Grateful for Showers

Life is just amazing! If you read this post, you know that I've had some struggles lately. The month started out so bleak financially, that I neglected to withdraw the cash for the month.  It just wasn't worth it. That's how little was left in the budget after the bills were paid.  We decided we'd live mostly off of savings this month.

Teachers have a union, but school administrators don't.  With the school budget being what it is in the state of Oregon right now, administrators don't get raises.  It's been a few years since the Warden's had one.  When there is a furlough day, which happens a few times during the year, he also doesn't get paid. Just thought I would explain this in case you weren't aware of these little facts.  We're getting hit by the economy just like everyone else.  I don't think I mentioned this in the above linked-to post.

The main issue was that we were majorly required to walk by faith and trust that if we did our part, God would bless our lives with what we needed.

When the purse was stolen, my checkbook was in it.  Because of that, we had to completely close that account and open a new one.  When we did, we were told that they would take care of everything and that everything would be restored as it was.  I thought this would include new checks for the new account.

I waited and waited for the checks to arrive.  I gave them a few weeks and then called.  They had not been ordered, so I went ahead and ordered the checks.  They arrived just before payday.

So, here's the big deal....I use those checks to write our monthly tithing payment to the church.  I was taught as a child that that's the first thing you pay when  you make money.  I believe strongly that doing so brings blessings--some that are clear and apparent and some that I'm not even aware of. I believe strongly in the challenge give in Malachi 3:10.

We found ourselves, this month, with the need of paying two of those checks--last month's and this month's.  That's a sizable amount of money.  It left us with very little after bills were paid.  Gas money?  Grocery money?  The only thing we could do was dip into savings, which we try to do very seldom--only in emergency cases.  This was one of those.

Not wanting to dip into it, hoping that some other option would come up, I didn't withdraw the monthly cash.  Doing so, would symbolize a lack of trust that paying the tithing would bring the blessings we needed. On the morning of the 19th, when I figured out the budget for the month, I knew we were going to need some kind of miracle before too long.

Later that day, I graduated.  I watched BYU's commencement exercises online, and as I did so, during a lull in the proceedings, I switched over to Facebook--just one of the blessings of not taking the walk.  There, on the wall, was a friend who was looking to hire two freelance writers for his business.

What?!  I couldn't believe my eyes.  This was absolutely perfect for me!  I contacted him and asked a few questions about the job.  Was it something an at-home mom could do?  Did it require a huge amount of time?

He assured me that I could do the job he needed done.  He asked me to write a cover letter and resume and take a writing test.  Having not done a resume or a cover letter in quite a long time (except for my last class at BYU), I was nervous.  He had posted the listing on Craig's list, so I was sure there were many, many applicants, and I was sure I wasn't going to be chosen, but I was pretty sure that I wanted it and was more perfect for it than anyone else who would be submitting a resume.

I hurried to get those things done. I took the writing test, and it was SO FUN!  I loved it!  This was just such a perfect match for me. How could he not hire me?  But, I haven't really spoken with him in twenty years, and he doesn't know that I'm perfect for this job, so why would he hire me?

Those were the thoughts that went through my mind.  On Monday mid-morning, I saw a chat box pop up on my computer.  He wanted me to call him.  What?  Really?  Was he just going to laugh at my sophomoric attempt at a resume?  Was he going to say, "Umm. Yah. Nice try, but no."

I called him right away, and guess what.  He wanted to hire me!  For real!  I now have a job.  It really is perfect for me.

The first deadline was last night. There were seventeen articles to be written.  Knowing that, since I was hired on Monday and the deadline would be Wednesday, my family would have to sacrifice just a bit more this time through. In the future, I'm thinking there will be more notice when a deadline is approaching, so I'll be able to pace myself a bit more judiciously.

So, my parents were right....Pay your tithing first.  I'm so extremely grateful for what's been provided. Something tells me, though, that the open windows of heaven may not be done showering down yet.