A must share story...

This is a story that needs to be shared-you never know how God is going to provide, particularly when things look their worst. This happened to my "unofficially" adopted daughter today, December 18, 2008.

Just before Thanksgiving, things were not going so well for our daughter. Her husband was looking for work, she had her hands full with her 10 year old son & two daughters ages 3 and 14 months, her brother was staying with them also looking for work and life was just chaotic. She didn't know how everything was going to work out, but I kept reminding her God is in control. That early morning, it felt like things could only get worse. Her son missed the bus. Frustrated, she hurriedly made sure he was ready, threw her coat on over her pj's (sweats & an old t-shirt), and made sure hubby was up to watch the girls before getting in the old van to take her son to school.

Her son barely made it to school on time, so taking a deep breath, she started back home. Within a mile or so from the school, she got a flat tire. There was no spare-it was the one that went flat, so she pulled into the first parking lot to call dad to help. There was no money for another tire; Dad was about 45 minutes away. So she sat there, asking God why this was happening. There was a knock on the window. The man who either owned or managed the company where she was parked asked her if she was ok. She was, and thanked him, saying that her dad was on the way. "Okay" he said and went back into the building.By now she was running out of minutes on her phone, so she couldn't call anyone to see how quickly she could be rescued---stranded in a strange parking lot in her jammies and no makeup.

In a few minutes, the man came back out and asked if he could give her a ride anywhere. Eventually, she agreed to let the kind hearted man take her home, only a few miles away. They talked a little, and somehow it was shared that her husband was looking for work. By the time she made it home, the man told her to have her husband come by and apply for a job. He may have some temporary work he could do. That afternoon, her husband applied and was offered a temporary job to start that Monday! The second day of work, he was hired full time, and will be receiving benefits, including dental, in February! Praise God!! But the story doesn't end there...

The last few days (now the week before Christmas), her husband began to worry. The people at work appeared to be talking behind his back. It seemed that his co-workers were not talking to him as much as usual. He was afraid he was going to lose his job, but wasn't sure why.

Today (one week before Christmas), he found out what was going on. His co-workers knew that they had been having a hard time and didn't have a whole lot of money to spend on the kids for Christmas. With extra people in the house (another relative was staying for a few days until her place was ready) the bills were higher than usual. At lunchtime, he was called into the office. His co-workers had purchased presents for his kids-they were in a huge box! To top that, they had also chipped in to give them a gift card to Wal-Mart to get other things as they weren't sure of the sizes of the kids and there may be a gift or two he really wanted to give the kids but couldn't afford. The gift card was for $280!!! There's more! Although he had only been with the company only three short weeks, he received a $150 Christmas bonus. He couldn't hold back the tears. He also knew that God was behind all of it. He knew his boss and many of his co-workers are Christians.

When he came home from work, my daughter knew he had been crying and she was thinking the worst-no more job. How incredibly blessed she was when she found out all that had been given to them!

Just think...it all started when her son missed the bus. AND you can't say God doesn't have a sense of humor-it had to happen in her jammies and no make-up!!