God Meant it for Good

Well, it was March since I last posted, and I'm sorry... but blogging took a back seat when things around here got off schedule.

As many of you know, my husband lost his job at his company due to downsizing, was offered a demotion to stay, but he took the severance package and left them instead. His last day was March 31st.

Then we went to California to visit his family. We had hoped to have close family bonding... and we did... so close that Allan's small cold that he had when we left Cleveland became pretty nasty and he spread it to all of us. Yep, I had a toddler so sick she could barely sleep in the night; puking nightly because of chest congestion, which meant I was do laundry almost every day of my VACATION. And I was sick on top of that trying to take care of us all. Then Allan's dad got sick (who is getting elderly).

I was really discouraged at this point, but I also knew deep it my spirit that this was a direct spiritual attack on our family. First Allan's job. Then our health. And now he was trying to zap me of energy. And I wasn't going to let him!

The biggest scare of all was that during the flight from Cleveland to SF, Allan's ear drum tore and became so severely bruised because of the outside pressure on his sinuses and his cold combined, that the doctor said it looked like he'd been in a deep sea diving accident. They were concerned that he'd lost some of his hearing. But miracle #1: Allan's hearing was 100% and his ear (and his cold) was recovering daily. The next problem? Allan was supposed to fly back to Michigan for a job interview from California and fly back to be with us in two days. The doctor advises that Allan will most likely be fine, but to take medication and wear earplugs. Now, I am very protective of my family's hearing because of my own deaf ear. So I prayed and prayed, "Lord, I know that you healed my father-in-law's ear months ago and you can heal Allan's ear now. I ask you to protect his ear if he should go and if he shouldn't go, I pray that you miraculously cancel the trip."

... And then wouldn't you know FIRST THING the NEXT MORNING, Allan wakes me up and tells me that the company called to postpone the interview and canceled his flight so he didn't need to go!

He protected Allan's ears! They have since fully recovered. =) This was such a boost to my faith! And such an obvious answer to prayer. And even though we were all still recovering from sickness after this, two verses came to mind:

Genesis 50:20 "...You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result... ...so, therefore do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones."

2 Cor.4:8 "We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed."

I have much to tell you about our journey since April. But I wanted to make sure and give you this testimony. God did and IS providing for me and my family. We have been struck down again and again... but we are not destroyed! In fact, we are becoming closer and stronger!

When did God meet you at your need?

(P.S. You'll notice I changed the look of my blog. The picture of the little girl in the dress is my daughter taken during our last trip to CA. She was still sick when we took this picture, but this happened to be a beautiful day where we could dress up and proclaim that sickness would not take hold of us. It worked too, b/c doesn't she look so sweet? ;-) I chose this pic to represent my blog because it will always remind me of the trip where God answered my prayer on my husband's behalf and showed me why my hope that our struggles would not be futile for was "More Than a Feeling." GOD was in our midst and using it for good. (More on that to come...)