Sometimes You Need the Benefit of Hindsight

I have a friend out there, who received some wonderful news this week.  Except the timing is wrong.  Finances are unsure.  Life isn't going as smoothly as she'd like it to be when the stick turns pink.

To this friend, I have a story for you.

Six years ago my husband bought a pizza delivery franchise.   It was the heyday when we plunked down our carefully saved money, everyone was doing booming business.  We were going to be rich someday and have a wonderful life for our son and the rest of the family that God had yet to give us.

A few months later, on a lick and a promise, we built a 4-bedroom house.  For all those kids we're gonna have.  Because we can afford it (someday), right?

Then, over the next few years, the economy stared slipping.  Sales dropped.  Minimum wage went up.  So did insurance premiums.

A few more years, and we reached the point where paying ourselves was no longer a given.

Another year, and it was no longer an option.

And you know what happens when you don't pay yourself?  You don't have money to pay for the house.

We prayed and prayed for God to intervene.  To bring sales up.  To help us save our home.  But He had other plans.

We lived in that house for 17 months after we stopped making the payments.  We were able to put away a little money to help with the pending move, but not much more than that.

Right around 18 months, the store was doing well enough that we were able to pay ourselves.  Not much, certainly not what we used to, but it was so strange filling out a deposit slip for the bank again!

I believe that God intervened on our behalf, but we needed hindsight to see how He worked.  If we would have made mortgage payments during those 17 months, we would have lost our business.  AND we would have been homeless, eventually.

And there has been other "a-HA" moments, looking back.  Like how, because of our low income over these last few years, we've qualified for Medicaid.  That is a Godsend to us, since our health insurance inexplicably went up 200% as of the July renewal and is completely unaffordable to us now.

We need to keep foremost in our minds that we serve a GINORMOUS God, and He loves us every bit as much as we love our own kids.  He has the all-encompassing sight to know what's coming down the road.  He will carry us along.  He doesn't promise it's all pleasant, but He does know what's best for us.

M., I'm almost done reading Jon & Kate Gosselin's book Multiple Blessings, and I can't tell you how many times I thought of you and L.  I hope you get a copy from your library and read it.