Seven Sacrifices to Joy

Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power...

Happy day to you and thanks so much for stopping by for our Coffee Hour and more of our Seven Sacrifices to Joy! Grab your coffee and your Red Strand of Faith and join me for what I hope to be some knot-tying moments!
Have you ever gone through a time of uncertainty? I mean real uncertainty like not knowing where your next paycheck was coming from? And then once you start thinking about that fact, your mind explodes with the ramifications of no paycheck, and pretty soon, especially we as women, we’re spider-webbing all over the place! Before you know it, we’ve picked up the broom, pushed the panic button and away we go!
Well, I almost went down that exact route the other day … but stopped myself. I’ve shared in our last WOW that my husband is now unemployed … his choice. He just couldn’t take it anymore. The crazy thing is he quit without another job. Now, the old me would have been throwing a fit and then falling in it; but I’m in Meekness 101! I CAN’T! I DON’T WANT TO FAIL THIS TEST! See, I know that I know that everything He’s taught me up to this point has led me to this point and greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world, and His plan is to prosper me, to build me up, offer me a hope … despite the truth that often what my husband does will affect me.  My God is greater; my God is bigger … Oh, yeah, I’m singing!
You may be wondering, how in the world can you be singing in such an uncertain time as this? Uncertainty can create insanity … if we let it. If I am taking God at His Word, then my actions need to show it. After we put his final check in the bank, that’s it! NADA! Caput! If we’re not making any deposits then our ability to withdraw decreases. That works with relationships, by the way! You’ve got to make a deposit before you make a withdrawal.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a tiny bit scared but I am filled with uncertainty more than anything. I can either allow Him to make certain what is uncertain, or I can go from uncertainty to insanity by trying to control what happens. For example, I could go back to court reporting three days a week and totally take the financial burden away … but increase the burden of disobedience. See, God said if I do that, I will move out of His will for my life and away from the calling on my life.
So what do I do? I am forced to sit in uncertainty, waiting for God to do His thing in and through my husband. I have no idea what that looks like, where it will take us, how long it will take. There is no other way out at this point in my life. I must sit in this classroom while my husband sits in his, each of us learning different lessons, joined together by our trust and faith in our Ultimate Provider. I don’t want to fail this test; my Father says I have all the tools to get more than a passing grade …
Oh, but His Word has proven true, trustworthy so many times in my life, and I never thought I’d understand that concept, the concept of praise for pain. Sounds rather sadistic, huh? But oh, am I learning that there is beauty that comes from pain. It reminds me of our body’s muscles; when we work them, they grow, but not without pain. They can’t grow, or shake the fat around them without the element of pain. So it is with spiritual muscles and as He works that muscle of meekness that has been buried by a whole host of other unhealthy tissue/habits, the pain has been almost excruciating causing me to wince just at the thought of it. But as I make my way through it, and I dare to look back, what I see behind me is different than what I see now, and I feel the peace of His approval, the safety of His love guiding me to and through it all. Yes, praise can rise above the pain.
Join me next week for the second of the Seven Sacrifices of Joy!
Joyfully,
Evinda