Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: RELAX (06/08/17)
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TITLE: Relax, I Got This | Previous Challenge Entry
By Marilyn Klunder
06/15/17 -
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With my husband being a real estate broker, the real estate crash in 2008 was one of the hardest times we’ve experienced as a married couple. Just like millions of people across this country, in what seemed like a blink of an eye, my husband’s main source of income was diminished.
Trying to continue on with life as best we could we had a visit from a former foreign exchange student from Czech Republic, and had invited some family members over to welcome him back. While things were tight, we learned to make due and eat as cheaply as we could. Even so we hardly ever had extra cash on us.
“How are we going to do this? There is just no way this is going to happen!” I exclaimed.
“What’s the matter? What are you talking about?” My husband asked.
“Hhhhhhh,” I sighed. “We have twelve people coming over for hamburgers and we have no hamburger buns.”
“Well, all I have is two dollars in my pocket. I’ll run to the store and see what I can find,” my husband offered.
As I busied myself in the kitchen, I began to wonder how I would explain to our company why there were no hamburger buns for the hamburgers. After about twenty minutes my husband returned from the store.
“You’re not going to believe this,” my husband said when he returned from the store.
“Hamburger buns were on sale for ninety-nine cents a package; I bought two packages. I have two cents left over,” he said with a smile and holding up his two pennies. Relax, I got this, God whispered.
I know this doesn’t sound like any kind of magnitude on the Richter scale, but it was just one of many examples to us of how God works in even the small things; how God whispers, relax, I got this.
At the end of that first year after the crash, it became apparent that we could not keep up with our finances as they were. The first thing to go was my car. But God whispered again, relax, I got this. My mother-in-law, who was in her mid eighties and moving into an assisted living complex, gave us her car.
Still struggling to make ends meet, one afternoon my husband and I were out in the yard working. One of the elders from our church pulled into the driveway and began talking to my husband. My husband called me over and the elder began talking, “We heard you were going through a tough financial time. We hope you take this in the spirit it is given,” and handed me an envelope; inside was five-$100 bills. Relax, I got this, God whispers again.
As we began to recover from our bad economy, I decided working a part time job in retail was not my cup of tea. I wanted to do something that I could enjoy and possibly help improve our financial dilemma by making more than minimum wage. In order to achieve this goal I enrolled at the community college.
Still feeling anxious about our finances and my age, I at first just wanted to do something quick so I chose a two year degree in library science. But after the first grading period and having conversations with those who work in libraries, I started looking at a four year degree in education. I went a full semester in my new major before informing my husband and my family of my new area of study.
My college experience at such a late stage in my life was an amazing experience mixed with fear, joy, doubt and passion. It was also mixed with sadness because during those four years, we lost our mother and two nephews, and I suffered a small stroke. Even so, amazingly, I graduated with a 3.96 GPA. Relax, I got this, God whispered.
There is a song by Chris Tomlin called Faithful. I sing and live by these words daily:
You are there, in every season of my soul.
You are there; You're the anchor that will hold.
You are there, in the valley of the shadows.
You are faithful, God.
Relax, I got this, He whispers.
Tomlin, Chris. “Faithful.” If Our God Is For Us. Sixsteps, 2010. CD
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