For those of you that are new visitors, this is part 2. For this to make any sense, you'll want to read My Testimony - Part 1. Now, I need to back up a little bit. This post is going to be about the ways that God provided for us from March 2007 through April 2007. This was the time that Dave was without an income. This is also during a time where the Lord clearly had spoken to both of us about not using our credit cards. This was while we were trying to get our house ready to sell.
During the month of March we had spent a lot of time together, reading God's Word, praying, seeking God's will. Since I had been pretty sick right after Dave lost his job and in the midst of that I had my uncle's benefit, there wasn't much time to "dwell" on our problems. It was however a time for us to "dwell" in the House of the Lord. We just relied on Him. We trusted that He was going to get us through this. Since we were unable to refinance our mortgage, we knew our payment would be increasing by more than $600 in April. Wow! That seemed like a mountain. Where were we going to come up with the money we needed to pay all our bills once our savings was gone? Well, WE were not going to do anything. You'll see how God did though.
It first started with my Tastefully Simple business. Out of the blue, people started calling and emailing to have book parties and to place orders. These were strangers mostly. Or people that had been referred by someone else. Not friends or family who knew what was going on. God was just sending them!
I'm going to just copy and paste my journal entries as they tell the story as I was journaling day to day.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Today my sister met me and my team for lunch. They were taking Sheri and I out for our birthdays. My sister handed me an envelope. I looked inside and saw $100 bills. I didn’t count them, but I asked her if Dave had asked Scott for money. She said no, this is a gift. No reason. Scott was just feeling generous. I could hardly hold back tears and I sat there in awe. Once we left the restaurant, I counted the money. 10 - $100 bills - $1000!!!! I was speechless. I just couldn’t believe it. Here we are, worried about making our bills, buying food. And then this! She told me to get a babysitter and go out with Dave to play cards! Wow! So, then I showed Susan and her mouth just dropped. Because yesterday, when her and I talked, I had shared a little bit about our struggles. She told me that she wished that she and Larry had $1000 to give us. Then she just prayed. She prayed, “Lord, please deliver $1000 to the Engman’s, in 10 - $100 bills!” What?! You prayed for that? Yep, she did! And when I told Dede she just couldn’t believe it. Her and Scott had a conversation about what they should give us. And Dede thought $100 bills would be best. Wow God! You are amazing! Little did they know that they were carrying out your wishes for us. Thank you Scott and Dede and THANK YOU LORD! You are Jehova Rapha! Our provider!
This evening Shannon Olson and Cindy came over. They wanted to help me with the laundry room. I just can’t believe that Shannon would be here helping me. She has so much going on in her life and yet she is still willing to help others. I just pray that you, Lord, would bless her and take away her pain. I shared our miracle story with her and Cindy and they just couldn’t believe it. I did feel a little uncomfortable and bad sharing a miracle with Shannon. Anyways…we order pizza and had a good time laughing and talking as they helped me organize the gigantic mess in my laundry room. Thank you for such blessings Lord!
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Dave is amazing and he really is trying to be a good husband. He is so awesome! I just love him so. He invited our parents over and they brought us a wonderful dinner. Ribs, potato salad, tuna salad, cake…and margaritas! It’s was a great night. Our parents blessed me so much with gifts and money. Much needed money! And a much needed pedicure! Thank you Lord!
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Cindy and Greg came over today. They helped us get some yard work done. It was so awesome! I just thank you for them Lord. I pray that you would continue to dwell in their home and bless their marriage. Lord, continue to give us strength and bless our marriage as well.
Tonight we played cards with The Crawfords, Henslers, and Wagners. It was a great time and a much needed break for Dave and I. We are spending so much time on the house, that we haven’t spent any good quality fun time with each other. We also need to do that with our children. Lord, help us see that. Help us to see that we need to pay loving attention to them. They desire to spend time with us doing more than just cleaning. Thank you for showing me that. Help us to remember that Lord!
Monday, April 23, 2007
Today my dad and Dave put in two new sidewalk squares. They worked until late that night to get them done. I felt so bad because I just knew they were exhausted. The sidewalk looks great. I’m getting overwhelmed with all the stuff we need to get done. We really want to have our house on the market in a week. How will we ever get there?
