God Has a Plan, I Just Know It!!

The past couple of months have been quite a whirlwind for our family.  At the end of March, I changed my work schedule to work 3 twelve hour day shifts a week instead of such crazy evening/night/weekend hours that I had been doing for so long in order to be part-time.  This was a huge change for our family because it meant the kids would start going to daycare/preschool during the day and I would be going from working 24 hours a week up to 36.  I know that I had been quite spoiled for the past couple of years by having the opportunity to only work part-time.  The time came though that I was looking for a more "normal" schedule so when the opportunity opened to move to day shift I took it.  Thankfully, for the most part, the kids have adjusted wonderfully and everything is going great with preschool.  Poor Caleb has been hit pretty hard with the daycare germs, but hopefully with summer here he will start to feel better and stay healthy soon.

About a week or so into me switching my schedule Chris and I did something that we had been talking about doing for quite some time.  We invested in the online version of Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University.  We quickly discovered that we had been living in denial for quite some time about our financial situation.  We had been living above our means and using those emergency credit cards for things that weren't so emergent…  We knew that we had to start being proactive about getting our finances under control.  So, I decided to start working extra so that we could get some bills paid off and be on the road to financial success.  I worked 48 hours a week for the whole next month (which is a lot for my wimpy, little self!!).  This along with downgrading our smart phones, downgrading our TV to the most basic of services, and proactively taking steps to cut out other things actually helped us meet our monthly budget nicely.  We also put tithing back at the top of the budget, instead of at the bottom where we regretfully had placed it over the last several years.  

So, things were looking positive and we were starting to feel pretty good about the whole financial mess we had gotten ourselves into.  Then, one Monday afternoon I come home to Chris telling me that he had good news and bad news.  The good news was that he is now available to help me clean the house.  The bad news is he will be home because he no longer has a job…  

I actually was somewhat relieved when he said this.  You see, Chris had been very unhappy in his job for quite some time and had been praying for a long time for God to open up a new door.  He never had any dreams of being a loan officer at a bank.  He went to school to be a history teacher.  Right after college we decided to get married and unfortunately, getting a teacher licensure (to actually be able to teach) kind of got pushed to the back burner.  So, the first "real" job opportunity that opened up happened to be at the bank. It sounded good at the time, so he took it.  However, things started getting rough over the last couple of years when the bank started placing unrealistic goals upon him and he just wasn't able to meet them.  I knew how much he hated going to work and spending such a huge chunk of his life doing something that he resented and was not passionate about at all.  There were even times that I begged him to quit because I thought it would be better for him to work at Starbucks than to go to a job he hated so much everyday.  

So, now it has been almost a month since Chris has been out of work.  I know that God has something big planned for him.  About the same time I went to day shift (before the job loss), Chris had quite a spiritual awakening with God.  In fact, he is more on fire for God now than I have ever seen him.  He knows that he wants to do something purposeful with his life and is praying so hard that God will lead him exactly where He wants him.   He desperately wants to be used to show other's the love of God!!  

Looking back, I know God was preparing us for this huge change of life.  I am so fortunate to have taken my full time position at work just in time.  Furthermore, I thank God so much to have a job that allows me to work as much as I need to.  If we had not started Dave Ramsey's program when we did and made those changes to our budget, we would be really struggling right now.  God knew what was about to happen and prepared us!!!  God has also given me strength to continue to work lots of overtime so I can make up the difference until Chris finds that special job God has waiting for him.

I admit that I have felt overwhelmed and a little stressed and depressed about the situation a few times.  But, then I remember that God is in control.  I cannot let myself underestimate God!  He has a plan for our family.  I have absolutely no idea what it is right now and that is a little scary.  But, I know that God has bigger thoughts than I can wrap my head around, so I need to just sit back and trust Him.  I am so excited to see what God has in store for our family!!  Please pray that God will let us see clearly what to do and where to go!

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."  Jeremiah 29:11