Monday, April 29, 2013

Prayers Answered, His Way


Well, the weekend yard sale is now history. I had hoped and prayed for enough to take care of a few bills. That did not happen.

However, I did take in $47. Now, to some of you, that seems a ridiculously tiny sum to get excited about. But, I had only enough food for us for the weekend. That $47 enabled me to get enough food to hold us until at least Thursday. I am a careful shopper.

So, bottom line, I didn't get what I wanted, but I did get what I needed.

It reminded me of the time of those wandering in the desert, hungry. God sent manna from heaven, every morning. However, it had to be used that very day. It did not "keep" overnight. Apparently it spoiled when they tried to do that. But every morning, faithfully, the Father sent the day's food for thousands of people.

Of course, they quickly got tired of the same thing every day. Then they began grumbling and griping.

I am trying to not repeat that reaction. I truly am grateful that we have enough to eat until mid-week. At that point, a small unemployment amount comes in which will cover two bills, plus leave another $40 or so, for some more food. And so it goes...

The unemployment finally, for sure, ends with the 8th's funds. At that point, we'll head over for food stamps the next day. And we will be living, my middle-aged nephew and I, on my social security, for as long as we can keep afloat on that.

Our state's unemployment structure has changed this past year. It used to be that you got, say, 26 weeks, and then it stopped and you re-applied. We kept expecting that to happen. Then for some reason we did not understand, it continued another 10 weeks. Then another 6 weeks. Apparently they now have something called "tiers" and you continue, on decreasing numbers of weeks, to get it until almost a year passes. At that point, however, you cannot apply again until you accumulate enough work credits. Several times, these past few months, we thought it was ending but it didn't. Finally, one of the rep's explained it to us one day on the phone. I have no idea why other rep's hadn't explained it the previous 8 months - we worried sick several times during that period because we had no clue what was going on. I don't know if this is the case with other states. It might be connected with Federal changes. It's just a shame that representatives leave those in need in a state of confusion.

Still, I know it will work out. It always does. What always fascinates me is how God chooses to work it out. I am not sure what plans he has this time, but it surely will be interesting later to see, with hindsight, how he did it.

Father, I trust you totally to provide for us. There are others in far worse straits, I know. We are blessed with a roof over our heads and food in our tummies. Thank you for providing what we need, when we need it.

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