EXCITEMENT:
We began with excitement. We took Gidget to the American Museum of Natural History where her Grandpa is a curator. It was exciting. I'll post more about this some other time, but for now let me say this: The museum is completely designed to prove to everyone that evolution is real. They failed miserably! I say this because with every fossil... every bone... every "inexplicable" thing they show as proof of evolution, all I saw was proof of the Intelligent, Omnipotent Creator!!! It was amazing! This lead to some awesome discussions with my daughter about faith. We talked about how the scientists who designed much of the museum couldn't explain God, so instead they chose to try to explain His existence away. I challenged her to always hold onto her faith... that God would put things in her life that would require her to have faith and that those things would strengthen her faith even more if she'd have a willing heart.
**NOTE: It was at this point when I should have seen the next day coming!!!**
FEAR:
The day after the museum I got online to do my weekly banking only to find that our checking account was -$13,000. This was truly shocking since we didn't have near that amount in our checking account!!! How could this possibly be? I was horrified to find out that some company of which I knew nothing about had FROZEN our account! My husband called the bank and asked what was going on and they had no answers. They did supply him with the phone number of the company. They were no help. I was really frightened. We do not have a lot of money (and that's a huge understatement), but what we did have we needed to pay our bills. I was afraid.
In that time of fear I remembered a time when I was sitting in a hotel room in Nebraska waiting for the lawyer to call and tell me that I could take my baby home. God used Isaiah 41:10 to help me then with my fear. I went back to that verse and just kept saying it over & over again: "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness."
STILLNESS:
I cried. I prayed. I cried out in prayer. I jumped further into God's Word. God laid Psalm 46 on my heart. It begins with "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear..." This I clung onto for a while as I prayed. I read on and then I hit verse 10, "Be still and know that I am God..." It was here that I parked, so to speak. I realized that I needed to "be still"... There was nothing I could do. I couldn't go back in time and not send out the checks that were surely going to bounce now. I couldn't convince the bank that there was a terrible mistake. What I could do was be still. Let God be my refuge and my strength and just wait and see what He was going to do.
PEACE:
At this point I became enveloped in His peace... that peace that Paul spoke of in Phil. 4:7, "And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." It was a wonderful, beautiful moment in my life. I just knew that, no matter what, God was in control. He, my Heavenly Father, loved me and knew what was best. He would take care of us in His own way and in His own time.
BLESSING:
“But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 4:19) It was now Wednesday evening. My husband came home from work with good news. He’d been able to stop his paycheck from being directly deposited into our frozen account! This was a HUGE blessing because, if we were very careful, we’d have what we’d need to get some food and pay the most important bills. Then, he surprised me with more news. His boss had also given him a check for the bonus that he had earned! This would relieve more of the pressure!!! Our God is AWESOME! But He didn't stop there...
JOY:
"...weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." (Psalm 30:5) I awoke the next morning and went about the day as usual. Gidget & I had breakfast, and then I began to prepare for the rest of the day when the phone rang. It was my husband. He had just spoken with the bank and they had removed the "freeze" that had been put on our account because, in their words, it wasn't legal. They did not know who this company was and found that this was a huge error on their part. They also assured us that we would not be charged any overdraft fees for anything that may have been refused during this time.
The joy was overwhelming!!! Only God could do this!!! I can't even tell you how my heart was rejoicing! Great jubilance indeed!!!
The best part is that my daughter was aware of what was going on. She got to see a "God thing" -- she'd seen each of these stages (although she didn't know all the details). I do believe that we should shield our children from things so they don't worry, but sometimes I wonder if we miss out on teaching them great life lessons!
My prayer is that I not only remember how truly FAITHFUL GOD IS, but that she remembers, too!
