(Because everyone's doing one) My Year in Review

("Through it All," words and music by Andrae Crouch)

This song has always been one of my favorites, and I've sang it in church quite a bit. I never thought that in a year I would live out a song. But I have.

"I've had many tears and sorrows-" April 13, 2010- I lost my job. We lost our health insurance. I never thought I would be out of work. Nov. 29, 2010- My wife gets a call @ 3 a.m. that her mom is unresponsive. After several weeks, she is recovering in remarkable fashion, and as I type this, is eating at K&W Cafeteria in Statesville. Dec. 7, 2010- My wife loses her job.

"I've had questions for tomorrow-" try being a NO income family and read that line.

"There've been times I didn't know right from wrong-" This usually occurs when driving behind an old person in downtown Lenoir that doesn't realize if they put their foot on that accelerator, they can go faster than 25.

"But in every situation God gave blessed consolation-" I got to spend lots of quality time with my kids. I would have never had this time if I were working. Most of Sophie's first year of life was spent with me. No one can take that away from me. Levi and I have played so much, and to have this time with him as well has been special. Also, we are learning in a great church (thank you, Elevation).

"He only gave me trials to make me strong." I am still a work in progress, mind you, but I have learned so much from this-humility (standing in line at Social Services offices), gratitude (from the kindness of people I have never met), audacious faith (thank you, Elevation), and determination (more on that later).
We've lost friendships this year in our family. I read those blogs sometimes, and it makes me sorry it had to happen. I do hope their family is doing well, and that the Holy Spirit is reviving that church.
December 23, 2010- I learned that I would be losing my funding to finish my last semester at school. I sent a message to appeal that, which will not be heard until next week, right before school starts. THEY CAN HAVE IT.
Dec. 29, 2010- I was offered a job today.Over the years I applied at this place SO MANY TIMES. I never thought I could get on there. But today, the breakthrough finally happened. Barring anyone lacing my food in the past few months, I will start mid-January. I also won my Fantasy Football league. The two do not compare, but it has been a GOOD, Good, day. Did I mention my mother-in-law is eating today at a cafeteria?
"Through it all, through it all, I've learned to trust in Jesus, I learned to trust in God./ Through it all, through it all, I've learned to depend upon His word." My big lesson from the year was trust. When I thought I could lose nothing else, I did. When It was all stripped away, He came to the rescue.
So here I sit. Was it a bad year? By earthly standards, yes. I have literally been through a living hell. But really, it was not a bad year. I have grown so much closer to God through what He taught me. These are lessons I may not have otherwise learned. I thank God for each one of them, and I cannot wait to enter 2011 to see what lies ahead.

An Important Lesson Learned

In the past two blog posts created on this site, I have noted the fact that everything had been taken away. My wife and I are both out of work, we have endured numerous hardships regarding our extended families, things are just hard. My pull quote from the first of these was "I will trust you, Lord, because I have nothing left."
I WAS WRONG.
I had something left.
Spike TV used to air a show called MXC (Most eXtreme Challenge), a transplant from Japan with phony American interpretation. It was basically a Japanese game show much like ABC's Wipeout!. One of the challenges the contestants would have to deal with would be climbing a hill when humongous boulders would come down at them. As I look up the hill, I have seen one of those huge boulders come hurling at me.
It appears I may lose my funding to attend my last semester of school. I received this news late Thursday, and there will be no one to talk to regarding the matter until after the new year, three days before the final semester starts.
I trust God. I really do. I do not understand His plans. In the heat of the battle, I know I am not meant to understand the plan. I also know that trusting is hard when it seems EVERYTHING is working against you.God has immensely blessed me and my family. We have seen blessing upon blessing in our current position. Yet this boulder hurling at me has caused me to look back down where I came from, instead of looking up for my help. My situation has blocked the view of my hope.
Here is the current verse I am leaning on, Ephesians 6:13: "Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand." I have found a little alcove to hide away from the boulder for now. All I can do is stand.
It is a helpless feeling. If you want to know what you can do for me or my family, please pray. Pray for us to have strength, wisdom, discernment, and direction. Pray that I can stand, armor on, ready for this battle.

Part 2: Looking Up at the Mountain

I promised at the end of the last blog that there was a part two. There is a continuation of the story from the point where my family declares I will trust you, Lord, BECAUSE I HAVE NOTHING LEFT. Psalm 121 starts off "I lift my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth" (v. 1-2, ESV). Get ready, folks, this is the "BUT GOD" moment if the story.
Two days after my wife lost her job, we received three envelopes in the mail. One had an address label, one a return address, one- nothing. Each of these had cash in them. We received more the next day. Every day but one in this time, we have been receiving gifts in the mail- blessings from people that we have never met and do not know. We have been careful to mention this, because I did not want to put a limit on the blessing that God is pouring out on us, and because I was just too touched by it to go about it. We recently had committed ourselves to tithing and giving to our church. We know- we were supposed to be doing this the whole time- but had gone away from it as our debt load had become so high. We have decided we are tithing, and will continue to do so. ^" Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test!" (Mal. 3:10, NLT) The blessing we have received, we will also pass on to others.
This is a bit disjointed, I know, but it is so hard to put into words. As Pastor Steven Furtick put it, "Sometimes God interprets our prayers in strange ways...
You prayed for God to be enough. You were put in a bleak circumstance where He had to be.
You prayed for increased faith. You found yourself in a situation that required it" (Stevenfurtick.com, Blog for Dec. 16, 2010).
We have been extremely blessed by the situation. To the members of our extended family that mentioned our need, thank you. To the  people, anonymous and unknown, that have answered the call to help meed our need, thank you. To the friends that have reached out, thank you.
Mostly, to the God that is able to exceedingly abundantly do more than we could ask or think, THANK YOU. We are not out of the valley, but the view up the mountain looks incredibly sweet.

A Brief Hello From the Valley

How things have changed around here since blog post #49.
My mother-in-law has been in the hospital with what is believed to be bacterial meningitis. As I write this she is on her way to a rehab facility.
My wife is now out of work. If you're keeping score, I've been out of work since April. This makes for a bad situation.
Two verses have been drifting around in my head in this past week. In the order they have been drifting, they are:
"He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust" (Matt. 5:45b). The other one is: "No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it" (1 Cor. 10:13).
So God has been telling me that what is happening to us could happen to anyone, and that He must think a lot of us to give us this test.  My opinion is that He thinks more of me than I do.
What has happened is tough. He is calling us into a place of complete trust. I apparently didn't get that in April. I get that now. I trust you , Lord, because I HAVE NOTHING ELSE.
There is more to the story, folks. And I will share that with you in my next post, which will come in the next couple of days. God is already showing Himself faithful, and he is using complete strangers to do it. The excitement is starting to build...get ready.