His hand in my life...

This weekend has been rough. We had another flood in our basement, which is where my sister lives. When I say another... I mean the fourth in 3 1/2 years. None of them were our fault (2 water heater issues, 1 window well that overflowed from a massive storm, and this was an overactive defrost cycle with a clogged pipe in an old refrigerator/freezer), but we feel bad when things go wrong, and to be honest, home ownership is not all it's cracked up to be sometimes. On top of it all, Will and I had been talking about our finances before this all happened, and talking about where we can cut back to make things a little easier in these tough economic times. A flood is not a place to cut back... it is a giant budget sucker, and our stress levels only rose. Thanks to the generosity and help of family, it has been taken care of, but in the process of trying to figure things out I asked Will if we could pray together.

As I sat and listened to his voice, strong and powerful, praying for our little family, I realized how blessed I am in my life. I have a wonderful husband who is everything to me. I have a beautiful daughter who reminds me that miracles happen. And I have a testimony that God has his hand in my life every day. As Will was finishing our prayer, he paused for a bit. I wondered what he was thinking, and I could feel that the spirit was strong. He then opened a fast. I haven't been able to fast for a while since I was pregnant and now I'm breastfeeding, so I appreciated his ability to fast for our family and for the things we need. He closed the prayer, and throughout the next 24 hours I prayed constantly that the Lord would help Will be strong, and that things would work out. I was amazed at Will's strength. He did hours of cleanup work without anything to eat, and yet he was strong and helped me to get through it all emotionally.

Today I have seen our prayers answered in a very real way. I have a client who is coming today to purchase some things from her photo shoot over a year ago. I had another client contact me so she could pay an overdue invoice. And then a little while ago, Will called. He asked if I needed the car tomorrow. I told him I didn't think so, but that I had an appointment after he got off work. He said he needed it so he could move the things in his desk back to his old office.

For the last month or so, we've been hearing word from his supervisor that there was a chance he'd be moving back to his old office. About the time Eva was born he had to move to a new building which doubled his commute... not our idea of fun. It was hard to have him commute so far. Then today he was offered a new position at the old building, and a pay increase. It was such an answer to prayer, that all I could do was cry. When we got off the phone, I had to stop what I was doing and thank my Father in Heaven for the blessings he sent when we needed it most.

I've often found that when life is the most difficult, Heavenly Father has the most to teach me. Frequently that lesson is learned through struggling, turning to Him, and then trusting He will take care of me. That's exactly how it worked this weekend, and to be totally honest, I'm grateful for the experience. Although, I'm not going to be asking to clean up a flood again any time soon!