Trust Me for the Day by Day...

The next part of this journey is basically a whirlwind.  We pick up at the last weekend in July of 2011.  We had been living with friends for the last 2 yrs.  Just a season where the Lord joined our families together for a time to love on and serve each other.  It was a blessed time as we saw and supported each other through some pretty rough seasons.  Example they were with us when we found out about Roger's brain tumor and went through that with us.  It would have been so much harder without them.  But what I've learned from this season is that when God closes a door and says move you better take heed.  Delayed obedience is indeed disobedience.  Because of our disobedience a friendship was lost.  Anyone who knows me knows that I cherish all of my friendships.  These friends were like family to us.  This is a time of my life that I look back on and wish that I could have known then what I know now.

Our family moved abruptly the last weekend of July.  We knew at that point that we planned to go to Jacksonville around February of 2012.  But never planned on having to find another place to live between now and then.  We moved all of our belongings into storage and planned on getting a hotel for the weekend.  At that point we had very limited funds and knew we needed God to work something out in our favor.  The Lord just simply said to us Trust Me for the Day by Day.  With that our family of 4 moved into an extended stay for the weekend.  We also knew that the Lord had told us before the move that we needed to sell off all of our belongings and to downsize in preparation for Jacksonville.  We just had no idea that the selling off of our stuff would also be to aid in our survival.  Funny how the Lord puts ideas in your head at a certain time and you just have no idea what it really means for your future.  I'm so glad that I serve a God who see's the whole picture.

The extended stay that we moved into only lasted 2 nights.  It was just too expensive for us to stay at long term.  Especially since we had no idea how long term.  We found another place that was also an extended stay but for far less.  Well how many know sometimes you get what you pay for.  This was one of those times.  I will spare you the horrid details.  Lets just say these were some of the darkest days of this journey.  Thank God for Jesus. We prayed and worshiped a lot.  We needed too or we would have just given up totally.  I can't say we did not have talks of just packing up the car and heading to my mother's house in NY.  But God had us hold tight.  We got through the week that we had paid for at this particular establishment and moved into another.

*Shout out to a friend.  I have to thank my friend Christina. We would not have made it through this time of transition without her.  She faithfully picked me up for work or ran errands with me no matter where we were staying and we stayed at hotels sometimes 30 min away from her house as well as 30 min from our job.  She's been a faithful friend no matter what and I'm truly thankful for her.*

We finally moved into a nicer hotel minus the kitchen.  Just a microwave and small refrigerator.  But we made due for meals by purchasing a small skillet and sticking to hot dogs and hamburgers, etc.  We finally felt like we could take a breath.  Unfortunately that was short lived and lasted about 2 wks,  Our bank acct dwindled down rapidly and most of our belongings had been sold to pay for our current hotel stays or groceries.  Hotels are definitely for the short term.  

We had no money and our hotel stay was coming to an end.  I asked my friend Christina, mentioned above,if we could stay with her for the next 11 days,  Just until my next pay day and just so we could have some time to pray and seek God's will without any worries of where will we go looming over our heads.  She graciously agreed.  

Now of course during this time Roger and I had up days and down days but never together.  Well there was one day where he and I both were just done.  We were just weary.  We had no encouraging words for each other at all.  We felt alone and abandoned.  We felt forsaken. We started questioning everything that the Lord had told us to do. We questioned if we would ever feel that sense of FREEDOM we had just 3 mos. prior in Jacksonville. We felt Lost.  Also our time with Christina was coming to an end.  But bills were due and on top of that we still had not been shown what our next step should be, nor how we could afford it.

I headed to work and just asked the Lord "What should I do?"  He said "It's time to send an email.  It's time to let people know where you are at what's going on.  Share your needs.  Share your  heart and ask them to pray."  Ummm are you sure about that, Lord.  Now I'm kind of a closed book when my family is struggling.  I used to not be and learned the hard way that talking too much can open you up to a whole host of opinions you don't want or need.  People will either bless you or curse you with their words.  So everyone does not need to know the details of your life.  But that's what He said.  So I sat down at my desk and started typing names as they were given to me.  The request were as follows:

1. A job for Roger.

2. Childcare

3. A second vehicle (If need be for Roger and I both to get to and from work)

4. Most importantly prayer that whatever the Lord desired for us to learn during this time would be learned.  We don't want to go backwards.  We want all that the Lord has for our family.  So we have to fight. We have to and we won't give up. We won't let go of the hem of His garment.  We won't let go until He blesses us.  He ultimately is worth every struggle I will ever have to endure in this life. (These were my exact words written on September 1, 2011)

By 12:20 that day.  My friend Christina had offered for us to continue our stay with her.  Also Roger had his old job back which was right down the road from Christina's house.  A lady from a friends church offered to watch our girls for us.  She also was right down the road from Christina's house.  So I continued to ride to and from work with Christina.  Roger dropped off the girls at Miss Jackie's house and went to work. Christina and I picked them up and came on home.  It was just a divinely ordained scenario.

By 4:15 that same day  our family had a new home ultimately.  A co-worker of my mother in laws had an apartment for us to rent.  Now Roger had I had not been looking for an apartment because at this point we knew we were to head to Jacksonville January 27, 2012.  We knew that the Lord did not want us tied to anything contractually.  We needed to be ready to GO when He said GO!  This co-worker's apartment included all utilities, even internet for a really great rate.  He knew we were leaving in January and was totally fine with that.  We met with them that weekend and moved in the next day.  The place was even partially furnished.  The additional furniture needs were met by family and friends who allowed us to borrow from what they had until we left.  God provided for our every need.  Our Every Need.  We just have to Trust Him for the Day by Day.

I'm am so encouraged writing this blog and remembering all the things God's done in this amazing journey.   And we are only up to September 2011.  I pray this blog does exactly what the Lord intends for it to do.  It's all glory to Him.