Jul. 15th, 2013 God’s Provision in Tough Times

Once upon a time, as I sat in my office and went about a typical day, my phone rang. Prior to that phone call, if you had asked me, I would have told you (in all the wisdom my 25 years had afforded me) what my life was going to look like.

My husband had a great job with a great bank. I had a steady job. We would move around over the years as he moved up the corporate ladder. We’d have a few kids. Life would go just the way I’d planned.

Do I really need to tell you that all my “I’ve got my life figured out” plans disintegrated that day?

When the voice on the other end of the line says “Honey, I don’t have a job anymore” there’s no going back to any notion of stability and security. Not in jobs, or financial institutions, or degrees. Not even in the idea that people who work hard and do what’s right don’t find themselves looking at each other saying “what do we do now?”

I wish there had been a book like God’s Provision in Tough Times by Cynthia Howerter and La-Tan Roland Murphy for me to read in the months that followed. A book with contributions from people from all over the country and from a variety of backgrounds. People who experienced job loss or who suffered from financial difficulties that had nothing to do with poor budgeting or fiscal mismanagement.

I wish I could have read about God’s faithfulness to each of them. How God showed up over and over again. Not with buckets of cash or instantaneous employment, but by sustaining them as they lost their homes, took jobs they were overqualified for, left friends behind as they moved to new opportunities they never wanted, or moved in with family so they could put food on the table.

These stories are true. They are real. They are often painful to read. But they are not without hope. Because as each author shares in their own way, God brought them through the darkest hours and led them on to new places with Him.

He never abandoned them.

He changed them.

If you or someone you know is struggling right now, whether it’s with job loss or a mountain of debt that has you flattened, I most heartily recommend God’s Provision in Tough Times.

post signature

Comments

Join the Conversation

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

No Comments