Never been so broke and so blessed...

Kev and I have never had lots of money.  One or both of us have been in college every year up until the time we went overseas.  Overseas we didn't have the budget we expected since we were transferred from one country to another in the middle of our itinerating.  And we hardly got any help itinerating since we were Missionary Associates and not full-timers.  And we didn't get the help we'd been told we'd get paying off the bills from all our itinerating...  Bah.  We ate eggs almost every day in Armenia to save money and didn't buy any souvenirs until the last month or two when someone sent us money for the purpose of buying souvenirs!!  All that to say...  we've always been broke, but never as broke as these past couple years!

We planned, along with our leaders, to come home when we did so that we'd receive our last 3 months of paychecks here.  The AG gives that to missionaries coming back from the field so that there's time to adjust and find a new job, etc...  Well, again, things didn't shake out as planned and we didn't get the last two months of paychecks that we'd planned to get, and we were also told that we wouldn't be reimbursed for all of our trip back home to the states.  Whew.  Broke.  Talk about stressful!

Again, all that to say that we're broker than broke... and we thought we knew broke before!!  :)

Lord, what's up?  This is not what we planned!!  Kev has his Master's Degree, I have a degree, we've been faithful to You.  We've always tithed.  Kevin is Mr Generous.  He gives above and beyond for tips, etc., with the hope to be a light for the Lord.  We believe we followed the Lord on the journey overseas and we saw Him grow and stretch us in more ways than we had planned.  So now, we're ready to stop stretching a little.  But He doesn't seem to be ready to stop stretching yet!?  Heh.

So this month, when we found out we wouldn't get our paycheck again, we were kinda worried.  To the point of, "How will we feed our kids and pay our bills?"  We are completely blessed to be living in my Grandma's house.  Our hometown is experiencing a big boom and housing is super expensive.  So...  blessed!  But we still need food, even if we have a warm house!  Heh.  Kev still hasn't found a job...

Lord?  What now?

groceries!! 

Well, we prayed and He heard.   Within the next couple weeks, we received almost the whole amount of our missed paycheck for this month!  A handful of friends and fellow believers sent us and gave us money and groceries, and paid for gas for the van...  Unbelievable!  We are overwhelmed by their kindness and by His grace and faithfulness to us!

I taught the story of Daniel to the preschool class this Wednesday.  It was on Daniel in the lion's den and how God hears our prayers.  The study I'm reading now talked about how Daniel wouldn't have seen the angel holding the lion's mouth shut, unless he was thrown into the den.  In the tough places, that's where God has the chance to show up BIG!

We're so thankful we serve a big God and have a big family in Him!  Crazy blessed this month.  Still, crazy broke, but overwhelmingly blessed at the same time.  We trust Him and believe that He is our Provider.  He is in control.  And He is able.