In the last two months, I have been rejected for three jobs that I was interviewed for, and then last Saturday, my insurance gig ended. I was basically told to take a 'leave' and my accounts were taken over by my supervisor. It was a mixed bag of feelings for me. Intense relief - I have never felt so relieved to leave a job. Slight fear - I have NOTHING to back it up with. For the first time since I was 16, I am unemployed. And I only teach 9 piano students per week now - I used to have a studio of 30. I have no income.
However, I am not afraid because I know that God will provide. He has always provided. My parents have gone through the worst financial troubles, including being sued over a mortgage on a house they no longer owned, but we never went hungry as children and we never went naked and we never had to move from our house. We were always provided for.
On Sunday morning, I received a blessing that brings tears to my eyes as I type this. Every time I talk about it, I cry a little, because it blessed me so much. We had a time of prayer during praise and worship, and it was all about 'needs'. If you had a need, big or small, come down and let your church brothers and sisters lay hands on you and pray for you. My sister Carrie dragged me down and Alex waved at me from the stage to get my hindquarters down there to be prayed for. And I did, and I was NOT the only person down there, believe me. This is a time of great need in our community - it's winter, and hardly anyone has a steady income anymore. Pretty soon, I felt some hands on my shoulders and someone grabbed my hand - not my sister Carrie, who had a death grip on my right arm and was praying for me right in my ear. I actually assumed that it was the assistant pastor's wife, who has known me since birth, or an older couple that have known my parents since they were married and watched all of my sisters and I grow up over the years. I really thought that the people praying for me were the folks that know and love me.
When the altar call was over, I turned around and saw 4 teenage boys behind me. We always sit in front of the youth group so that I can watch Alex play on the stage. The boys had followed me up during the altar call to pray for me - and I don't think one of them was more than 14 years old. I can't tell you how much that blessed my heart. They don't really know me - they know that I am Alex's wife, but they don't usually speak to me. It wasn't someone who knows and loves me who was praying for me - they were just church brothers, who listened to the Holy Spirit and prayed over someone who needed it. And boy did I need it!
Pray for those who need it. Don't just run to your friend's side when they are walking through a hard time. Go to those fellow Christians in the church that you've never spoken to before and stand in prayer with and for them. If the Spirit prompts you to pray, for goodness sake, do it! You never know who is going to need those prayers and what they might mean to someone.
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