I am a little discouraged today. Daily life is (still) really challenging. We are VERY thankful for God's faithfulness to us during my husband's unemployment, and VERY thankful that he now has a job. God has been so gracious, and our friends, family, and church family have been so supportive. Truly, the blessings have been, and continue to be, rich and many. But the reality is that my husband getting a job was not the "end" of our journey.
Since his employment:
We have gone around and around in circles with our lender over how to pay back what we owe on our mortgage. We think it's getting worked out and then something changes. That is all still up in the air and we are uncertain about our future in this house.
Our furnace broke beyond repair and we are still in the process of figuring out how to pay for a new one.
Our dishwasher stopped working. Well, it works, but the door that holds the soap in doesn't latch shut so the soap all spills out right away and the dishes don't get clean. Since I was having to re-wash them all anyway, I just stopped using the dishwasher. This means that there are ALWAYS dirty dishes cluttering my kitchen. Always. There usually were some before, but now the piles are bigger.
The broiler in our oven stopped working and now I fear the oven may be going as well. Last Friday it took twice as long for our homemade pizzas to cook, meaning we didn't eat until 7:30! It's hard to plan dinner time when I don't know what time dinner will actually be done.
My dryer is working inefficiently. I am having to dry each load twice.
The struts on my husband's vehicle desperately need to be replaced. He nearly goes airborne over small bumps and something (the tailpipe?) is constantly being hit against the pavement.
We have a set of bad water valves that makes for constant dripping outside, causing our water bill to be high. We thought we'd fixed it ourselves, but it didn't "take".
None of these things is a terribly big deal, but happening all at the same time is a little overwhelming, and the fact that so many appliances are on the fritz makes my daily life at home more challenging. Please pray that my husband and I can keep our eyes on Jesus, that our actions and responses to these problems will glorify the Lord, and that He will help us prioritize what is most important to have fixed first (and provide the funds!). Also, please pray that I would not whine about the appliances but do the extra work with a cheerful heart. I know this would be a great example to my children and a great encouragement to my husband. I just don't feel that cheerful about it. Lord, please give me the grace to choose joy.
Col 3:23 ~ Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.
Phil 4:13 ~ I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
James 1:2 ~ Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverence.
James 1:12 ~ Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial.
John 14:1 ~ Do not let your hearts be troubled.
2 Cor 4:17, 18 ~ For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
Col 3:1, 2 ~ Set your hearts on things above.....set your minds on things above, and not on earthly things.
Amen, Lord. Amen.
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10 comments:
Wow! First and foremost let me say that even though you post shared alot of the things going wrong and this that and the other, it was a devotion! :) The scriptures you added at the end along with your request for prayer really spoke to my heart today! THANKS! I am prayin for you and all these things. It is so hard to see with our earthly eyes sometimes and then count it all joy. I am praying that God will be glorified in how it all gets fixed and comes together :) Big hugs from your sis in Christ.
Blessings,
Tami
PRAYING JEREMIAH HOME QUICKLY
www.tillGodbringsthemhome.blogspot.com
Praying with you!
Votemom gave me a verse early on in our adoption road that I remembered as I read through your post...
1 Thes. 5:24
The One who calls you is faithful and He will do it.
I know that God will use these rough spots to make gold. Thank you so much for sharing your heart!
I'm trying to think of a bright side in your homemaking these days...does your vacuum work? Then that would be a plus!
I don't have a dishwasher, so I know what you mean about dishes. I use dishwashing time to warm my very cold hands in the winter. I am eager to wash several times a day to warm up.
I also put a prayer list up by the sink and focus on that.
Praying for your endurance through this journey that isn't over yet.
When I was a kid, my mom had two dishwashers - my brother and me! Is it possible to put your kids into three teams. One person washes (buy some small size gloves so the water can be as hot as it needs to be) and the other dries. Then they both put them away. You could rotate them through so they each get a turn working with each other (except maybe the little two together would need an extra helper) as well as taking the final slot to give you special time with each of them. You could even come up with a special CD or something they could listen to while they are taking their turn.
I will continue to pray for you. We have the same issue, to some extent, with many things seeming to go at the same time. We replaced three appliances in six months a year and a half ago. Now we have some major car repairs coming up. It never ends, does it. But I am thankful that God is continuing to lift you and carry you.
Blessings my friend.
Oh no, I am so sorry you are all going through all this Pam! I am praying for God's provision for y'all.
Blessings,
Laurie
oh pam.
1. i am going to ask my husband if he knows how to change struts. if he does, would B let him?
2. a mentor in my life when i was just starting my family had 5 kids and a broken dishwasher. she rotated doing dishes with a different child every night. their times in the kitchen together, one on one, became precious. she said she had some of the best times with them talking and sharing and hearing their hearts. of course not every single dish-washing session will reveal deep insights, but she said that once they could afford to get their dishwasher fixed she didn't. instead she used it for storing her cookie sheets and pans.
i used to spend a lot of time in their home growing up, as my parents both worked. i remember feeling jealous of the time those kids had with their mom.
i love you and pray today that today you can acutely feel Him carrying you.
Pam, I'm so sorry that you are continuing to have such challenges. You are right! One alone is something that can spur you on (in a refiners fire sort of way), but keep piling things on top of one another and life can get really discouraging. Praying that these things will be resolved, so you can have energy to fight the important fights.
((((Pam))))
I'm so sorry. That is a lot going on and I can understand why it would be stressful.
I understand too the weight of feeling like so much is being piled on. It can be hard to choose joy when you don't *feel* like it. I'm there too.
Praying for you that you would know God to be faithful, true and good.
Big hugs,
Leslie
Even though the others make it sound like there could be a sweet time for your family in washing dishes together, I still wish I could just buy you a new dishwasher. I hate doing dishes. I continue to pray.
It's so discouraging and overwhelming when everything seems to fall apart at once. I'm so sorry! Praying the Scriptures that you posted along with you and for you. I wish that I could more!
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