of joy, it robs me of contentment. It is a constant reminder of the irresponsible way we used to be with our money (that's a whole 'nother story - in a nutshell, we had to take a 2nd mortgage to pay off credit cards and then we unexpectedly had to move within a couple of months and there was no way anyone was going to buy the house for what the mortgage was - so we were stuck!)

Now, all in all, the Omaha house hasn't been that much of a sore spot until recently. Although it was never a money maker for us, we almost always had a good tenant and didn't have the struggles like we do now.

So, back up to November 2006 - David was informed that he would no longer have a job as of January 31, 2007. They provided him with a good severance package (another God thing - probably because they were getting rid of him for no good reason!) that paid him until April 30, 2007.

I wanted to stay in Kansas or at least move back up to Nebraska. David, on the other hand, is a free spirit and would have gone anywhere. I think he was thrilled at the possibilities. I prayed fervently that God would keep us where we were. David and I even had some heated discussions about taking a job in Topeka that he probably wouldn't have liked and it would have been about a $20,000 pay cut. Once I realized that David was not going to just take any job, I prayed for 3 specific things:

1. that we would still be somewhere in or close to the Midwest.
2. that David would only get one job offer (that way we wouldn't have to make any decisions), and
3. that whoever offered the job would pay for all moving expenses
   

So, starting in January of 2007, David began sending resumes out. He probably had 90 or so out there. He applied for jobs that he could have done with his eyes closed and he either didn't get interviews or wasn't offered the jobs. Although I was frustrated at the time, God was preparing to answer my prayer #2. I was also praying that David would get another job right away - wouldn't that double income be nice!! I was so looking forward to that possibility.

But, as we all know - God's timing is not our timing and God's way is not our way. David was home with us for 3 months without a job (but still getting a paycheck) - what a blessing that was.

I was getting a little anxious as by the end of March, there was still no job (and remember, the severance pay stops on April 30). As luck would have it (did I say luck - we all know it wasn't luck!!), David got a call to fly down to an unknown place (Kilgore TX) and interview for the Executive Director of the East Texas Council of Governments. I knew there was NO WAY he would get this job. It involved so many different aspects of government that he didn't have experience in (even though he is very smart when it comes to every aspect of his job). He interviewed on April 2 and made the cut. He had his final interview on April 3 and before he flew back to Kansas, they offered him the job.

To say the least, I was devastated! I cried uncontrollably. Isn't it funny how when God answers our prayers just exactly like we pray - we still complain!

1. Texas - somewhere close to the Midwest
2. the only job offer he received
3. Not only did they pay for moving expenses, he also got a company car (answered over and above).

So, even thought I was disappointed that we would be moving, deep down I knew God answered my prayers and this is where we needed to be.

Now, fast forward to current day. Our house woes have cost us quite a bit of money. I didn't realize just how much until I started figuring our taxes and calculated the net loss on the house. It was a shock! I did what I could with taxes a couple of days ago, and it was just this morning that I realized that the loss on the house was almost exactly the same amount of a pay raise that David got when we moved from Topeka to here.

So, the purpose of this post:

• to remind me that God is good. He provides for every need even before we know we need it.
• He is faithful even to those who are undeserving and complain.
• To hopefully be a good reminder to be content with my circumstances, knowing that in the good times, be thankful and in the bad times, be thankful as it will make you a stronger person.