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Today I had a bit of a breakdown at work. During my team meeting, Jim asked me how things were really going. Well, I couldn’t stop crying. We’ve spent day and night over the past week and a half, painting, cleaning, going through closets, drawers, toys, etc. It’s been crazy. I’m having a garage sale in two days and I haven’t even started getting things ready. Well, of course, Sheri asked…”How can we help?”. I couldn’t even tell her. And before you know it, they’re planning and organizing the garage sale details. So, we prayed and thanked God for everything he’s done. We asked God for $1000 for this garage sale and Susan asked him to deliver us more money. She said, “Do it again Lord”!
This evening, Frank and Mary surprised us and came out to help again. And then Paula Hensler came over and started helping me get ready for the sale. Well, I had a very small pork tenderloin thawed for dinner. I had originally wondered if it would be enough for my family. Now I had to feed 3 extra people. Well, I just knew God could take care of that. I prayed fishes and loaves over the food and asked God to make sure there were left overs. And He did! That’s my God!
Later that evening Sheri showed up. She just took charge and really got things rolling. Then Paula left and just a while later (9:30 pm), Wendy C showed up to help. She stayed until after 11 pm. Wow! I’m so humbled and blessed, I don’t know what to say. My in-laws were in awe! Thank you Lord! Thank you for blessing me with such wonderful co-workers. They are friends that I will treasure forever!
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Things just keep getting better. Today was a great day at work. The staff took Sheri and I out for our birthdays. There were 20 people there. It was much needed fun for me. And my boss, Jim, blessed me with a gift card to Boston Market for Administrative Assistants Day. I’m saving it for a showing that kicks us out during dinner time. I pray that happens a lot!
Anyways…today, Sheri brought us pizza for dinner and Susan brought salad, pop and goodies. She even brought us donuts for the morning. They got everything ready for the sale. I never thought I’d get things ready in time. I wouldn’t have without them. Wendy came as well that night and we finished things up. Susan even brought me a cash drawer with all the change we would need. Frank & Mary were here again as well.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Susan and Larry showed up bright and early with coffee! They helped us set up and put up all the signs (which they provided). God, you have blessed us with such wonderful people. I can’t believe it. I just love them all and pray for them and their families. Today was a great day! We made over $500! Thank you Lord. We’re half way there!
Friday, April 27, 2007
Sheri came over first thing this morning. She was amazing. She watched the sale so we could go watch Mitchell in his music program. Mary came out today as well. She took us to the grocery store and bought us some food. Thank you Lord once again! Sheri stayed here the entire day. She is so amazing! We made just over $300 today. We’re so close! The Fannon’s stopped by with a bunch of groceries as well. They gave us a ton of meat and buns and rice and mac ‘n cheese. I am overwhelmed with this. I am overwhelmed with love and kindness. I just wonder how I will ever be able to repay all of these people! Thank you Lord. I know you are building a testimony right here in our house.
Saturday, April 28, 2007
I was so tired today. I really didn’t have the energy to keep going. Then Sheri shows up, once again. I just can’t believe this. I can’t believe how much people are helping us. Paula came today as well. She has been amazing too. Of course, Frank & Mary were here again as well. They brought us steak and salmon for dinner, plus a few other things as well. More food! Thank you Lord. I have to mention that my parents have been working hard at their house. They’re trying to get their basement ready for us. And I thank God for that as well.
The sale went great! We made just over $1000! Wow! God, you are amazing! You did it and you did it for us. I’ve never made that much money before. It really felt good to get rid of so much stuff. But we have so much more! We are going to have another sale once we sell our house. I think we’ll need the money to pay our bills. I have the number $1500 in my head for that one. Maybe God will surprise us with even more!
Shannon Olson came over and brought us dinner tonight. She brought sloppy joes, chips, dip, buns, cup cakes and cherry & grape applesauce. Kind of a funny little story behind that. We’re actually going to have that for dinner on Sunday. She also stayed and helped me pack up my sale. Then we loaded her truck and she went to the Goodwill for us. What a blessing.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Back at it again. We’re all exhausted and aching. Lord, we need your help to get through this. It’s work from the time we get up until late at night. Paula was here again…along with Frank & Mary. They have all been such a blessing. 2 more days until we’re on the market. It doesn’t seem like we’ll ever get there. I pray that the Lord would give us all the energy we need to get done! My mom came out and she brought us a bunch of groceries. The Lord truly does provide. She helped with some cleaning as well. Thank you Lord for our family!
