And look how far I have come in just a few short years. In 1996 I moved home to take care of my father after my mother died. He was slowly becoming unable to care for himself. I also got divorced! Wow, what can I say about that blessing? I misstepped and went outside God's will for me, and paid the price. (I would have done it anyway, with someone. I needed to learn those life lessons someway.)
By mid 2003, I was able to return to church (Dad had care on Sundays), and I made two very good friends that I call family today.
In 2005 God answered several prayers and gave me a grant to do some long overdue and much needed repair and refurbishment work on my home(previously my dads; he had passed away in late 2004). Work was completed in February of 2007. When there has been an everyday problem, you know, a leaky faucet, a broken refrigerator, a bigger tax bill than you expected, God has given me the resources in either people or funds to handle it.
In August of 2006 I was let go from a job because I wasn't needed any longer. Do you call that down-sizing in an organization of two? Anyhow, I just couldn't make myself send out any resumes. God was prompting me with visions of going back to school after 20-plus years. In January of 2007 I began school! I am now a part-time student in a graphic design program at a local college. It's a drive, but it's financially feasible, and the college has a great reputation of graduating students who know what they are doing when they get out. Just the fact that I am making it, working part-time and going back to school part-time, is a testiment to God's love, provision, and his fantastic organizational abilities!
I am in debt for the first time since 1997 (a debt that came from my marriage situation, but the debt is mostly responsible debt like classes, books, software. And I purchased a real desk with credenza and storage. It's an investment in my future, a future that includes a business from my home some day.
Every day I learn more and more about who I am, and who I want to become. I struggle, one step forward, three steps back, but then sometimes God catches me up and catapolts me forward, and I realize how much he has blessed me.
My prayers of thanksgiving weekly have included, and still include, "God, thank you for clean, hot, running water. God, thank you for the heat in the house, and the air conditioner too. God, thank you for the washer and dryer, and it's right in my own home! God, thank you for an oven that works, and the microwave. God, thank you that the refrigerator is still running. God, thank you that I have something to eat today, and I promise not to waste a bite. God, thank you for my job, and for the provisions you have given me to pay my bills and go back to school. And God, thank you that there are no bill collectors calling and that there are no police knocking on the door. God, thank you that there is no fallout (severe consequences) from my marriage. God, thank you for the lessons I had to learn, and thank you that I finally learned them! God, thank you for my dogs; they are part of my family. God, thank you for the friends you have given me, who stick by me, even when I am down and the going is tough. God, thank you for the souls that you have placed in my life to lead me and teach me life lessons, and some to get me out of jams (some not of my own making, and others I have orchestrated on my own). God, thank you for leading me along the path that is this life, and giving me a second chance - a thousand times and more. And thank you for talking to me and providing for me, even when I am too busy to talk to you. God, thank you for forgiveness, past, present, and future" The list goes on and on and on.
When you have been through what I have in life, the little things in life, the things that others take for granted, aren't so little and you thank God for every breath of life he gives you. You thank him for every morsel of food and every comfort he provides. Yes, I have been truly blessed, and I never forget it.
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