the humor of our Father

Today Scottie and I had a late start to the day waking up around 10am. We got up and made another yummy smoothie with our Magic Bullet and had a few pancakes. Then got ready for church and took off for the 11:45 service. This week we tried out Greg Laurie’s church, Harvest Christian Fellowship. 

It was a very large church, and had so much to offer. We ended up in the balcony because it was so full, but didn’t have bad seats at all. This morning Greg Laurie didn’t preach but we were not disappointed. James McDonald was here for the week and it was a wonderful service. This is what brings me to the humor part.

James McDonald was speaking on finances this morning. Now you would have to know his style, but he is very interactive and gifted with a great sense of humor. His sermon wasn’t uncomfortable at all….merely just the truth of the Bible and teaching. The passage he was preaching from was Malachi 3:5-10….

““For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. 7 From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’ 8 Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. 9 You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. 10 Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. 11 I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts.12 Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts.”

Again like I said James McDonald did a wonderful job at digging into this passage, but Scottie and I could not help laughing. We have been struggling financial after the LARGE move across the country. No one tells you how much such a move entails. Then when you get to your destination you have to find an apartment and put down deposits and first months rent. LOL. Anyways….needless to say we have been living day to day with faith that the Lord will provide every dime for our NEEDS. It was been a stretching and growing experience for the both of us and we will have many great stories for our kids. But this sermon was so precious because it is the a small theme in our life right now….even though we don’t have much. The Lord gives us and simply asks for a 1/10 off the top of our earnings. Even if that means $2.50. 

Scottie and I are so thankful for all that God has provided, when we even thought it was a long stretch. A few recent praises include these…..

—–I had received my financial aid award letter from NWC and had not been awarded a scholarship that I had received for the past 3 years. It didn’t make much sense since it has nothing to do with financial situation. Without this scholarship, I was being asked to pay more than I had paid in the three previous years combined. I called Financial Aid and questioned the situation. They informed me that due to filing my FAFSA late I was not eligible and they had awarded all the money. I was grateful for their time and got off the phone. After talking it over with my mom and Scottie, I decided to send an email looking further into the situation. The reason my FAFSA was late was because I was getting married in June. I was told that you can not do a revision on FAFSA after you are married….so I waited. I filed it while we got home from our  honeymoon to be sure that it got in on time. I shared this in the email and just asked for more clarification, and if there were possible appeals or something, because it wasn’t really my fault. On Friday, not even 24 hours after the email and much prayer, I received a reply from Northwestern. They had reviewed my email and file and made a “rare exception” and had found money to award me my scholarship!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Praise the Lord. He provided. I wish I was in Minnesota so I could go in and hug those who were involved…..I tear up every time I think about this……(scottie just saw me “leaking”….but they are good tears). He is faithful, and may he be glorified by this.

—–The other most recent praise is our Verizon Wireless bill. We are on a family plan with Jenny (my sister-in-law) and Daniel (our cousin) to help save everyone some cash money! The bill was due yesterday (Saturday) and none of us were in the same state. That meant we all had to pay on our own at a local Verizon store. My balance was 55.15. I figured that was legitimate and didn’t question it at all. Totally thinking that everyone else’s was around that price, but maybe a little different due to data packages etc. Jenny got to paying for the bill first. She paid $55.15. Then I went to pay…………..and the bill said “Paid in Full”…. I was confused and decided to try paying Scottie’s account first. His bill said “Paid in Full”. I think you get it. Our Family Plan Bill was $55.15 and that got divided 4 ways. Praise the Lord. He blessed us again and blindsided us. The reason for the small bill is because we had a bunch of credits and such. None of us realized this and needless to say, could have hugged Verizon Wireless. 

So…this is our life. Poor, newlyweds, happily married, learning to survive in this crazy state of California. According to my papi…

“We moved from the land of the loons, to the land of The Loon (not the bird….)”

Love and hugs and laughs and kisses to you all. We can not express in words how much we deeply miss Minnesota and all of you. But the Lord is slowly helping to make this our new home, and we can’t wait to have you visit!