Monday, April 30, 2007
Once again, we wake up and get right to work. Mary came out in the afternoon to help again. Paula was also here in the evening. What would we do without them. We are supposed to put our house on the market tomorrow, but we need one more day. We are pretty close, but unless I stay up all night, there’s just no way.
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Well, we called and are going to get the house on the market tomorrow. My mom, Mary and Paula were here again. I’m so amazed by the endless help. We really couldn’t do this without everyone. Just when we start to lose energy, someone shows up. When I went into work today, I just knew there was no way I would get any work done. I talked to my boss and he said to go home and do what I needed to do. I have an amazing boss. My whole team is amazing.
We worked well into the night and I think it was midnight before Paula and Mary left. We had a great time chatting and laughing while we got everything organized. Paula has really been such a breath of fresh air. I just thank you Lord for putting her into my life. What a great person, who has sacrificed much to help us. My kids really adore her as well.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
WE DID IT!!! Without a moment to spare, we were ready at noon when our realtor got here. The house truly looks amazing! Our house is officially on the market. Now, we just pray that God would send us some buyers. And now we rest. We are both so exhausted.
I am so humbled by everything. All the help we received. The money! The prayers! Wow God! You are amazing. How will I ever thank all these people?
All of that is what God did for us through the hands and feet of our friends and family! But this would just be the beginning. This is JUST the beginning of the story. Even now as I'm reading this two years later I just shake my head. I can't even believe what amazing friends and family we have. What did we ever do to deserve this? That's the thing...NOTHING! We don't deserve any of this. But because of God's grace and what He did for us, He does it all. It's done. It's finished! He chooses to bless on right now, right here! Now that I found my journal, I can just copy and paste and get these posts done. I have to share what God did for us. He deserves ALL the glory!
If you are in a time of need...if you are in a struggle...go to Him! He desires to give you your hearts desires.
Psalm 20:4 "May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed."
Psalm 37:4 "Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart."
I can only tell you from my personal story that this is true! He does, He will! If you have a prayer request, please leave a comment. I will keep it private if you wish or I will post it for others to pray for you as well.
Click here to read Part 3.
Christine
I am sitting here in tears reading your testimony!! Thanks for sharing and building our faith as we read about the amazing miracles God has done!
ReplyDeleteJenny
Our God is WAY AWESOME! :-D
ReplyDeleteI don't normally comment on stragers blogs but I just stumbled upon your blog while looking for some encouragement for our situation. Our stories are very similar. The past few years have had so many trials. It began 5 yrs ago when I lost my first baby. Then my husband got out of the military and accepeted a job traveling. I was a stay at home mom of two little ones while my husband was gone Monday-Friday every week. I prayed God would send us a new job so he could be home with us. God did just that. As his old company was going down the tubes he sent a job offer in a different state out of the blue. We accepted it, and put out house on the market. Unfortunately for us the housing market crashed and we still have that house. We depleted our savings and now our house is in forclosure. He still has his job but we took a $30,000 pay cut. It's worth it to me to have him home every night though. I lost a second baby, and thankfully got pregnant again with our 3rd and final child. She was born in Sept. While having my c-section we discovered that my previous c-section was horribly botched. They put my bladder back in the wrong place and because of that my bladder was cut into during the delivery of my daughter. We had gone back and forth on whether or not to have a third child and we felt God was leading us to have her and because we did we discovered this issue (which would not have been known without having had her.) But because of this we have more medical bills and procedures then expected. The bills keep piling up and we are currently $5000 + behind in medical bills and missed payments because of the salary cut. We have no family here and life seems really discouraging lately. It's been a lot of stress, the past 5 yrs along with some unexpected blessings. I'm not sure what we are going to do. Our checking account it negative and we have bills due but I can't pay them. I will run out of food for all of us Friday and we don't get paid again until the 14th. Your story is so encouraging to me. I read all the stories of provision in the Bible, but it's also uplifting to read of God's provision today. Thank you for sharing your story. It certainly has given me hope for our situation. If you wouldn't mind praying for me I would greatly appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteThank you again for posting your story. To God be the glory!!!