Seventy-One Days
Trusting that I’m doing what the Lord wants by paying for an annual subscription for my little site. The subscription lapsed shortly after my last post on April 14th. It was a choice when we found ourselves in the midst of a life storm.
Seventy-one days have passed since my husband lost his job. After 17 years with the same company with only glowing reviews, they let him go through a video meeting. It was a gut punch but through our tears, I kept telling J that this had to be a blessing in disguise. I was clinging to my faith in God to get us through it all.
Seventy-one days later, he’s still unemployed, I’ve found a new church and I have never felt greater peace in my life than now. A few months before this happened, I knew I had to stop being a complacent Christian. I was watching services for a local church on YouTube, using a new Bible app and reading plan called Through the Word and praying more. But when we found ourselves staring at unemployment I knew I couldn’t fall apart.
Oh I cried for a few hours and called out to the Lord asking Him, “What do we do now?” And the scripture that had been coming to me since December of 2022, came to me again…
It seems like such a simple thing. It’s a Bible verse we all know. But for me, being still meant finally surrendering all to Christ.. Raised in a Christian home, I’ve known about the Lord all my life and prayed the sinner’s prayer as a kid. But I never relinquished my life completely. I spent too many years tackling my life based on my emotional responses. I’m an emotional person, an empathic person. After several decades of doing things my way, even when I was attending church and serving in youth outreach services, I knew I couldn’t do this.
I couldn’t emotionally deal with the loss of our livelihood. I refused to let fear find its way into my heart, my mind, or my spirit. I found solace and knowledge watching the church sermons online but then they started experiencing technical difficulties. We’ll just refer to them as “Hey lady, get out of your chair and get yourself to church” pokes from the Lord. And I did. I got myself up out of the chair, prayed about attending the service, then drove to church on May 26th and when I walked through the doors, I knew I was home.
Go where you’re led and stay if you’re fed.
The Lord’s Word has become alive to me. It’s exciting and I look forward to reading and praying every day. In fact, there is a marked difference in my mood and circumstances if I slip and don’t pray. I talk to God throughout my day. He embraces me and speaks to me through scripture, through people at church, and through music. I’m still learning to be still and discern His voice from all the noise in the world. But He’s working on me. And I’m so glad that my God is a God of do-overs.
We’re still waiting for a new job to come J’s way, but I know that God has it all under control. I will continue to praise Him through this. I will continue to thank Him for this time in the wilderness. He’s teaching me to be totally dependent upon Him. God knew that J needed time to decompress after two years of an increasingly toxic work environment.
I don’t know what the future holds but it’s okay because my God will provide. In the meantime, I’m enjoying getting to know my Lord and Savior on a deeper level and watching things change around me for the better.
Glad to be back and writing here on the site. This is another thing I’m praying about. I want to make this an endeavor that brings glory to the Lord. So stay tuned, I’m sure God has something incredible planned.
Peace,
Nim
