We have a fair number of friends now who did not know us nor walk with us during our prolonged times of illness and subsequent unemployment back in the late 1980's and early 1990's. To those of you who fall into that category and have let us know you are tempted to panic about my husband submitting a letter of resignation for his present position without a clear direction/path to what comes next, all we can say is please, don't worry. Seriously...don't....worry! You can pray for us, but don't worry. God is good. He has not changed. He is still in charge of caring for us each day, whether or not we have secure employment.
For us, the provision for our material needs has all ready started, even before my husband is finished this job. I have received a number of discounts on groceries, my new glasses and other bills this week that were most unexpected. Today my husband came home with his monthly pay stub and there was a substantial bonus included in his pay for the time that he served as Commissary while the Bishop was on sabbatical.
He also told me that due to a very unexpected situation in the diocese, there won't be any funding for his position next year anyway. Either way he would not be staying on much past the end of this year. We feel that God has all ready protected us by having him ready to leave even before this somewhat shocking development. See? By impressing upon my husband a few weeks ago that he needed to resign now, God was all ready looking after us and our future before we even knew we would need looking after!
So don't worry about us dear friends. God's got this. There may be some financially tight and emotionally tense times in our future, but direction and provision will come when and as they are required. It will be our own impatience and our human tendency to doubt our God that will be the reasons for most of those times. We have walked down this road before and survived...survived well, financially and spiritually intact. Insecurity about the future can only drive us to our knees in prayer and that is a GOOD thing!! Keeping our tithing and other giving up is also wisdom, we have learned in times past.
So....I finally picked up my new glasses yesterday and it would appear the lenses are properly ground this time and the prescription is correct. YAY!! I will return to the store one more time tomorrow or the next day just to have the lugs adjusted as one side is too tight and is digging into the soft skin behind my ear. Ouch!! I usually have to go back a time or two in the process of getting new frames comfortably settled on my face. I am just so thankful to finally have the new package!!
Thank you Lord for the provision yesterday of a meal at Star Anise after we picked up the glasses. We settled for the buffet and it was very good, as Indian buffets go, but next time we are going to order from the menu. We saw some amazing looking (and smelling) dishes being served at the tables whose customers did not indulge in the buffet. Yummy meal though...a nice surprise. The masala tea actually had enough pepper and other spices to taste. I have found most of the chai at the local restaurants to be extemely bland, depending mostly on the milk for flavour. I hope this means that the rogan josh and other more hot 'n' spicy dishes will be exactly that. Next time we have an opportunity to eat there I am going to give one a try.
Old Testament discussion group was a lot of fun last night. We read through an awful lot of the Psalms and had a chance to have a good discussion on the 176 verses of Psalm 119. We got started on 1Kings, so am looking forward to following the life of King Solomon with all its political intrigue. I want to re-read a few pages from the Paul Johnson Jewish history book to clarify once again what was going on politically at that time and why the sometimes wise Solomon ended up going more toward political stability than serving Yahweh as exactly as he was apparently supposed to do. Fascinating time period culturally, times of the enemies of Israel being subdued for awhile, incredible family dysfunction amongst the royal house....so very real these people!!
My husband has just returned to work for an evening meeting. Originally he had four evening meetings this week, but now it has been reduced to two. YAY! He supposedly has four days off in a row this weekend to make up for losing days off this month, but I suspect he will go into the office on Saturday when the rest of the staff are gone, so he can get caught up on his emails without being interrupted. Well, three days in a row will be better than none!!
Our son's art project in Montestrutto is nearly over. In a day or two he will be on his way to Florence and Rome for a brief stay before flying home via Paris next week. I hope the time hasn't felt like it is flying past for him. It seems that way to us, but hopefully time has had a chance to "stand still" for him and he can return home feeling like he had a good chance to see a few interesting sights in Italy in the midst of the work he was doing.
Tomorrow evening is church choir practise. I am so happy that my autumn allergies seem to finally be under control. I will be able to enjoy singing again.
Update on Dee Dee: for those of you who have been praying for her, she had her tumour removed yesterday and emailed me at 7am today to say she had a great night's sleep and is feeling very little pain, other than just under the arm where the surgery occurred. She is keen to go for a "coffee morning" as soon as she is feeling better. I will miss her at choir this week. So thrilled this surgery is over after her being so worried (understandably) about it. She will get her results and a discussion with the oncologist as to the necessary treatment plan in about 4 weeks.
Tonight after dinner I finally caved to the autumn coolness and dug my Mark's Comfy Robe back out of the bins. Ooooh, it feels so warm and cozy! I think I will keep my eyes peeled next time I go shopping to see if I can locate a similar product somewhere, now that Mark's doesn't seem to have them any more. It would be nice to have more than one for the very coldest weather. The more the merrier!!
I have a sink filled with dishes after making dinner tonight. Never have chicken burgers and veggies required so many pans and pots and utensils. Not sure why....anyway, what a mess!! I am going to go and clean everything, then sit back and relax with the season opener of "The Goldbergs". I relate to those wierd characters on far too many levels!!!! Aiiii yiiiii.......
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