Blessings All Around

So much for journaling on a regular basis! It is so hard trying to start new habits. But at least it's only been a few days, so here I go. :)

We had a nice visit with my parents last week. After they went home, it was a different story. The day after they got back my step-dad, Ray, was laid off from work. He was devastated. Why couldn't they have told him before they came out here on vacation? So many different choices they would have made during the weekend. However, my Mom got excited. She really felt like this layoff came from the Lord. She told him "Just wait and see, I don't know what's going to happen, but God has something wonderful in store."

Ray went home that day and started working on their house. It's been a work in progress for 11 years now. They are finally in the home stretch, but to lose their chief income is a strain. But God is good! The next day my mom received a call from a lady who has been trying for a few years to move into the senior care facility that my parents have been turning their home into. She called and said the house she is in is shutting down in 60 days. Oh, and can they take 4 other women as well? 5 clients total need a place in 60 days.

Habakkuk 3:17 - 19 says:
Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; He makes my feet like the deer's; He makes me tread on high places.

So how is this relevant? Without the loss of his job, Ray would not be home right now to finish their house. He would not be able to continually work on it so these ladies would have a place to move to. Ray isn't getting a paycheck right now, but he is rejoicing. He isn't at his job working, but he is praising God. He said the song "Awesome God" has been playing over and over in his mind since Wednesday. He knows God is in complete control of this situation and he is praising Him for His goodness.

Watching this play out has been a blessing to me. I saw the initial hurt and despair; the immediate desire for him to do something and work on the house; and the joy in the prospect of getting their senior care facility open with clients in just 60 days. Watching God move in their lives is as much a blessing to me as it is to them.