A
friend wrote a "help!" note to an email group that I'm in with three
other high school buddies. Her husband recently found out that he will be laid
off on January 1st. Jobless. Like thousands of others, including my husband,
who was laid off in November. Below is my response to my friend's call for
help...
I'm so sorry, Neiser. That is such tough news. The unknown is always the scariest.
Things are so crazy right now, aren't they? It's insane the number of people who are losing jobs, companies closing, you name it! Good gravy.
You might find some comfort in the verses I cling to in these times -- the ones about how much more important are we than the flowers God clothes and the birds He feeds. There are so many marked up in my Bible! But sometimes I get doubtful and wonder where that leaves the people who are starving in the world or aren't clothed, and then I remind myself to let go of those doubts and just believe it because God said it. Jesus said it. (Matthew 6:25-34)
The last verse is the one that says, "Don't worry about tomorrow, for today has enough trouble of its own." And that's where you are. You're in today. Mike hasn't lost his job today; there is income today; you're all clothed and fed today. I remind myself of that often, too. It's so easy to worry instead of remembering that we're find today.
This time, even though it seems I should be worried, I'm not very often worried. That's because we've been through the really really ugly --- thousands in credit, the house on the brink of foreclosure, and our little garden center went belly-up. I cried so hard through all that, that I ran out of tears! I thought I'd go in the loo-loo bin, I'm not kidding. To make everything "worse," I got unexpectedly pregnant (#3) and he was a footling breech, so I had to have a c-section, with no insurance!
Now, of course, I can see the sunshine above those clouds. We learned to keep out of credit and got it all paid off, we saved the house from foreclosure, we focused our garden center on internet sales, the hospital let us write it all off except for $2000, and of course the baby turned out to be the very thing I needed...He was absolutely a gift straight from God for a time when I needed that baby.
I just want to say that it really is true -- it has been absolutely true in my experience -- that God will clothe us and feed us. He'll take care of us. I use to worry myself sick but when I look back on it, not a lot that I worried about ever happened. Or, if it did happen, like losing our brick-and-mortar storefront, it wasn't the horrible experience that I imagined it would be. I lost a lot of sleep over that! He may not take care of things how we think He should -- we may lose a house or a car -- but in the end, we'll see that that is okay, we're okay, we are able to make it without that anyway. He'll make sure we're okay.
Please let us know if we can help you in any way. Feel free to call or email to vent! I'm so right there with you, Sister!
Love you tons! ~ Lori
-------------------------
Lori Seaborg
http://loriseaborg.com
I'm so sorry, Neiser. That is such tough news. The unknown is always the scariest.
Things are so crazy right now, aren't they? It's insane the number of people who are losing jobs, companies closing, you name it! Good gravy.
You might find some comfort in the verses I cling to in these times -- the ones about how much more important are we than the flowers God clothes and the birds He feeds. There are so many marked up in my Bible! But sometimes I get doubtful and wonder where that leaves the people who are starving in the world or aren't clothed, and then I remind myself to let go of those doubts and just believe it because God said it. Jesus said it. (Matthew 6:25-34)
The last verse is the one that says, "Don't worry about tomorrow, for today has enough trouble of its own." And that's where you are. You're in today. Mike hasn't lost his job today; there is income today; you're all clothed and fed today. I remind myself of that often, too. It's so easy to worry instead of remembering that we're find today.
This time, even though it seems I should be worried, I'm not very often worried. That's because we've been through the really really ugly --- thousands in credit, the house on the brink of foreclosure, and our little garden center went belly-up. I cried so hard through all that, that I ran out of tears! I thought I'd go in the loo-loo bin, I'm not kidding. To make everything "worse," I got unexpectedly pregnant (#3) and he was a footling breech, so I had to have a c-section, with no insurance!
Now, of course, I can see the sunshine above those clouds. We learned to keep out of credit and got it all paid off, we saved the house from foreclosure, we focused our garden center on internet sales, the hospital let us write it all off except for $2000, and of course the baby turned out to be the very thing I needed...He was absolutely a gift straight from God for a time when I needed that baby.
I just want to say that it really is true -- it has been absolutely true in my experience -- that God will clothe us and feed us. He'll take care of us. I use to worry myself sick but when I look back on it, not a lot that I worried about ever happened. Or, if it did happen, like losing our brick-and-mortar storefront, it wasn't the horrible experience that I imagined it would be. I lost a lot of sleep over that! He may not take care of things how we think He should -- we may lose a house or a car -- but in the end, we'll see that that is okay, we're okay, we are able to make it without that anyway. He'll make sure we're okay.
Please let us know if we can help you in any way. Feel free to call or email to vent! I'm so right there with you, Sister!
Love you tons! ~ Lori
-------------------------
Lori Seaborg
http://loriseaborg.com
