Learning To Lean | Previous Challenge Entry

how it works

TITLE: Learning To Lean | Previous Challenge Entry
By Pamela Pumphrey
03/18/10
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I was raised in church and always heard that God would supply all my needs. I never truly thought about it and never knew what that really meant until the year 1996. My husband had a good job and I was cleaning houses for spare money. We had two boys aged 8 and 2. We were happy and life was good.

In May of 1996, things started to change. My husband had his eye on another job that he thought he would like more and the pay was better. The company he worked for was having a layoff and they asked for volunteers. My husband took the layoff package thinking he could just go and get the other job. They weren’t hiring anymore, so he was left to look for another job. While he looked, he drew unemployment and worked in some part time positions.

By July, he was still not in a permanent job, so we had to make some changes in our family. Our oldest son had been in a Christian school since he was 3 years old. We knew we wouldn’t be able to afford his tuition for the year, so we opted to put him in a public school. We called the Christian school and informed them of the change in our finances, so they could fill his place. School wasn’t to start until late August, so he had some time to adjust to the idea.. Two weeks before school. I received a phone call from the Christian school. They informed me that someone had paid for my son’s full tuition. We were so excited that he would be able to go to the school he really loved.

By November, my husband’s unemployment money had run out. All we had to rely on were his part time jobs and my housecleaning. A couple of weeks into November, I started having gallbladder attacks. I went to my doctor who referred me to a specialist. I was told that I needed immediate surgery. I panicked because of the money situation. We had no health insurance, so that meant a huge medical bill. I told the doctor that I needed to wait until my husband had a good job with benefits, but he said I couldn’t wait that long. My husband and I had been praying for the job situation, but nothing seemed to be happening. We had to take a leap of faith. When I had the surgery, my doctor prayed for me, my family, and himself as he performed the surgery. I was so thankful that a Christian doctor was taking care of me.

While I was recovering, my husband kept working part time, while continually looking for full time work. Our pastor hired him to do repairs and paint at the church. The church where my son went to school called and offered to pay our house note and electric bill for us in exchange for my husband working on the pastor’s lawn mower. Before Thanksgiving the church had a food drive. A few days after Thanksgiving, my husband came home from working at the church. He brought home six large bags full of groceries that the pastor had given us. I just cried.

Once I recovered from surgery, I went back to cleaning houses and my husband kept on with his working. A friend of ours had moved his family two hours away and was a supervisor for a large company. He called my husband to come to work for him. We talked about it, and my husband just didn’t want to make the move. We had lived there our whole lives. Our parents and siblings lived there and he just did not want to uproot the boys. The friend called two more times. By May, 1997, my husband decided we would make the move. It took us awhile to adjust to our new surroundings, but we made it. We know GOD was leading us and was there for us through that whole year. He took care of us and knew what we needed and when we needed it.

It’s been 13 years, and my husband is still with the company and our faith is so much stronger. Our family made it through. I can look back now at that year and see that GOD was in control and just think “wow”.

Philippians 4:19 (KJV) But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

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