The good news....

In case you are wondering, yes, I'm still dealing with my bad day yesterday. However, it's been a beautiful, breezy day full of blessings, and God has yet again amazed me....even after my terrible day and my terrible attitude yesterday.

Let me start with the water heater. The plumber agreed to come down to what our second opinion from someone else had stated. Now, I'm not one for airing my personal financial information.... I never do that, but this is so amazing I feel like I need to share it. Chad and I got a few thousand dollars back this year from taxes. We debated and debated what to do with it. Pay a medical bill off, pay our one credit card off, give the Camry an overhaul? Decisions, decisions. Well, we spent about half of it on the Camry doing things that needed doing such as changing sparkplugs and other engine updates to keep it rolling right on up to 300,000 miles. We did a few other things, and still had some left over. We kept hanging on to it--trying not to make any rash decisions.

In the midst of the good week last week, and the joy I found in some things, our hot water heater burst. It's a very frustrating thing. This is our first experience dealing with something like this (oh, the joys of being a homeowner!) Well, the short of it is this: We had exactly $1,046 left from our tax refund this year. Our total bill after the plumber's left this morning was $1,043. Do I REALLY think that is a coincidence? Absolutely not. There was a reason we didn't spend that money. There was a reason we held onto it. We didn't know what that reason was. However, I know Someone else who did. It just gives me chills to think that what we had left over to replace something that's almost a necessity these days was almost right on the dollar! And remember, we had to bargain with this man for him to come off his price. He came down on his quote and we had the exact amount there.

Again, I don't like sharing with the world our financial issues, but I felt very compelled to share how amazing that is to me. Even though it wiped us out, we were still provided for. This is finding joy in the midst of a situation that is not joyful.

So, today after the plumber's left, I met Chad by his office and we ran an errand and had lunch. (The good news I've been waiting to tell you is just on the horizon.) Chad was really stressed out and I could tell he just wasn't being himself. He wasn't all smiles and he was very preoccupied. Well, for those of you left wondering, here is our good news: Chad has been offered another job at another place of employment. We have prayed for a year over this, and it has been the answer we've wanted all along, yet it was God's timing and not ours. But, here is another example of a situation stealing our joy.... Chad was so upset about giving his notice, (which he was making plans to do when he returned from lunch) I almost thought he wouldn't go through with it. It was like he was having second thoughts and getting really cold feet. He has really loved his job for the past several years, and has gotten so close to several coworkers and clients (which is actually how he was offered this job). The clients Chad deals with every year and every month love him. I mean, really, can you blame them?

But, I could tell Chad was so upset about going back to that office and giving them his resignation. It was a joyful situation, but there was also a joy-blocker. We had to have a pep talk before I dropped him off at his office and I had to remind him, that he didn't decide on this change at the spur-of-the-moment. It wasn't something he did with just his head. We have literally prayed over this for almost a full year and have asked others to pray with us. I don't think God would have allowed this situation to come full circle without closing a door if it wasn't meant to be. We did just as we should as followers of Christ: We prayed without ceasing. We asked others to pray with us. We weighed the options. We talked about it with each other. And the rest just fell into place just like it should have.

Now I know that Satan is after us. We have been blessed and we realize we have been blessed, and now he's coming to distract us in every way possible. He knows just where to hit us and how to hit us. You can take this to the bank, though: God can and will answer prayers. He may not do it when you think He should or how you think He should, but in the end it works out and as long as you don't forget to give Him the glory and the credit, He's going to bless you beyond measure. I am overwhelmed at His goodness and how things ALWAYS, without a doubt, work out when you take it off your shoulders and lay it at the feet of the One and the ONLY One who is in control. You can take my joyful attitude from time to time, but you can't steal my Joy!