Through recent months I have had the opportunity to walk through some
deep waters of life. Some of those days were as dark and foggy as dark and
foggy can get. It was at that time a precious friend reached out to me, a hand
extended in the midst of the storms. The following is how MY Great God saw me
through.
My friend issued a challenge to find something from the past which
gives me hope for the future. Example: the way God provided a need which I knew
was totally from Him. At first, given my state of mind and heart, I did not
believe I could even think of one thing….WRONG :o) I thought through the day
and below are the things I was able to share with my friend…..and myself.
1. In 2011 due to unavoidable
circumstances we were without homeowners insurance and had been for a little
while. The week of May 16, 2011, my husband felt compelled to find a way to
secure homeowners insurance for our property, and he did. The coverage was not
super great but enough to cover mortgage and a small amount on personal
property. He made a down payment of about $167.00.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011 an F-4.5 tornado
swept across our property taking ALL we owned, sparing our lives, (that is
another story!) The Insurance promptly paid out. The mortgage was around 48K, and
insurance coverage was 50K.God knew the previous week the path of the upcoming tornado and provided relief from a 50K mortgage for $167.00.
Yes….that’s
a big thing!
2 2. During some financial difficulties
there was an electric bill seriously past due. I had 3 one dollar bills, and a
ten dollar bill in my wallet and nothing in the bank. I had several things up
for sale which were not seeing any buyers. The payment final deadline was
quickly approaching. During Sunday Morning church service the preacher told of
a family who walked in with a need to get home to another city. He instructed
if anyone would like to contribute to the need give it to him after church. I
got my 3 dollars out, fully prepared to “be a blessing”.....the Lord said, give
it all....I put the 3 dollars back and got the 10 dollars out and said surely
that's sufficient....Again the Lord said give it all! OK, OK! I retrieved the
other 3 dollars from my purse, giving for that need my last 13 dollars on my
way out the door.
That afternoon a local lady wanted to
see a table I had for sale, which I had listed for several months. She came,
said it was perfect and gave me my asking price...Just enough to pay that bill.God used my 13 dollars to help another, then used someone else to meet my need.
3. Our property taxes, which have always
been around $260.00, went up for 2013 to a slightly over $1,700.00 because of
our new house. We were in no way prepared for that and did not know how that
need would be met.
Sat down to file my income taxes for
2013. This was the last year we were able to claim our youngest daughter as a
dependent which net us a refund of a bit over $1,700.00. All in all the refund
was $18.00 shy of being enough to totally cover the property tax bill.
Through this challenge I was able to pull things from the
past getting me through the PRESENT and know that in the future God IS going to
take care of everything. He IS in control.
I can never explain nor fully comprehend what this
experience has taught me and how much it helped me then, and still yet today.
My hope, dear friends, is that this will be a help to you or allow you to reach
out to one who may be going through a foggy, stormy, and uncertain season of
life.
God Bless~Lorie
