I Love How God Works

Jeremiah 29:11-12

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.

Sometimes I just marvel at how God works. It's never when we expect it, which makes it even more amazing.

The past few months there have been a few things my husband and I have prayed about. The big prayer request was about us making a move halfway across the country. My husband is from St. Louis and the last time we were there, I fell madly in love with the city. I was convinced when we left, we'd be moving SOON. We (more me than Eric) researched home prices in the St. Louis County area and I really was ready to put an offer on a couple of them. My thought was we could sell our home in California for a good amount of money (it's a SIN how much houses go for here) and practically pay cash for a home in St. Louis. If we did that, I could stay at home right away and finally have a baby! I had our future all planned out for us, down to the Christian Classic school I wanted our kids to attend.

We didn't tell anyone any of this, but we did spent TONS of time in prayer and searching the Bible for an answer. It seemed to take forever to hear anything from God, but this week, we feel pretty sure of what God wants us to do and we are completely at peace about it. Right now he is telling us to wait. We don't feel it's a no, but with everything else He has shown us, we know He wants us to wait. So, what has God shown us?

Well, one other thing we have been praying about, is getting out of debt quickly, so that in the case God says "no" to St. Louis, I can eventually quit and be the stay at home wife/mom I have always wanted to be. Last night I had my evaluation at work (which was glowing, may I so humbly add) and the subject of me taking on a higher position in the company was brought up. One of our girls is leaving in June and they need someone to take her place. Moving into her position would be a HUGE responsibility, but it would also mean a nice pay raise. The pay raise would be enough to take the extra money to put towards our car payment and get that paid off a whole heck of a lot sooner. Being offered this promotion just confirms the fact that God wants us to wait on St. Louis. I haven't made my decision yet (I told my boss I would let her know Friday) but I really am leaning towards taking the promotion. It will be A LOT of work, but I'm ready for a change.

The last main thing that we have been praying about was margin. We are doing a Bible study with our care group by Andy Stanly and it's all about margin. We have been praying for a margin in our finances, but mainly we have been praying about a margin in our time. We are always so busy and by the time the weekend comes, we are exhausted. An exhausted Becky is not a very nice Becky. Eric and I had been talking about me taking one day off a pay period just to be able to handle stuff at home. It would have hurt us a little bit financially, but my mental health was more important than our wallet (or money envelope in our case). I was planning on talking to my boss about taking some days off, but then I got a memo on Monday.

Our company is going to try out a new work schedule. We would work one hour extra a day, but have every other Friday off. Right there is another answer to prayer! I can take a couple days off without it hurting our budget. So now with the idea of a promotion AND a new WONDERFUL work schedule, Eric and I can totally see God's hand in the whole thing.

I have seen how he has been telling us to wait on the BIG prayer request, just by answering the smaller requests in a way that we can still make it possible to afford living in California. This is why I love looking back on Jeremiah 29:11-12. God knows the plans He has for us and they will always be for our benefit. We don't have to worry about a thing because God has it under control. When we pray to Him, He listens.