It's funny. I've been resting most of the day, wanting to write and post pictures of the great experience I had at the 5K, but I got a cold! Seriously, I have a fever! And there's so much I want to write and show (and a family to take care of simultaneously) it just didn't happen.
So I lie down in bed and I can't sleep.
I have to write...
I sit down at the computer knowing full well I don't have the energy to write about the race (it's 10 PM!) or about other recent events I want to flesh out. Then I think- easy out! I will just put up the next post from my past...
That's the funny part. I look it up and realize it's exactly what I needed to read.
Journals are priceless. Truly, THEY ARE PRICELESS. I've been strengthened as I've learned about things my great-grandmother and grandmother did. And reading mine tonight, I gained strength from my former self.
My husband was supposed to get paid on Friday. But due to some money flow issues (i.e. time between when product is shipped and payment's received and a week of dead time when they were moving locations) he didn't get a paycheck.
This is the best paying job he's had for years and we are finally getting settled here. Money should be coming soon. Still it was a surprise to not get it so we are going to have to do a little financial juggling here for the next couple weeks.
What was funny, not in a haha-way but imagine-that-way was the next post from my blog four years ago. It was about finding out the 30 year-old company my husband was working for was going to be closed due to non-payment on a housing development. And it was about how we still paid our tithes and fast offerings anyway (I explain what our tithing is in the post...)
A fast-offering in the LDS church is when once a month we fast for two meals and donate the money we would have spent on those meals to charity. Even though I was sick today, I still paid my fast offering and fasted in spirit- just water and simple, basic meals when I did eat. And it comforted me to know that we paid our tithing last week. You can call it karma. You can call it God providing. You can call it whatever you like but I know things will be OK.
It was especially rewarding to get to run Saturday morning with people who's difficult condition isn't going to go away by the next week's paycheck. It made me think less about myself and financial situation, and just be happy I could be there to talk with and support others facing even bigger challenges.
So, as I look back at this blog post (from when this blog was more religiously based) I'm reminded of a girl who did not know fear because she was still young and hadn't faced the challenges related to unemployment. She didn't really know the struggles that would come from stressing about lack of food, from worrying if she would get to buy a Christmas present for her child or if the gas was going to get turned off in the middle of winter.
Today, I know about enduring those circumstances. But I do not fear because God has shown me time and time again that he knows my little family and is taking care of us. Things will work out. And there is so much goodness, joy and light from my faith that it banishes the darkness.
Have a great week! I will get pics of the 5K up tomorrow! Love, Eva
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Unemployment: Faith Over Fear
It's funny. We pay our tithing pretty regularly. In case you don't know what that means to the LDS church, it's 10 percent of our income. Sometimes we get behind and have to catch up, and that's how it's been the last few months. We're a little behind. So why am I writing a check now when I know we may not be getting a paycheck next week?
I guess it's because I know the law of tithing is from God and that if I expect to be blessed and taken care of, I need to be obedient. That may sound greedy, but I call it knowledge. I know God will bless us if we live righteously because that's what He's promised to do. And God keeps his promises. I am so grateful for that testimony. It is what's keeping me hopeful and sane right now.
I've been on both sides of this. There have been times the family I've lived with has been burdened so much by debt they've stopped paying tithing to try and pay off their other debtors. I've seen them struggle more in ways besides finances and go back to keeping the law of tithing with a strengthened testimony of its crucial power.
In Malachi 3:10 of the Old Testament and 3 Nephi 24:10 of The Book of Mormon it states:
Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in my house; and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of Hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
I know this is true. I don't know if my husband will have a job tomorrow, but I know that we will be more than taken care of. Everything I do is because of the skills and health God has blessed me with. That 10 percent and more is really His. I know that the fast offering and humanitarian offering will help others who need it more than I do.
We've prepared with some food supply. We've educated ourselves. We haven't been perfect, but we're trying and as long as we do that, God will make up the difference. With a heart full of faith, I will not let there be room for fear.
No comments:
Post a Comment