“Moses answered the people, ‘Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.’”
Exodus 14:13-14 (NIV)
Two weeks ago I wrote What Will I Choose? and ended it with the following statement: “At the time of this writing, I’m peaceful. God hasn’t fully recovered what we have lost, but He’s working and we can see it. By the time you read this, I know, in faith, we will have recovered all that has been lost with the potential of God having given more. Feel free to ask me in the comments for more details and I will be happy to share the way God answered this choice He gave us.”
This past week God gave our family a miracle. A bona fide, cannot be explained any other way, miracle. It was a direct answer to the choice God asked me to make at the end of the November, right before Thanksgiving. Would I choose option A and fight the person (email) and receive only what was lost … or would I choose option B, let it go, and watch and see how God would provide, possibly more than what was lost? I chose option B … choosing to believe God wanted to work a miracle for our family.
I think at this point I should mention that when I received the email, it was approximately one month before what was lost was going to negatively affect our family. (I also should mention our family is relatively healthy and rarely visits the doctor, but since the day after Thanksgiving, we have had four doctor’s visits in four weeks, so four more bills to add to our normal pile.)
So … humanly speaking, our family either had 30 days to scramble and recover what was lost or watch and see how God would come through. We chose to continue to watch how God was going to come through.
Our week started out normally. It was still approximately 3 weeks before crunch time and the peace I had three weeks prior was still evident. I was watching and waiting, choosing to be frugal and not overspend, but not actively pursuing anything to recover the loss.
Thursday I received a phone call from someone offering me a short-term job. Duration? One month (December 10th through January 10th). I consider this person a friend and to have the opportunity to work for him, knowing from past conversations what the details were and already having my husband’s blessing because of the past conversations, I agreed immediately. We talked through the details and agreed on the price. As soon as he told me what he was willing to offer, I KNEW it was God! Not only was what was lost recovered, but it was recovered plus half again!
I got off the phone and proceeded to share the news with anyone and everyone who would listen. First I told my daughter and her friend (they were caught in the car with me as I had just picked them up from school so they didn’t really have a choice.) Then my husband was next (who I wanted to be first). Then I shared with anyone and everyone who would listen.
Not only did God recover what was lost with half again as much given on top of that, but the assignment I am doing is something I love! I worked all day Friday preparing for it ahead of time, getting everything ready so it will easy to fulfill what I promised, even while taking time off over the holidays to spend with my family.
There is no other way to explain it. God didn’t just recover what was lost. He gave it back and then added another half as much on top as a bonus. Even more than that, though, He further cemented I can trust Him in all situations I will face because He takes care of His children when we obey.
Please come back tomorrow and I will share with you the ripple effect of our obedience and blessings still resulting from this miracle He gave to our family.