A Story of God's Promises

Ok, now I have to tell you a story. Obviously I've been overwhelmed with the work decisions, so I've been praying about it a lot. I wasn't praying about what would be "right or wrong" to do, I was praying about whether or not God expected me to trust Him to provide, or if He expected me to take on the responsibility of working. If He expected me to trust Him, then I wouldn't work. But if He expected me to be responsible, I'd have to work. And Not knowing if things would work out if I didn't work is what was bogging me down and keeping me from making that decision, even though Keith and I have always wanted me to stay home with our kids.

So anyway, lately while I have been praying I was getting anxious about how I would recognize the answer. It's a huge decision to make, which would impact our son's childhood, and my husband's workload, so I wanted something concrete and unmistakable, as an answer. On Sunday, at church, the pastor talked about Abraham. He told the story of how God promised to give Abraham children through his wife sarah, and they would turn into numerous descendants. Abraham thought this was great news, obviously, but then he turned around and took matters into his own hands, and slept with the maidservant to bear a son through her, despite God's promise. Later, he had a son with Sarah (so God's promise was true). He didn't need to sleep with the maidservant at all. He could've just trusted God. The story made an impression on me but I was reluctant to take it as an "answer" because when I'm waiting for answers, I tend to look for them harder.

THEN on Monday while I was driving in, I turn on 560 AM to hear a sermon on the way in to work, and the pastor is talking about who? Abraham. This time, though, the story was about how God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac on the alter. He took Isaac, because he trusted God would raise him from the dead. When Isaac said "father, we have the wood, the fire, but no sacrifice", Abraham said "God will provide one". At the last minute before Abraham killed Isaac (he was about to), God told him to stop, because He was satisfied with his display of trust in Him.

Both of the messages (sunday's and monday's) had the underlying theme of trusting God's promises, and trusting His provision. After hearing the second message, I began to wonder if the messages were supposed to be my answer. This may sound foolish, but whenever God speaks to me through sermons, or through the Bible, it always comes in threes. I was thinking that He was def. speaking to me this time, but wanted to wait for the third occurance.

Meanwhile, i met with Michelle (my immediate supervisor) yesterday. In our meeting, she tells me that Karen (both our supervisors) is willing to work with me for part time work, but working from home is not an option, as she initially told me. Which means Karen changed her mind. No surprise there. I told Michelle right then an there "then there's no way I can come back to work". We do not want to put our son into daycare, and we do not want to burden family with looking after him, so if I worked, the only option for working was from home. Basically, my decision was made for me! I can't do part time, because my wages would only cover daycare. Which makes the whole thing invalid anyway. I was relieved that God closed the door for me, and made it as plain as day by leaving me with no choice.

Last night I was talking with Keith telling him about the Abraham stories, and then the door being closed for part time from home. I said "I suppose God was speaking this to me all along, but I'm surprised it didn't come in threes as it usually does."

This morning, I came into work to find an email from my friend Erin. She and I have been talking a lot about the work situation, because she was recently facing the same delimmas I face now. In the email, she says "I've been thinking about your situation all day, and when I heard a story this weekend it made me think of you..." and she proceeded to tell me a story about Abraham. :) This time, it was about when Abraham and Lot trusted God's power, and prayed for Him to turn from His plans to destroy sodom and gomorrah if there were any righteous living there. The basis of this story is that of praying even when circumstances are bleak, and trusting God will hear you and answer you. She used the story to make another valid point, but the story itself spoke to me of the importance of prayer, as a part of trusting God.

I was read the email and laughed about the sweetness of God's care for me...to give my heart a third confirmation, just because He wanted to reassure me and guide me. :) He is so faithful! in summary, He told me:

1. I don't need to take matters into my own hands. He made a promise to provide, and He will do so in His timing.
2. Even when circumstances look impossible, Keith and I need to have Faith in God and His powerful provision that He demonstrated to Abraham through Isaac.
3. It NEVER, EVER hurts to pray-- God hears the cries of His children. When circumstances look bleak, it's important to have faith, but also to pray.

That's the story about God's faithfulness to hear our prayers, and to answer us. I hope it encourages you too, to know that you are precious enough to Him that He will reach into your life and show Himself to you if you seek Him. We are so thankful for His promises, and for the provision that He has already begun to display.