The Journey Part II

We attended a church where we had established wonderful friendships and we had wonderful support. People were kind and often would invite us out for a meal.

As the months went back the stress began to mount. One day we gathered our pile of bills and put them on the kitchen table. Bill and I sat down opposite each other and held hands on top of the bills and prayed. We were desperate and told God that if He didn’t help us that we would have to file for bankruptcy. I knew that He had promised in his Word that he would provide all our needs. So I reminded Him of that and I knew that He somehow would come through unless he had a plan that I did not understand. Just then the phone rang and I answered it. It was a man that Bill had spoken to 3 times and Bill had told him about GM closing. I had met him once. He said, “God just told me to call you. What’s going on?” I said, “Well, we were just praying for God’s help to know how to deal with our finances now that Bill is unemployed.” He asked if he could come out the next day and talk to us as he wanted to encourage us. We told him he’d be more than welcome.
The next day he came with a friend and talked to us for three hours. At the end of the visit he handed me a folded check and said, “God told me to give you this 3 days ago. All I ask is that you give 10% of it to a ministry of your choice. Don’t open it until we leave.” The check was for $1,000.00. We wouldn’t be filing for bankruptcy this time. Our faith in God’s promises and provision soared! Little did we know what was ahead. We would need it in the coming months and years to follow.

The hardest time I had was when I’d walk through Wal-Mart and didn’t have a dime to spend. The year was rough but we at least were holding our own with the bills. A friend of ours had said to us one day, “Everyone goes through one huge trial in their lifetime. Maybe this is yours and it will start getting better.”

How I wish that had been true but it was not to be. We would have an even greater test of our faith.