God's in the Details

This current recession isn't the first one Americans have faced in my lifetime. The 1980's were a difficult time, too, especially for those of us with young families.

My husband and I had four children still at home, three of them very young. I had just gotten my teaching certificate and started a new job. My husband's business was thriving, and we thought we were finally going to get ahead. We had built a new home on an acreage, complete with a long-term mortgage. Then disaster struck. My husband ruptured a disk that required surgery and a very long rehab period. In self-employed construction work, there's no such thing as paid leave or workers' compensation, nor did we have health insurance. All we had was my teacher's salary, a huge mortgage, a giant medical bill, and four children to care for. Add to that, a troubled, floundering economy, rising costs, etc.


I won't lie to you. The next few years were very hard. We had to let go of our dream home and move into town to a less expensive rental. For us, who love the country, and for me who loved my new home, this was especially devastating.


But God hadn't forgotten us in our time of distress. He opened the doors for me to work a second job after school and on weekends. He also opened the doors for my husband to attend college at no cost during his recuperation, a near impossible dream for a former high school drop-out.


But the best was yet to come. Our family longed to move back to the country. We longed for a home roomy enough for all of us instead of the cramped rental, but remember, finances were very tight. One day my husband drove past an empty house on thirty acres that not only was in my school district, but was closer to everything that mattered to us. It turned out to belong to someone we knew, who hadn't planned to rent the place, but was willing to let us have it at less rent than we were paying in town.

We drove out for my first look at the house and as we pulled into the drive, I saw a sight that told me God was definitely in this. I love lilacs and had tried unsuccessfully to grow them. Now, mind you this was October and lilacs normally bloom here in March. But two long hedges of stately old lilacs were in full bloom, sending their sweet smell all over the big, shady yard. I cried, convinced that God was saying very clearly that He had not only been working everything for our good, but that He cared enough to make the flowers bloom just for me.


Oh yes, the farm had four bedrooms AND a shop building for my husband who loves to tinker.


The story of God's faithfulness during that hard time doesn't end here. We learned a great deal about being content with what we have, about praising God in ALL things, about being good stewards of our possessions. Within a short time, we were able to buy that farm and an additional thirty acres. Best of all, God blessed us to the point that we were able to pay off the loan in one-third the time of the original mortgage. Twenty-eight years later, I'm writing this blog from that same home, content and happy to be here.


Why am I telling this story? To remind myself and everyone else, that no matter how bad the economy, no matter what happens in our lives, God already knows what's coming our way...and He's got us covered.